wfn.org | Army Chaplains Get Training Center

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (252
notes).

Note 252 modified by UMNS on Aug. 1, 1997 at 16:10 Eastern (2665 characters).

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT: Linda Green                              440(10-71B){252}
         Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470              Aug. 1, 1997

New U.S. Army chaplains training center gets 
nod from United Methodist chaplaincy official

                 by United Methodist News Service

     Establishment of a permanent training facility for United
States Army chaplains shows that the Army recognizes the
importance of the chaplaincy and the unique training required,
said a director in the section on chaplains and related ministries
of the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry.
     The Rev. Ted Hepner, director of endorsement for United
Methodist chaplains, called the July 23 dedication at Fort
Jackson, Columbia, S.C., of the first building designed
exclusively for training Army chaplains a "remarkable and historic
event." He said for the first time in almost eight-decades, the
Army chaplain center and school "has a permanent place to call
home." 
     The facility -- to be called "Watters Hall" -- honors Charlie
Watters, a Catholic priest and chaplain who was killed in Vietnam. 
He was one of five chaplains to earn the Medal of Honor.
     Hepner, also a retired Army chaplain, said the training
school previously had been moved around from army base to army
base across the country and housed in buildings left behind by
various military operations. Before the construction of the new
facility, the training center was located in a converted
maintenance building at Fort Jackson.
     He said the building is designed to train chaplains, who are
already ordained clergy, and chaplain assistants to provide
ecumenical and interfaith ministries within a military
environment. Chaplains have been fostering the spiritual life of
the country's military since the Revolutionary War.
     The new $8 million, 58,000 square foot center houses a 20,000
book library, computer online accessibility and video-conference
capability. The building's state-of-the-art technology will enable
instructors to communicate with chaplains serving at military
installations throughout the world.
     Last May, a shortage of military chaplains led the United
Methodist Chaplaincy Section to issue a call for United Methodist
clergy to consider becoming chaplains.  Hepner said United
Methodists responding to the call will be sent to the training
center to learn to deal with the military's moral and morale
problems.
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