wfn.org | ELCA Assembly Hears Greetings, Stories from Federal Chaplain

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 24, 1999

ELCA ASSEMBLY HEARS GREETINGS, STORIES FROM FEDERAL CHAPLAIN
99-CWA-65-LS

     DENVER (ELCA) -- Military chaplains do more than just "stay with
the troops," said Lt. Col. Howard D. Stendahl, in greetings Aug. 22 to
the 1999 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Churchwide
Assembly. Stehdahl is an ELCA pastor serving Randolph Air Force Base,
San Antonio, Texas.
     The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the
ELCA, met Aug. 16-22 here at the Colorado Convention Center.  There were
more than 2,500 people participating, including 1,038 ELCA voting
members.  The theme for the biennial assembly was "Making Christ Known:
Hope for a New Century."
     Stendahl, a 1991 recipient of the Bronze Star Medal, Outstanding
Among Deployed Chaplains, said chaplains work with troops on U.S. bases
and overseas, with veterans, and those in federal prisons. He recently
returned from a two-year term of service in Stuttgart, Germany, where he
worked as an engagement officer to build chaplaincy programs in eastern
European countries.
     Stendahl said he worked with others to help establish human rights
in those countries. "Religion is a basic human right. We were helping
those who may not have a voice have religious freedom," he said. In an
interview, Stendahl said he worked in Croatia, Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania, Romania and other counties.
     He told a story of a Roman Catholic church in Croatia that had
been "rocketed and destroyed by Serbs." All four priests and seven of
the 11 nuns were killed, and the remaining four nuns carried on the
ministry in a basement, he said. When a house was built for the nuns,
Stendahl paid a visit. The nuns served homemade bread and opened the
only bottle of wine they saved from their basement home.
     Stendahl said one of the nuns told him, "We thank God for you. You
bring us hope for freedom again."
     "I was humbled by the heroes of the faith," he said.
     "We engaged and made friends with nations that were formerly
enemies," Stendahl said in an interview. He added that friendships came
through reconciliation and peace-making.
     "Chaplains are soul care-givers," Stendahl said.

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