Interacting with Chaplains

 Lydia Saad at Gallup:

Whether as a hospital patient, a visitor at a nursing home, a member of the armed forces or in some other setting, one in four Americans have interacted with a chaplain at some point in their lives. Although many who have interacted with chaplains aren’t religious themselves, most Americans who have ever been served by a chaplain report that the interaction was valuable.

These findings come from an in-depth survey about Americans’ experiences with chaplains conducted by Gallup for the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab at Brandeis University. For the March 2022 survey, chaplains were defined as “clergy or other religious guides or spiritual caregivers who serve people outside of churches or other houses of worship, in settings such as hospitals, the military, prisons, or institutions of higher education, to name a few examples.”

Among the 25% of U.S. adults polled in March who report that a chaplain assisted, counseled or visited with them at some point in their lives, either in person or virtually, 7% said it happened within the previous 12 months. Another 7% said their encounter had occurred two to five years earlier, while 11% said it happened six or more years ago.

Half of those ever meeting with a chaplain say the encounter occurred in a healthcare setting, such as a hospital, palliative care facility or hospice. The next most common context is the military, mentioned by 11%, while a variety of other settings are each mentioned by less than 5%.

Hero Priest

On April 11, the president posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor to Father Emil J. Kapaun, a U.S. Army chaplain who showed amazing bravery during the Korean War.  The president's remarks are worth quoting at length:

After the Communist invasion of South Korea, he was among the first American troops that hit the beaches and pushed their way north through hard mountains and bitter cold. In his understated Midwestern way, he wrote home, saying, “this outdoor life is quite the thing” -- (laughter) -- and “I prefer to live in a house once in a while.” But he had hope, saying, “It looks like the war will end soon.”

That’s when Chinese forces entered the war with a massive surprise attack -- perhaps 20,000 soldiers pouring down on a few thousand Americans. In the chaos, dodging bullets and explosions, Father Kapaun raced between foxholes, out past the front lines and into no-man’s land -- dragging the wounded to safety.

When his commanders ordered an evacuation, he chose to stay -- gathering the injured, tending to their wounds. When the enemy broke through and the combat was hand-to-hand, he carried on -- comforting the injured and the dying, offering some measure of peace as they left this Earth.

When enemy forces bore down, it seemed like the end -- that these wounded Americans, more than a dozen of them, would be gunned down. But Father Kapaun spotted a wounded Chinese officer. He pleaded with this Chinese officer and convinced him to call out to his fellow Chinese. The shooting stopped and they negotiated a safe surrender, saving those American lives.

Then, as Father Kapaun was being led away, he saw another American -- wounded, unable to walk, laying in a ditch, defenseless. An enemy soldier was standing over him, rifle aimed at his head, ready to shoot. And Father Kapaun marched over and pushed the enemy soldier aside. And then as the soldier watched, stunned, Father Kapaun carried that wounded American away.

This is the valor we honor today -- an American soldier who didn’t fire a gun, but who wielded the mightiest weapon of all, a love for his brothers so pure that he was willing to die so that they might live. And yet, the incredible story of Father Kapaun does not end there.

He carried that injured American, for miles, as their captors forced them on a death march. When Father Kapaun grew tired, he’d help the wounded soldier hop on one leg. When other prisoners stumbled, he picked them up. When they wanted to quit -- knowing that stragglers would be shot -- he begged them to keep walking.

In the camps that winter, deep in a valley, men could freeze to death in their sleep. Father Kapaun offered them his own clothes. They starved on tiny rations of millet and corn and birdseed. He somehow snuck past the guards, foraged in nearby fields, and returned with rice and potatoes. In desperation, some men hoarded food. He convinced them to share. Their bodies were ravaged by dysentery. He grabbed some rocks, pounded metal into pots and boiled clean water. They lived in filth. He washed their clothes and he cleansed their wounds.

The guards ridiculed his devotion to his Savior and the Almighty. They took his clothes and made him stand in the freezing cold for hours. Yet, he never lost his faith. If anything, it only grew stronger. At night, he slipped into huts to lead prisoners in prayer, saying the Rosary, administering the sacraments, offering three simple words: “God bless you.” One of them later said that with his very presence he could just for a moment turn a mud hut into a cathedral.

That spring, he went further -- he held an Easter service. I just met with the Kapaun family. They showed me something extraordinary -- the actual stole, the purple vestment that Father Kapaun wore when he celebrated Mass inside that prison camp.

As the sun rose that Easter Sunday, he put on that purple stole and led dozens of prisoners to the ruins of an old church in the camp. And he read from a prayer missal that they had kept hidden. He held up a small crucifix that he had made from sticks. And as the guards watched, Father Kapaun and all those prisoners -- men of different faith, perhaps some men of no faith -- sang the Lord’s Prayer and “America the Beautiful.” They sang so loud that other prisoners across the camp not only heard them, they joined in, too -- filling that valley with song and with prayer.

That faith -- that they might be delivered from evil, that they could make it home -- was perhaps the greatest gift to those men; that even amidst such hardship and despair, there could be hope; amid their misery in the temporal they could see those truths that are eternal; that even in such hell, there could be a touch of the divine. Looking back, one of them said that that is what “kept a lot of us alive.”

Yet, for Father Kapaun, the horrific conditions took their toll. Thin, frail, he began to limp, with a blood clot in his leg. And then came dysentery, then pneumonia. That’s when the guards saw their chance to finally rid themselves of this priest and the hope he inspired. They came for him. And over the protests and tears of the men who loved him, the guards sent him to a death house -- a hellhole with no food or water -- to be left to die.

And yet, even then, his faith held firm. “I’m going to where I’ve always wanted to go,” he told his brothers. “And when I get up there, I’ll say a prayer for all of you.” And then, as was taken away, he did something remarkable -- he blessed the guards. “Forgive them,” he said, “for they know not what they do.” Two days later, in that house of death, Father Kapaun breathed his last breath. His body was taken away, his grave unmarked, his remains unrecovered to this day.

"Religious Extremism" List

The Archdiocese for the Military Services (AMS) issued a statement on the inclusion of “Catholicism” as an example of “religious extremism” on slide #24 of this U.S. Army Reserve training brief:

The Archdiocese for the Military Services and Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty recently became aware of a U.S. Army Reserve Equal Opportunity training brief that expressly listed “Catholicism,” “Evangelical Christianity” and other religious groups as examples of “religious extremism” alongside groups such as “Al Qaeda”, “Hamas” and the “KKK.”

The Archdiocese is astounded that Catholics were listed alongside groups that are, by their very mission and nature, violent and extremist.

According to an investigation and reply from the Army Chief of Chaplains office, the training in question appears to have been an isolated incident not condoned by the Department of the Army. The Archdiocese and the Chaplain Alliance explained that the Army can and should take steps to prevent such incidents in the future.

The Archdiocese calls upon the Department of Defense to review these materials and to ensure that tax-payer funds are never again used to present blatantly anti-religious material to the men and women in uniform.

Religion Behind Bars

Tocqueville came to America to study its penitentiaries.  He reported on religious influences behind bars -- which continues today, as the Pew Research Center reports:

Professional prison chaplains see America's state penitentiaries as places bustling with religious activity, ranging from efforts by inmates to proselytize or convert other inmates to religious switching by prisoners.

In the view of the chaplains, religious counseling and other religion-based programming play an important role in rehabilitating prisoners.

More than seven-in-ten state prison chaplains say efforts by inmates to convert others are very or somewhat common. About three-quarters of them report that a lot or some religious switching occurs among inmates, and they note growth in the numbers of Muslims and Protestant Christians in particular as a result of this switching. Nearly three-quarters of the chaplains surveyed say they consider access to religion-related programs in prison to be "absolutely critical" to successful rehabilitation of inmates.

A sizable minority of chaplains say that religious extremism is either very or somewhat common among inmates, but an overwhelming majority report that religious extremism seldom poses a threat to the security of the facility in which they work

Military Chaplains and Birth Control Policy

Chaplains are part of the military, which is under the command of the president. What happen when their military role conflicts with their religious one?

Brian Montopoli reports at CBS:

During church services on Sunday, Catholics around the country were read a blistering letter assailing the Obama administration for an "assault on religious liberty" in the form of a coming requirement that most church-linked organizations - among them hospitals, schools and universities - offer birth control coverage as part of their health care plans. 

Business Insider reports:

Even Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who is in charge of Catholic military chaplains sent out the same letter.

But after he did, the Army's Office of the Chief of Chaplains sent out another communication forbidding Catholic priests to read the letter, in part because it seemed to encourage civil disobedience, and could be read as seditious against the Commander-in-Chief.

More than one Catholic chaplain who spoke to us off the record confirmed that many chaplains disobeyed this instruction and read the letter anyway. Others sought further instructions from their Archbishop.

Now after much behind-the-scenes bureaucratic wrangling, a new version of the letter will be read, one that was edited of the language about "unjust laws."

... It's an issue that Catholic chaplains are taking very seriously in private. We obtained a confidential letter sent to the chaplains that prepares priests to contact the Military Archdiocesan lawyer in case of more interference or any punishment.

The Archdiocese believes that any attempt to keep a chaplain from freely teaching and preaching the Catholic faith, for which you were endorsed, is a violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution. If any of you are in any way punished or slated for punitive action, I ask that you kindly call our Archdiocesan Attorney, John L. Schlageter, Esq. at 202-719-3635 and he will immediately place you into contact with a Religious Freedom Law Firm that will be most willing to take your case free of charge.

Pagans and the Air Force Academy

Our chapter on civic culture discusses the role of religion and military service in American public life. The two subjects converge when the military hires chaplains or accommodates religious services. The Los Angeles Times reports on the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs:

[T]he academy this year dedicated an $80,000 outdoor worship center — a small Stonehenge-like circle of boulders with propane fire pit — high on a hill for the handful of current or future cadets whose religions fall under the broad category of "Earth-based." Those include pagans, Wiccans, druids, witches and followers of Native American faiths.

Witches in the Air Force? Chaplain Maj. Darren Duncan, branch chief of cadet faith communities at the academy, sighs. A punch line waiting to happen, and he's heard all the broom jokes.

For the record, there are no witches among the cadets this year. But the two spiritual leaders for all Earth-based religions — one a civilian, one an Air Force reservist — are witches and regularly cast spells, which they say is not so different from offering prayer. There also are no druids this year. But there could be next year.

"We're here to accommodate all religions, period," Duncan says. The building of the Cadet Chapel Falcon Circle on the hilltop, he says, is no different from the past conversion of chapel rooms into worship spaces that serve this year's 11 Muslim, 16 Buddhist and 10 Hindu cadets. There are also 43 self-identified atheist cadets whose beliefs, or lack of them, Duncan says are also to be respected.

Father Patrick Conroy, House Chaplain

At the McClatchy News Service (h/t John Roth), Rob Hotakainen reports on the new chaplain of the House: Father Patrick Conroy, a graduate of Claremont McKenna College:

The Rev. Patrick Conroy says he won't be trying to convert anyone as he gets rolling as chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives, which includes 39 Jews, three Buddhists and two Muslims.

But he says he'll need "a radical reliance upon the grace of God" in his new job with such a high-powered flock, relying "not just on the breadth of my experience and the cleverness I have."

Conroy, known as Father Pat, is the first Jesuit and the second Catholic priest to take the position.

As House chaplain, Conroy will open the daily proceedings with a prayer, and he will provide pastoral counseling to House members and their staffs. Chaplains have even performed marriage and funeral ceremonies.

Conroy, 60, studied political science in college and at one point dreamed of a life in politics, even of running for the U.S. Senate. Now he said he just wants to avoid political discussions and try to stop the arguments that take place in his head.

"What I've noticed as I've gotten older is that whenever I do enter into political thought and political discussion, personally I get more and more upset," Conroy said in an interview in his Capitol office. "I have my political opinions and I can't understand how anybody else would have anything different. And so often, I'd find myself arguing in my head with people that I would disagree with, and I'd get upset about it. ... I don't think that's good for me, and I don't know if I need that stress anymore."

When he thought about applying for the job, he said, he considered it "a gift from God, precisely because it would be a challenge to me, and an invitation to me to let go of that stuff. ... I never really learned how to disagree with people as graciously as I would like to."

Conroy, who was ordained in 1983, is the 60th House chaplain since 1789 and only the sixth in the past 90 years. He succeeds the Rev. Daniel Coughlin, a Roman Catholic priest who resigned in mid-April after 11 years and then recommended Conroy as his successor.

While some question why the House even needs a chaplain, Conroy said his job doesn't violate the separation of church and state.

"No member of Congress is required to pray," he said. "No member of Congress is expected to pray. I'm not proselytizing. ... I'm merely here to do the job that I've been asked to do by the people's House."

Speaker Boehner announced the nomination on May 6. On May 25, Rep. David Dreier (R-CA), a fellow CMC alumnus, welcomed Father Conroy to the job:



The next day, Father Conroy offered his first prayer as House chaplain:

Chaplains

The themes of religion, patriotism, and military service come together in the story of military chaplains. All of the services have chaplains, and the Army has the largest chaplaincy corps:

Since July 29, 1775, approximately 25,000 Army Chaplains have served as religious and spiritual leaders for 25 million Soldiers and their Families. From military installations to deployed combat units and from service schools to military hospitals, Army Chaplains and Chaplain Assistants have performed their ministries in the most religiously diverse organization in the world. Always present with their Soldiers in war and in peace, Army Chaplains have served in more than 270 major wars and combat engagements. Some 400 Army Chaplains have laid down their lives in battle. Six have been awarded the Medal of Honor. Their love of God, Country and the American Soldier has been a beacon of light and a message of hope for all those who have served our nation. Currently, over 2,800 Chaplains are serving the Total Army representing over 130 different religious organizations. Over 800 Chaplains and Chaplain assistants are currently mobilized or deployed in support of contingency operations throughout the world.

The Los Angeles Times reports on the death of Army chaplain Dale Goetz:

On Aug. 30, a chaplain and another soldier knocked on the door of the tan split-level Dale and Christy bought here last year — the first house they had ever owned.

Capt. Dale Goetz was dead at 43, the first chaplain killed in combat since the Vietnam War.

He was on a trip that day to conduct services and counsel soldiers at several remote combat outposts in Kandahar province when a roadside bomb struck his vehicle. Goetz and four other soldiers were killed.

His soldiers say the chaplain died doing what he loved — talking to them, praying with them, helping counsel them through long days and nights of fear and dread. He had been carrying CDs for them to record personal messages to their families.

...

There are just 280 chaplains to minister to nearly 100,000 U.S. troops spread across Afghanistan, and 200 in Iraq. Chaplains deploy, and their families, like those of all service members, dread the knock at the door.

"As a chaplain's wife, you have that fear of the unknown," said Christy Goetz, who met Dale at a Baptist Bible college and includes "thechaplainswife" in her e-mail address. "But I was giving my husband to God."

..

For the first time since the Vietnam War, the military had to adjust its memorial service when it was time to pay last respects to Goetz. Soldiers killed in battle are honored by placing their helmets, dog tags and boots next to their rifles, but chaplains are unarmed.

For Chaplain Goetz, a wooden cross took the place of the weapon.