Tag Archives: anglican

Kamikaze Turned Priest Briefs US Marines

Paul Saneaki Nakamura is a retired Anglican Bishop. He’s also a veteran of Japan’s Imperial Navy, in which he trained to be a kamikaze in the closing days of World War II. Nakamura recently spoke to US Marines on Camp Hansen, Okinawa, about his experiences — both physical and spiritual:

The 87-year-old retired Anglican bishop grew up on Okinawa as militarism swept across Japan. Like many others, he became an ultra-nationalist who firmly believed in selfless devotion to his country. He worshipped the emperor as god; offering his life to the emperor was the ultimate virtue….

He survived Read more

Canada Installs First Openly Homosexual Chaplain General

Even as the US military tries to figure out how to balance the human liberty of religious freedom with demands for sexual liberty — and how that impacts the military chaplaincy — Canada has just appointed an openly homosexual Brigadier General to its head of all Chaplains:

Newly-appointed Brigadier General the Venerable John Fletcher was installed as the new Chaplain General during a change of appointment ceremony and service of installation for the Chaplain General of the Canadian Armed Forces on Wednesday, September 4, 2013. The newly appointed Chaplain General John Fletcher is Canada’s first openly gay chaplain to hold the position of Chaplain General.

Fletcher is an Anglican, a denomination that has a divided opinion on the acceptability of homosexuality.

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Chaplain Followed Unique Path from Africa to US Army

US Army Chaplain (Maj) David Waweru followed an unusual path to become a chaplain.  He grew up in Kenya, 20 miles west of Nairobi.  His interest in the United States came from his interaction with American ministries, specifically, Campus Crusade for Christ:

“The job that really stands out to me is when I worked for Campus Crusade for Christ,” Waweru said. “This job stands out to me because that is when I had a lot of time with American missionaries, and I believe that is where my interest in coming to the United States began.”

His work with Campus Crusade encouraged him to become Read more