Tag Archives: Chaplain

US Military Christian Preschool Moves Off Post

The Mustard Seed preschool program had been run at the US Army garrison at Yongsan, South Korea, for more than 30 years.  Apparently, someone applied to become director of the preschool but was rejected — so they filed an anonymous complaint that triggered an investigation of the entire program.

Initially, the Army was simply going to shut it down, but it relented when parents voiced their concerns over the hardship a sudden closure would cause.  The Mustard Seed school has now moved off post to Seoul International Baptist Church, where it can still serve US troops and civilians without military involvement.

“We decided to see if it would work, and it worked beautifully,” said Jon Goldsmith, executive director of the Seoul International Baptist Church, which now operates the Mustard Seed Preschool. “It’s not really out of context for us because we have a large military presence at our church, and we were the closest church to the base, with a sizeable representation from the base.”

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Air Force Issues Guidance on Chaplains, Homosexuals

The Air Force Chaplaincy recently issued guidance (PDF) on how chaplains should handle a variety of situations regarding homosexuals and chaplains whose theologies do not allow them to support that lifestyle:

Wing Chaplains, talk with the chaplains under your supervision so that you are clear on what each chaplain’s endorser’s expectations are regarding ministry to same-gender couples.  Honor those expectations and do not ask a chaplain to do anything contrary to his or her endorsement.

The Air Force appears to be the first service to explain how to handle marriage retreats where a homosexual couple may attend.  Speaking to the Air Force “MarriageCare” retreats:

When you advertise a MC retreat, announce the chaplain who will be leading the event and the chaplain’s endorser.  If the chaplain 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 Messenger of Hope in Christ to US Military

An official Army article highlights US Army Chaplain (Capt) Samuel Rico, currently deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Chaplain Rico says his motivation is simple:  It’s his faith:

“My motivation is, ultimately, be a messenger of the hope that is in Christ where we have eternal life and the prospect of preparing people who someday will have God as their reward in the afterlife,” Rico said.

There is a place for faith in Christ in the military, and Chaplain Rico proudly proclaims the integration of his faith and profession — which gives other Christians in the military the courage to do the same.

Every chaplain in the US military is ultimately an ambassador of his faith, whatever that may be.  That is, after all, the entire reason for having chaplains in the military.

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Jewish Chaplain Considers Messianic Jews

The issue of US military chaplains being Messianic Jews boiled over several years ago.  Ultimately, the Navy decided that a Messianic-Jewish chaplain-candidate had to wear the Christian cross as a religious symbol, rather than the Jewish tablets he wanted.  He chose to resign instead, and no one else has stepped forward to continue the controversy.

Still, there are Messianic Jews within the military, and Chaplain David Frommer wrote about his experiences while deployed to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, when he discovered that one of the half-dozen Jews in his congregation was Messianic.

one of the Jewish civilian contractors arrived with a personal box of Havdalah supplies, prepared to conduct the service on his own in the room across the hall. He was one of my favorite congregants and had enthusiastically participated in all the services and classes I had offered…“It’s so Read more

Update: Weinstein Blames Harmful Christians for Air Force Reversal

After weeks of stewing, Michael Weinstein finally responded to Col Brian Duffy’s decision to re-post Chaplain (LtCol) Kenneth Reyes’ once-banned article on the base website, over Weinstein’s objections.

Michael Weinstein’s response was predictable, though it went counter to his public face of supporting “religious freedom.”

Weinstein blamed bad Christians for the Air Force reversal.  Weinstein said:

This was the Air Force caving in to pernicious, fundamentalist Christian pressure…

So much for supporting “military religious freedom,” eh?

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Chaplain Highlights Shortage of Catholic Priests

Chaplain (Capt) Joel Panzer, a Catholic priest who has served in the US Army for the past five years, recently made a push with fellow Catholic leaders to encourage priests to become military chaplains:

By doing so, he hopes to reverse a rising shortage of priests in the military.

About a quarter of the soldiers in the Army are Catholic, but only about 6% of the Army’s chaplains are Catholic priests.

All military branches combined have just Read more

US Military Supports Jewish Holidays at Sea

Jews in Green highlights the annual push by Kosher Troops to provide “High Holiday package shipments” to Jewish US military personnel around the world.

In the testimonials, there’s a telling thanks:

I want to let you know that your Passover packages arrived on the USS Gonzalez yesterday.  None too soon! We had a challenging Passover, because many of our supplies did not arrive in time…Our Jewish Sailors…were facing the remaining Passover day without foods Kosher for Passover.

Then your packages arrived yesterday. What a blessing Read more

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