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Does an atheist chaplain stretch credibility?

01 May 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

In this Sunday's gospel Jesus offers praise and comfort to those who have not seen and yet believed. Unbelievers look for comfort elsewhere, including most recently among U.S. miltary chaplains. Atheists are petitioning the military to add nonbelievers to the ranks of chaplains on the grounds that humanists should be able receive the same services as believers. There are more than 3,000 chaplains in the military who are commissioned to minister to the spiritual and emotional needs of military personnel regardless of their faiths. Now, groups representing atheists and secular humanists are pushing for the appointment of one of their own to the chaplaincy, hoping to give voice to what they say is a large--and largely underground--population of nonbelievers in the military. But winning the appointment of an atheist chaplain will require support from senior chaplains--a tall order. Many chaplains are skeptical. Do atheists belong to a “faith group,” a requirement for having a chaplain? Can they provide support to religious troops of all faiths, a fundamental responsibility for chaplains? Jason Torpy, a former Army captain who is president of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, said humanist chaplains would do everything religious chaplains do, including counsel troops and help them follow their faiths. But just as a Protestant chaplain would not preside over a Catholic service, a humanist might not lead worship, though they might help organize it. “Humanism fills the same role for atheists that Christianity does for Christians and Judaism does for Jews,” Torpy said. “It answers questions of ultimate concern; it directs our values.” An article by James Dao for the New York Times

chaplains military atheists humanists jason torpy
9/11 turns 10: Remembering and reflecting

11 Sep 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Exploring themes such as the harm caused by vengeance and the healing possible through forgiveness, the Sunday readings are tailor-made for the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. PrepareTheWord and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops provide a number of useful resources and reflections to help commemorate the events of 9/11 and their aftermath. A slew of articles and media specials this week also are focused on the anniversary of the attacks. Among the many noteworthy stories: Religion helped in 9/11 recovery. According to a summary of a study which will be published in an upcoming edition of the Journal of Behavioral Medicine, religious and spiritual Americans reported better physical and emotional health in the three years after the September 11 attacks. “The more likely people were to participate in religious activities, the more likely they were to experience positive emotion, and the less likely they were to ruminate about the events of 9/11 and the less likely they were to develop physical health problems,” said Roxane Cohen Silver, one of the psychologists who wrote the study. “The same basic message comes from what we call spirituality.” The researchers showed that attendance at religious services was associated with positive emotions such as happiness, affection, and joy; lower odds of developing new ailments; and a smaller number of intrusive, unwanted flashbacks to 9/11. Complicated attitudes toward Muslims. A new poll from the Brookings Institution reports that more than 8 in 10 Americans said that self-proclaimed Christians who commit violence in the name of Christianity are not really Christians. By contrast, less than half (48 percent) said that self-proclaimed Muslims who commit acts of violence in the name of Islam are not really Muslims. "Interestingly, we find that Americans basically have a double standard when it comes to evaluating religious violence," said Robert P. Jones of the Public Religion Research Institute, which produced the survey along with Brookings. The survey of 2,450 adults paints Americans' attitudes toward Muslims as a complex picture of acceptance and wariness. Nearly nine in 10 Americans agreed that "America was founded on the idea of religious freedom for everyone, including religious groups that are unpopular." And by a 2-to-1 margin Americans rejected the idea that Muslims want to establish Islamic law, or Shariah, in the United States. But they were divided as to whether Islam is at odds with American values, with 47 percent agreeing and 48 percent disagreeing. The poll's authors likened this ambivalence about American Muslims to the evolution of attitudes toward Catholics, who were once widely suspected for their loyalty to the pope, and Mormons, once widely reviled for their beliefs. Chaplains reflect on their 9/11 experience. Immediately following the 9/11 attacks spiritual leaders from all traditions gathered to offer comfort to the families, friends, and workers. A few of their reflections 10 years later: Father James Martin, S.J.: “That night, I put on my clerical collar and walked through the empty streets to a nearby hospital to help with victims who never came. The next day, I spent several hours in a counseling center helping bereaved families examine hospital records for their loved ones. “Finally, on Sept. 13, with the city still in chaos, a police officer offered me a ride to Ground Zero, where I would spend the next few days and weeks, along with my brother Jesuits, ministering to the firefighters and rescue workers. “There, at this most terrible place, I encountered grace as powerfully as I ever have--in the outpouring of compassion and charity among the rescue workers.” Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs: “Shortly after 9/11 I was working at Respite Center 1 [near Ground Zero] as an American Red Cross chaplain. I would make my way to the respite center and spend the day with police, fire, and recovery/construction workers, helping them to be able to continue to do their work, listening to their stories of pain and anger, confusion and grief. It was a time of deep listening because I could not take away their pain or their anger or their grief. “I am so thankful for the opportunity to serve those who were there to protect us and recover the remains of those who died. It was not something I ever envisioned when I answered a call to serve God.” Sources: Articles by Naomi Zeveloff for Forward, HuffingtonPost.com, and Lauren Markoe for Religion News Service

religion Islam Muslims americans 911 chaplains spirituality
Prisoners freely express religious beliefs

01 Apr 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Jesus is arrested, hauled before Jewish and then Roman authorities, sentenced to death, and executed, we read in the gospel account of the Lord’s Passion this Sunday. Prison chaplains know a thing or two about those who have been arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced, and a new study of state prison chaplains suggests that religion is alive and well behind bars and that a good amount of proselytizing goes on regularly. Overwhelmingly the chaplains consider religious counseling and other religion-based programming an important aspect of rehabilitating prisoners as well. The report is based on a survey of the perceptions of 730 chaplains who serve in the nation's state prison systems. From their perspective, state penitentiaries are brimming with religious activity. More than seven in ten said that efforts by inmates to proselytize or convert other inmates are either very common or somewhat common. About three-quarters of the chaplains said that a lot (26 percent) or some (51 percent) religious switching occurs among inmates in the prisons where they work. Many chaplains report growth from religious switching in the numbers of Muslims and evangelical Protestant Christians in particular. A vast majority of state prison chaplains consider religious counseling and other religion-based programming an important aspect of rehabilitating prisoners. Around three-quarters said they consider access to religion-related programs in prison and such support after inmates are released to be “absolutely critical” to inmates’ successful rehabilitation and reentry into society. At the same time, a sizable minority of chaplains said that religious extremism is either very common (12 percent) or somewhat common (29 percent) among inmates. Religious extremism is reported by the chaplains to be especially common among Muslim inmates (including followers of the Nation of Islam and the Moorish Science Temple of America) and, to a lesser degree, among followers of pagan or earth-based religions such as Odinism and various forms of Wicca. An overwhelming majority of chaplains, however, reported that religious extremism seldom poses a threat to the security of the facility in which they work. Despite the lack of certain kinds of volunteers and the time spent on paperwork rather than direct ministry, about two-thirds of chaplains reported high job satisfaction. Sources: An article by Adelle M. Banks for Religion News Service and survey results on PewForum.org

Muslims prisoners prisons religious extremism evangelicalism prison chaplains
Chaplain to a House divided

13 May 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

It’s all about loving one another as I have loved you, Jesus instructs his disciples in this Sunday’s gospel. That message clearly has not gotten through to members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Just ask Father Patrick Conroy, S.J., who for the past year has served as the chamber’s 60th chaplain.After almost a year as chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives, which The New York Times called "one of the most reviled congregations in the country," Conroy, who formerly taught theology at a Jesuit high school in Portland, discussed in an interview the challenges of his job and issued a challenge to American citizens.When asked if the House was, indeed, “the most reviled congregation in the country,” Conroy said, “Well, I was a chaplain at San Quentin [prison, California], too—and I'm not making a comparison there."Conroy’s advice to political officials? “Thomas Aquinas tells us to follow our consciences, to be honest with ourselves. If you can't do that, then we have a crisis.” And what advice does Conroy have for Americans who have run out of patience or lost faith in Congress? “Communicate what is important to you to your congressional representative. Even if your [candidate] lost the election, the rep is still representing you.“I pray that all members in Congress will hear the minority voice and that the American people will be prayerfully supportive of Congress and the president, who represent all of us. If we see this as a zero sum battle, it's going to get ugly,” Conroy said. Source: An interview with Nancy Haught of Religion News Service

congress house of representatives chaplains patrick contoy patrick conroy
Fallen Catholic chaplain receives highest military honor

14 Apr 2013 - Preaching the News for Sunday

In this Sunday’s psalm, mourning becomes dancing in the certainty of divine rescue. Catholic priest Emil Kapaun served as a military chaplain during the Korean War, caring for and sustaining his fellow soldiers who hoped for rescue during their imprisonment in a harsh POW camp. Kapaun, who died in the camp, was awarded posthumously the Medal of Honor in a White House ceremony Thursday. The priest from rural Kansas is also a candidate for sainthood.President Barack Obama awarded the nation’s highest military honor to Kapaun’s next of kin to commemorate the Army chaplain’s acts of personal bravery during the Korean War, both on the battlefield and in a POW camp. For years POWs who survived the camp have pushed for Kapaun’s wartime actions to be recognized. Now it seems they’ve been heard by both church and state.Kapaun, born in 1916, was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Wichita at age 24. Four years later he joined the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps. He left for Japan and Korea in 1950 with the 8th Cavalry Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division. Roy Wenzl, a Wichita Eagle reporter and the coauthor of Kapaun’s biography, said Kapaun worked alongside other soldiers digging latrines and foxholes and risked his life time after time to save the fallen.Kapaun saw several battles during the war, and in each one he would run outside the perimeter to save wounded soldiers despite pleas from his fellow soldiers to remain in safety. But during the Battle of Unsan, Kapaun’s regiment was surrounded by a sea of Chinese soldiers. Kapaun refused to escape and leave the his men and was captured on November 2, 1950.The Americans were forced to march, with little to no food, in sometimes sub-zero temperatures, to what is now North Korea. They ended up in the Pyoktong POW camp. Inside the camp, hunger, disease, and the cold preyed upon hundreds of soldiers. Dysentery ran wild and the inmates’ only option for water was melted snow.Despite the miserable conditions, Kapaun flouted camp rules to aid his fellow prisoners, stealing food and medicine, praying with them, leading them to resist indoctrination, and shaping containers out of roofing tin to boil water. “He led by example. He picked lice off of soldiers when no one else would,” Wenzl said.When he fell ill, camp guards treated Kapaun roughly and isolated him in a ramshackle hut the POWs called “the death house,” where he received no care. “Hey, Mike, don’t worry about me,” Lt. Mike Dowe recalled him saying. “I’m going to where I always wanted to go and I’ll say a prayer for all of you.”As the Chinese guards were taking him, Kapaun blessed them and asked for their forgiveness. Two days later, on May 23, 1951, he passed away, seven months after arriving at the camp. In 1993 the Vatican declared Kapaun “a Servant of God,” which officially opened his sainthood cause.Homily help: It is rare and gratifying when both church and state can recognize an individual, but Chaplain Kapaun exemplified the best traits of a priest and a patriot. Roy Wenzl, the coauthor of Kapaun’s biography, wrote a series about him for the Wichita Eagle that parishioners may find inspiring. Source: Caleb K. Bell for Religion News Service

sainthood emil kapuan military chaplains korean war medal of honor roy wenzl
Religious groups confront government shutdown

13 Oct 2013 - Preaching the News for Sunday

“The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power,” says the psalmist this Sunday. A number of Christan groups in the U.S. are wishing that the political leadership of their nation would cease obstructing the power of federal services which help others and bring the government shutdown to an end.More than 90 Catholic, evangelical, and Protestant leaders have criticized elected officials who “are pursuing an extreme ideological agenda at the expense of the working poor and vulnerable families." On Wednesday representatives of these churches began holding a daily “Faithful Filibuster” on Capitol Hill, reading Bible verses about the poor “to remind Congress that its dysfunction hurts struggling families and low-income people."The government shutdown has threatened to reduce or shutter charitable services operated by faith-based groups which use federal funds. As Catholic News Service reported, the Diocese of Wichita, Kansas, for example, is covering the costs of programs for homeless families and battered women run by the local branch of Catholic Charities. In Washington the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said it would be able to continue assisting immigrants through its Migration and Refugee Services for a couple of months if necessary.But officials also made it clear that these are only stop-gap measures that still leave the poor and vulnerable at greater risk. “It is hypocritical and shameful for those who tout their commitment to family values to show such callous indifference,” said an October 2 statement released by Faith in Public Life and signed by a range of Catholic and other Christian leaders.The government shutdown also caused some initial confusion about whether military chaplains would be able to perform religious services. The House passed a resolution October 5 urging the U.S. secretary of defense not to allow the shutdown to reduce religious services on military bases.Military chaplains continue to work during the shutdown, but the resolution was aimed at contract chaplains involved in performing religious services or conducting religious activities, according to The Military Times. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said he would reinstate almost all of the 350,000 civilian employees of the Defense Department, which was expected to allow contract priests to say Mass.Still, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services says the shutdown is threatening Catholic service members’ religious rights. “Priests who minister to Catholics on military bases worldwide are not permitted to work—not even to volunteer," said John Schlageter, general counsel for the military archdiocese. "During the shutdown, it is illegal for them to minister on base and they risk being arrested if they attempt to do so.”Homily hint: It is extremely frustrating for many American citizens to watch their elected officials disrupt the the functioning of the federal government and even the democratic process itself for what seems to be their own narrow political purposes. Catholics and other people of faith dedicated to promoting the common good should urge their representatives to follow their sworn mandate to, in the words of the Preamble to the Constiution of the United States, "promote the general Welfare." Source: An article by Kevin Eckstrom, Cathy Lynn Grossman, Sarah Pulliam Bailey,David Gibson, Adelle M. Banks, and Katherine Burgess for Religion News Service

federal funding government shutdown military chaplains faith groups federal assistance church aid