- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 410
Hey the Citizen has made nice twice in a month about Chaplains. It's a good article I think. Hopefully some on this forum have been benefactors of these folks while in theatre
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=2c242e5c-3587-4aa0-ab99-c1467d651b94&k=18546&p=2
Chaplains tend to soldiers' spiritual needs
Kelly Egan
CanWest News Service; Ottawa Citizen
Sunday, March 25, 2007
OTTAWA -There are 325 chaplains in the regular and reserve forces of the Canadian military, including one Muslim and one rabbi. At any time in Afghanistan, four or five serve on rotating duty.
Here, in a brief but beautiful rendering, is what they do, in the words of Major Rev. Robert Lauder, as published in a chaplain recruiting brochure.
"I discover that a suicide bomber has hit Canadian troops again. Four dead and 17 wounded. We go to the Role 3 Field Surgical Hospital to await casualties, silently whispering prayers for whoever is coming.
"The Blackhawks begin to touch down, and the stretchers are rushed into the triage area. The medical team makes fast, professional assessments and begins treatment. We lift stretchers, and hold the hands of soldiers as they squeeze our fingers and cry out in pain, grief and fear. We lift them for X-rays, and help turn their torn bodies for treatment, praying aloud with those who wish it, and silently for all.
"We report to concerned friends how their buddies are doing. Later, we will help many get in touch with loved ones at home, but not before they have had a chance to tell us their story first. It is too raw to be spoken to family and friends unmetabolized. They thank us for this. Chaplains are keepers of the story. We hold their experience in our hands, and cherish it. Tears come freely and often."
The chaplain, then, is a confessor in camo, a soul miner with a helmet, not a halo.
Maj. Guy Chapdelaine holds the brochure as he sits in his office in Ottawa.
He is a Roman Catholic priest. Now 45, he joined the reserves at age 17 in Sherbrooke, Que., and was ordained at age 27. He travelled to Kandahar in December for a six-week deployment, joining roughly 2,500 Canadian troops.
He would go back in a heartbeat. He did not hold the hand of a dying man during his deployment, but he has a satchel of insightful stories.
One day he was visiting an observation post, one made of wooden beams, overlooking the vast, terra-cotta mountainscape that is the theatre of battle.
A soldier had written a message on a beam, a snippet of the 23rd Psalm:"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me ..."
Chapdelaine took a photo of the message, so struck was he by its juxtaposition beside a gun-toting sentry on the lookout for armed attackers.
"It was a great moment as a chaplain to see this expression of faith,"he said in a recent interview. "You can see the spiritual need of the soldier."
He had great hopes for Christmas Day, perhaps even an outdoor mass, but it dawned grey and cold and wet, with nowhere for anyone to sit. The altar was a propped-up affair using ration boxes.
The priest did his best, delivering a homily in which he compared the soldiers to the biblical shepherds who first saw the sign of the impending birth of the saviour.
"I tried to remind them that what they were doing is bringing the light, what they were doing, they are not alone. God was with them."
Later that day, a young soldier approached him and said he wanted to convert to Christianity.
"He said 'I realized the importance of the place of God in my life.'" The priest spoke to the young man for about half an hour.
War concentrates the mind, he explained, tending to bring big life questions to the forefront. "When you are confronted with death every day, and you can be killed every day, what is the meaning of life?"
This is not only true of soldiers, Chapdelaine said. It is also true of chaplains, a generation of which are not accustomed to wartime work. "Even for me, in my preparations, I have to ask myself, 'Am I ready to die?'"
A chaplain's day is not predictable.
During the week after Christmas, he was visiting with B Company (1RCR) at a position called Strong Point Centre. A group of Christians asked for some kind of service.
He was missing the tools of his trade, so he borrowed a Bible. Four men assemble around a table, first setting a rifle on top beside a coffee cop; decorum be damned. They bowed their heads and prayed.
Mostly, Chapdelaine engaged in a "ministry of presence," meaning being visible and being available for a heart-engaging word is half the battle. One day, a soldier asks for a St. Christopher medal, to guarantee safe travel. Another spoke of living in an environment where Christian values may conflict with a soldier's duty.
"One soldier told me, I pray everyday that I will not have to use my gun."
At home, the priest is involved in recruiting new chaplains. The military generally needs 15 to 20 new regular-force chaplains every year.
"I'm very happy with what I'm doing," said the priest. "I think the Lord was preparing me for this."
Ottawa Citizen
© CanWest News Service 2007
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=2c242e5c-3587-4aa0-ab99-c1467d651b94&k=18546&p=2
Chaplains tend to soldiers' spiritual needs
Kelly Egan
CanWest News Service; Ottawa Citizen
Sunday, March 25, 2007
OTTAWA -There are 325 chaplains in the regular and reserve forces of the Canadian military, including one Muslim and one rabbi. At any time in Afghanistan, four or five serve on rotating duty.
Here, in a brief but beautiful rendering, is what they do, in the words of Major Rev. Robert Lauder, as published in a chaplain recruiting brochure.
"I discover that a suicide bomber has hit Canadian troops again. Four dead and 17 wounded. We go to the Role 3 Field Surgical Hospital to await casualties, silently whispering prayers for whoever is coming.
"The Blackhawks begin to touch down, and the stretchers are rushed into the triage area. The medical team makes fast, professional assessments and begins treatment. We lift stretchers, and hold the hands of soldiers as they squeeze our fingers and cry out in pain, grief and fear. We lift them for X-rays, and help turn their torn bodies for treatment, praying aloud with those who wish it, and silently for all.
"We report to concerned friends how their buddies are doing. Later, we will help many get in touch with loved ones at home, but not before they have had a chance to tell us their story first. It is too raw to be spoken to family and friends unmetabolized. They thank us for this. Chaplains are keepers of the story. We hold their experience in our hands, and cherish it. Tears come freely and often."
The chaplain, then, is a confessor in camo, a soul miner with a helmet, not a halo.
Maj. Guy Chapdelaine holds the brochure as he sits in his office in Ottawa.
He is a Roman Catholic priest. Now 45, he joined the reserves at age 17 in Sherbrooke, Que., and was ordained at age 27. He travelled to Kandahar in December for a six-week deployment, joining roughly 2,500 Canadian troops.
He would go back in a heartbeat. He did not hold the hand of a dying man during his deployment, but he has a satchel of insightful stories.
One day he was visiting an observation post, one made of wooden beams, overlooking the vast, terra-cotta mountainscape that is the theatre of battle.
A soldier had written a message on a beam, a snippet of the 23rd Psalm:"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me ..."
Chapdelaine took a photo of the message, so struck was he by its juxtaposition beside a gun-toting sentry on the lookout for armed attackers.
"It was a great moment as a chaplain to see this expression of faith,"he said in a recent interview. "You can see the spiritual need of the soldier."
He had great hopes for Christmas Day, perhaps even an outdoor mass, but it dawned grey and cold and wet, with nowhere for anyone to sit. The altar was a propped-up affair using ration boxes.
The priest did his best, delivering a homily in which he compared the soldiers to the biblical shepherds who first saw the sign of the impending birth of the saviour.
"I tried to remind them that what they were doing is bringing the light, what they were doing, they are not alone. God was with them."
Later that day, a young soldier approached him and said he wanted to convert to Christianity.
"He said 'I realized the importance of the place of God in my life.'" The priest spoke to the young man for about half an hour.
War concentrates the mind, he explained, tending to bring big life questions to the forefront. "When you are confronted with death every day, and you can be killed every day, what is the meaning of life?"
This is not only true of soldiers, Chapdelaine said. It is also true of chaplains, a generation of which are not accustomed to wartime work. "Even for me, in my preparations, I have to ask myself, 'Am I ready to die?'"
A chaplain's day is not predictable.
During the week after Christmas, he was visiting with B Company (1RCR) at a position called Strong Point Centre. A group of Christians asked for some kind of service.
He was missing the tools of his trade, so he borrowed a Bible. Four men assemble around a table, first setting a rifle on top beside a coffee cop; decorum be damned. They bowed their heads and prayed.
Mostly, Chapdelaine engaged in a "ministry of presence," meaning being visible and being available for a heart-engaging word is half the battle. One day, a soldier asks for a St. Christopher medal, to guarantee safe travel. Another spoke of living in an environment where Christian values may conflict with a soldier's duty.
"One soldier told me, I pray everyday that I will not have to use my gun."
At home, the priest is involved in recruiting new chaplains. The military generally needs 15 to 20 new regular-force chaplains every year.
"I'm very happy with what I'm doing," said the priest. "I think the Lord was preparing me for this."
Ottawa Citizen
© CanWest News Service 2007