Chaplains minister to people of all faiths

February 9, 2009 12:35 am

This is in response to the bill introduced by Del. Charles Carrico regarding volunteer chaplains being able to pray in the manner pertaining to their own denomination ["House supports chaplain prayers," Feb. 5].

I am a devout Christian, a firm believer in First Amendment religious freedoms, and a retired Navy officer.

I've been blessed countless times over the years to listen to invocations in groups composed of many faiths and denominations. I have always admired the abilities of chaplains, no matter what their faith, to make that prayer special to me, the listener in the audience.

That takes work, talent, and a blessing from God. It is not about the right of how the chaplain wants to pray; he is not there to convert the audience. It is about crafting a prayer that can reach the heart and soul of each attendee, whatever his or her faith tradition.

The alternative is that we will have courts enforcing the rights of the audience not to be preached to, and the elimination of prayer altogether.

Think back to chaplains administering the last rites of whatever faith to a dying serviceman on a battlefield. All chaplains were trained in the past to tailor these prayers to the faith of the wounded, not attempt a last-minute conversion. A Catholic chaplain is not there to minister just to Catholics; a Jewish chaplain is not there to minister just to Jews.

It is a demonstration of Christianity to be able to minister to a person of another faith in the tradition of the one being ministered.

I find that those who insist on praying "their way" do not consider the Muslim or Jew in the audience.

Perhaps, more importantly, they would object if they were in the audience with an invocation being delivered by a clergyman who invoked the name of Allah or Yahweh.

I don't claim to hold all the answers, but a chaplain must remember that he or she must serve his congregation's or audience's needs, not just his own.

Michael A. Gorman

Spotsylvania