Military chaplains and ACW members share a ministry of presence

By Ana Watts

A military chaplain may not be all things to all people, but must be prepared to provide faith support to people of all faiths. “Ours is an imminent ministry of presence and we have an awareness of and a respect for all faith beliefs. It is all a part of our daily walk, as it is part of yours,” Major the Rev. Canon Malcolm Berry, CD, told ACW members gathered for their annual diocesan meeting.

Once a parish priest and archdeacon in this diocese, he is now the senior Canadian training chaplain and team leader at the Camp Gagetown Combat Centre where he is responsible to 2,200 personnel and 9,000 students and he recently developed a brochure on military personnel to be distributed in Anglican churches. He shared some of his insights and experiences as a chaplain in Afghanistan on May 5 at St. Luke’s in Saint John. He is careful to use the title chaplain rather than padre because it means father. Many chaplains are women and he believes it is important to use the more neutral term in order to show respect for them.

“Working in the Armed Forces is different from being a parish priest. First of all, we serve a diversity of faith groups and we have to be prepared to be there for all.” Whether they are Christian pastors or priests, Muslim imams or Jewish rabbis, chaplains need to understand the ramifications of all faiths, even though they perform baptisms, weddings and funerals in their own faith and denomination. If a Muslim soldier serving during Ramadan requests accommodation for prayer and fasting and is refused, he can count on a chaplain of any faith to understand the importance of these requests and intercede through the warrant officer.

All members of the Canadian Armed Forces are exposed to chaplaincy, no matter what their faith or orientation. And the chaplain is responsible for all military members and their families. “We offer guidance on ethical issues, both military and personal. We advocate and counsel in times of grief and stress, and we can make referrals to mental health agencies.”

Because talking with a chaplain is perceived as a neutral activity while talking to a mental health professional is often accompanied by its own stresses, chaplains are often given extra training to help Armed Forces personnel deal with “operational stress.”

Chaplain Berry has known “operational stress” himself. A total of 22 Canadians were killed while he was in Afghanistan, many of whom he knew well and had served with for more than a year. He was with 16 of those killed from the moment of attack, through mortuary affairs and until the ramp ceremony that sent their remains on their way home. He conducted 56 of those ramp ceremonies, most of them in the middle of the night.

“They were difficult, very difficult. One day I had coffee with one young man who asked me about God. He was clearly on a spiritual quest. Six hours later he was dead.”

The head of all 27 coalition countries’ chaplains was killed before his eyes, and Chaplain Berry was asked to assume his role.

He was in a helicopter during a rocket attack. Expert technology and pilot experience took them out of harm’s way at the last second, but he was still traumatized by the event.

“All soldiers are traumatized in combat, they want to tell someone what it is like to be them. They want to question things, even authority sometimes — and they know they can come to us because ours is a safe ministry, a ministry of trust. We maintain confidentiality except in cases of child abuse or threats to self or others.”

“Who supports the chaplain?” asked an ACW member.

“They’re working on it,” Chaplain Berry replied, who admits it took him more than a year to sufficiently recover from his own Afghan experience. “We have a ‘care for the caregiver’ week coming up soon with pastoral and mental health experts. It’s like a retreat. But I know if it hadn’t been for people praying for me, I wouldn’t have made it through Afghanistan. I believe in prayer.”

As dark as many of his experiences in Afghanistan were, there were hopeful ones as well.

Chaplains all conducted regular worship services in their own rites. “If there were 10 different chaplains, there would be 10 different kinds of services. The people supported them all, and I think that is a good model … I also know of nine people who had never been to church before who are now confirmed Anglicans.”

He even found a thriving underground Christian (mostly Roman Catholic) church in Afghanistan. “There are no collars or habits in sight, but priests and nuns have infiltrated society and are bringing people into their fold one by one.”

The Afghans he met were gentle, family people. He considers a souvenir carpet a tangible example of their strong familial bonds.

“Families often live in compounds. They make their own vegetable dies, spin and dye the silk and then sit together on the ground to make the carpets by hand, just as their ancestors did 3,000 years ago. They reminded me of ACW members sitting around a quilt.”

He did admit, however, that women in Afghanistan are normalized by conditions to behave in a certain way. “Tell an Afghani woman she can break away and she might not know what you are talking about. But we are not there to make them all Canadians. There are experts who are able to express concern for their situation and can help them.

“They (Afghanis) are not people who support the recent brutal laws stripping rights from women and wives. “The Taliban impose their interpretation of the law on others with guns.” He heard of a woman who became the chief of police, gained great respect in her community and was assassinated.

The ACW members were anxious to know if there were ways they could help the women in Afghanistan, and Chaplain Berry promised to look into it for them.

No matter what rank they attain in the military, chaplains assume the rank of those with whom they speak. Another private does not intimidate a private, and a general can’t pull rank with another general. Chaplains don’t support war, nor do they carry weapons, but they all possess a “silver bullet” that enables them to walk into any officer’s — even a commander’s — office at any time, so clearly they have the opportunity to influence important decisions.

“We know from Isaiah that God does not faint or grow weary, he gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless … he relieves us of our burdens and we are enlivened so we can have a ministry of presence. So we can reflect God’s love.”

ACW member Frances Morrisey of Stone Church in Saint John, where Chaplain Berry grew up, thanked him on behalf of the ACW. “The church is blessed because you are a part of it,” she said.

 

 

Diocesan Communications
12 May 2009