***
The next section of text is from Section III. "Ecclesiastical Relationships," paragraph 19. "Summary.""There is no phase of the life of the soldier in which the chaplain does not show an interest and proper concern.... From the time the young soldier enters the Army, it is the responsibility of the chaplain to make every effort to assist the soldier to render a creditable service to the Army. He should be returned to civilian life, upon the conclusion of his tour of duty, strengthened in his religious outlook, more devoted as a citizen, and even more faithful to the flag he has served." (p. 6)
First of all it appears here that the Army expects the chaplain to fulfill a civil religious role, which may or may not be something a denomination supports, but if they send chaplains to the military chances are they are open to the idea. Civil religion is actually quite secular, so it would be something that would be what the Army wants, although some churches go for it too.
This is really a tall order, it seems to me, to make the chaplain solely responsible for making sure each and every soldier renders a creditable service to the Army. How on earth can the chaplain do that?! That's really crazy! The chaplain could maybe do his part, but to be solely responsible is truly impossible, it seems to me.
If the chaplain at the Vienna mission had this kind of outlook, and he knew about my father, then what would he have thought of me? He would have been used to thinking that the most important things are the interestes of the country, right? He was used to training soldiers to becoming more devoded citizens and more devoted to the flag, so maybe I should have realized that I shouldn't have been there because of dad. I don't know. I'm just saying this because he came from that background so we're trying to figure out where he was coming from. It's possible there was some of this.
***
We're starting chapter 3 now, "The Chaplain Program," Section I "Religious Services and Administration."20. General
"... These chaplain functions comprise the chaplain's program and are classified into four broad areas: Religious Services and Ministration; Religious Education; Pastoral Care and Counseling; and Character Guidance Instruction."
There's not too much to say about these because they're so general. I'll wait till they get spelled out in more detail to comment on them.
***
22. Types of Servicesa. Sunday/Sabbath Worship Services
...
(2) "Protestant chaplains are required to conduct a general service of worship which is acceptable and meaningful to the maximum number of Protestant personnel in the command." (p. 7)
This is confusing to me. I thought that the chaplain was supposed to practice his trade according to his denomination. But if he conducts a "general service of worship which is acceptable and meaningful to the maximum number of Protestant personnel in the command" how can he do that? Basically then he can't really practice his denomination's faith, but has to really water it down, including the traditions of it. But how could he keep his endorsement that way? That's terribly confusing, if you ask me!
***
23. Sacrements, Ordinances, Rites...
b. "... All baptisms are reported to the Chief of Chaplains on DA Form 16-5 in accordance with provision AR 165-20." (p. 8)
I supposed the actual names get reported too. At least they don't get reported to the commander or something. Still, it did remind me for a minute of how registered churches used to have to report things like that in the Soviet Union and other Communist countries. It's enough to make you want to get baptised in a non Army church for privacy's sake. Hopefully they just want it for statistics so they have bragging rights to how many people were baptised where. Or, alternatively, in typical government style, just to be bureaucratic and collect another statistic for statistic's sake alone, because government thrives on statistics.
***
That's all for tonight.