Chaplains Nurture Living, Care For Wounded, Honor Dead by U.S. Army Libby Weiler, Garrison Benelux Benelux Public Affairs
January 13, 2022
The U.S. Army Chaplain Corps has been
taking care of Soldiers, Family members and civilians since its
beginning July 29, 1775, and they continue to serve communities
across the globe.
“We predate the constitution,” said
Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Thomas Gidley, U.S. Army Garrison Benelux
chaplain. “General Washington recognized the need to care for the
moral and spiritual needs of the Soldiers – that it was essential –
so he petitioned Congress for chaplains. We have been right there
beside Soldiers from day one.

July 6, 2021 - U.S. Army Garrison Benelux chaplains cut a birthday cake in celebration of their 246 birthday on Chièvres Air Base, Chièvres Belgium. (Photo by Libby Weiler, Garrison Benelux Benelux Public Affairs)
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“An old way to describe this is ministry of
presence,” continued Gidley.
Across the Benelux footprint –
at Brunssum in the Netherlands and at Brussels, SHAPE
and Chièvres Air Base in Belgium – chaplains are available to
community members 24/7.
“One of the main roles as a chaplain
is to provide and advise,” said Chaplain (Maj.) Jonathan Averill,
the chaplain at USAG Benelux – Brussels.
Chaplain (Maj.)
Bernardino Yebra, SHAPE chaplain, who became a priest 30 years ago
and then joined the Army, said the chaplaincy is his calling within
the calling.
“If you see a U.S. Army chaplain, you will see
the cross on our PC (patrol cap) and uniforms,” said Yebra. “It
tells the Soldier that yes, here is an officer, but his calling is
to provide religious support.”
“The Army is actually
addressing the holistic care for Soldiers, addressing the fact that
we acknowledge as an institution that there’s more to individuals
than just the flesh and bones,” said Gidley. “We look at the
individual from a holistic perspective; you’ve got the physical,
spiritual and mental aspect.”
The U.S. Army’s multi-faith
approach ensures individuals the right to practice the distinct
doctrines of their own belief system. The Army has recognized and
accepted over 100 faith groups, incorporating traditional approaches
to ministry but also including individuals with atheist, agnostic or
no religious beliefs. The chaplaincy program itself has evolved over
the years to include Protestant, Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist
chaplains.
“We talk to all kinds of people. It doesn’t matter
what religious background you are,” said Staff Sgt. Samcess J.
Fofanah, religious affairs noncommissioned officer, USAG Benelux -
Brunssum. “You are a part of our Family, (and) we are a part of your
Family.”
Caring for people is at the heart of the Army
Chaplain Corps. Issues can arise, as they do with most individuals
and Families, and chaplains are there to help foster safe places in
our communities to wrestle with issues and talk through challenges.
“When someone is going through the deepest crisis that goes to
the core of who they are, they have all this internal turmoil,” said
Gidley. “Just like a soda can, once you shake it all up, the
pressure has to go somewhere.”
While some can work through
things internally, others may need to talk through things.
“Where better can they go to ‘verbally vomit’ their issue and sort
it out?” he asked.
Although chaplains provide a listening
ear, Averill finds joy making connections within his community.
“I enjoy preaching, and I enjoy all the services, but I would
say the real thing is just being relational. That’s one of the
things that I find a lot of enjoyment out of being a chaplain.”
“Whatever you do, you touch someone’s heart,” said Fofanah.
Chaplains in the Army specialize in one of five specialty areas:
resource management, ethics, world religions, Family life, or
clinical pastoral education.
As young chaplains progress in
their career through their first or second assignment, according to
Gidley, they let the corps know what their interest is.
“Each
chaplain has their endorsing agency – their denomination,” said
Gidley. “From a Christian perspective the Bible says, do not serve
two masters, but from a chaplain’s perspective I’ve got three or
four. I have the chief of chaplains, who is a proponent for all
assignments and personnel matters within the Chaplain Corps. I’ve
got my commander, I’ve got my endorser, and I’ve got God.”
Chaplains also have an obligation to the people they counsel.
“One thing unique about the Chaplain Corps – we have 100 percent
confidentiality,” said Gidley. “I playfully tell folks that I’m kind
of the Vegas of counselors. What’s said with me stays with me.”
The Religious Support Office has both chaplains and religious
affairs specialists dispersed throughout the Benelux.
“If you
don’t feel comfortable talking to a chaplain, you can always talk to
a religious affairs specialist,” said Fofanah. “We are also a
listening ear.”
While taking care of people is at the core of
the chaplaincy program, chaplains also provide religious support in
their communities. Weekly church services and small groups take
place on SHAPE, in Brussels and in Brunssum.
“For the
garrison our duties are to conduct services every week,” said
Fofanah.
Yebra provides mass and sacraments daily to
community members.
“If you’ll ask me what’s my favorite part
in my ministry, that’s my favorite part: providing the sacrament of
presence, which we call the Eucharist, to our Soldiers and their
Families.”
Outside of regular church services, chaplains make
themselves available to the community in a number of ways.
“I
do battlefield circulation,” said Yebra. “I make myself visible and
make the ministry present to whoever needs religious support or a
chaplain’s presence.”
Chaplains are also there to help build
bridges and bring communities together. Recent Thanksgiving and
winter holiday events have been a success because of teamwork
between the Religious Support Office and the Directorate of Family
and Morale, Welfare and Recreation at Brussels.
This year,
the Religious Support Office is looking into having more of a
presence on the air by collaborating with American Forces Network.
“We may have an AFN radio station – a chaplain hour that is
upcoming,” said Yebra. “That’s one way of communicating and
providing a chaplain’s presence to SHAPE and the whole Benelux
area.”
While serving the community is a core part of their
job, chaplains in the Benelux have had to rethink ways of serving
communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. When in-person services
were halted during the pandemic, livestreaming was made available to
the community.
“As Catholics we always believe that if you
are going to attend a mass, it’s just like attending some kind of a
meal and you have to be present and enjoy the meal, enjoy the
presence,” said Yebra. “We had to change the reception of the
Eucharist, the blessed consecrated bread and wine.”
Due to
the pandemic, Yebra hasn’t been able to serve the Eucharist in a
normal fashion.
“We just distributed the consecrated host,
the body of Christ.”
“Even though there is a hindrance with
what we want to do, the old normal, a part of me says maybe that’s a
good thing to have that hunger,” said Gidley. “There will come a day
when we will take these masks off. How do we prepare ourselves for
that now?”
Although chaplains view their work as a calling,
it can come with its own set of challenges at times.
“There
were times where I had extremely low moments,” said Gidley.
While stationed in Kandahar, Afghanistan a mentor and friend passed
through and got to spend some time with him due to a canceled
flight.
“He just looked at me straight in the eyes and said,
‘What’s going on?’” Gidley said of the encounter. “I looked at him
and said, ‘Have a seat.’ My friend Kim was exactly who I needed and
God brought him literally 5,000 miles to my doorstep.”
Fofanah explains being a chaplain does not make you less human.
“Just because we are religious affairs specialist and the
Chaplain Corps doesn’t mean that we don’t make mistakes. We are
human.”
For Yebra, the brotherhood of priests is one big
factor that keeps him healthy in the ministry.
“It can be
draining physically being the only Catholic priest here.”
Although his nearest brother priest is in Geilenkirchen, Germany,
they still make time to break bread together whenever possible.
While in seminary, Averill connected with many of his fellow
classmates.
“It is a blessing the fact that I had those
friends,” said Averill. “We still stay in contact with each other
and check in on each other.”
“It (chaplaincy) can be taxing –
emotionally, physically, and spiritually,” said Gidley, “but at the
same time according to my faith tradition, if I’m serving where God
has placed me, then that brings me joy.”
The U.S. Army
Chaplain Corps has served and continues to serve, during wartime and
peace, in communities across the globe.
“We are always there
to contribute to the readiness of our troops,” said Yebra.
Yebra went on to say the Chaplain Corps always answers the call “to
nurture the living, care for the wounded, (and) honor the dead.”
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