Army chaplains are noncombatants who accompany troops and minister to their religious needs. The British army today has more chaplains than at any time since World War II. In this article, army padres talk in their own words about their reasons for signing up, the rewards of the work and life in the Iraq war.
Army chaplains
Last updated 2009-08-10
On this page
- Introduction
- History of army chaplains
- Multifaith army chaplains
- Recruitment
- Role of military chaplains
- Why be an army chaplain?
- Reconciling faith with violence
- God and the Gun series
- Find out more
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Introduction
My job as a padre - as the Army refers to its priests, chaplains and so on - is not to oil the wheels of war but to help the humanity caught up in it. We do wear fatigues, but the fact that we do not carry weapons is symbolic of our peaceful role.
Clinton Langston, army chaplain
Royal Army Chaplains Department ©
The British army today has more chaplains on active service than at any time since World War II. Thanks to a recruiting drive launched by army, navy and air force in 2005, there are about 280 chaplains in the armed forces (2007 figures). Twelve chaplains flew out to serve the approximately 7000 British troops in Iraq.
No army chaplain is permitted to carry or use weapons.
The Royal Army Chaplains' Department is located in Upavon. The headquarters has been there since 1996. Chaplaincy training is conducted at The Armed Forces Chaplaincy Centre, near Andover.
All recruited chaplains in the British services are Christian (as of 2007), but the armed forces retain civilian chaplains to care for their Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, Jewish and Muslim recruits.
The army and the armed forces are the ultimate place where you can make contact with people who would never come into church, in situations where they will accept you that maybe they wouldn't do in the world. What an opportunity!
Nicola Thomas, Baptist army chaplain
Jesus went into some challenging places, some tough places, some places where actually he wasn't even wanted, but he went, and I want to follow that model. Definitely.
Jonathan Daniel, Baptist army chaplain
I think it's human nature that you'd want someone to be looking over you and that you'd come home safe, and it does put your faith in a lot of question. Do you truly believe in God and is God looking over you; and you want to come home safe, so I think selfishly a lot of people do.
Sgt Jason Brown, worshipper
The U.S. armed forces have 1400 chaplains, all Christian except for about 30 rabbis and 15 imams (2003 figures).
A changing role
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The nature of the army is changing. Soldiers no longer remain on army bases when not on active service. A job in the armed forces is becoming closer to a regular weekday nine-to-five. Consequently, with fewer soldiers on base at weekends, congregations at army chapels are low to nonexistent.
The nature of warfare has also changed drastically - including the certainty that the war's cause is just and well supported at home. Today's wars may not be about religion, but in Iraq and Afghanistan there's an element of religion in them.
It is not surprising, then, that the role of army chaplains - padres - has changed as well. Far from "building up the indomitable spirit of the army" (as Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig said in 1919), chaplains now see their role as one of support and guidance for the troops - whether or not the chaplain, or their church, believes the war is morally right.
History of army chaplains
History of army chaplains
The presence of religious leaders among armies is an ancient custom. The Bible records that the Israelites brought their priests with them into battle. The Romans did as well, and had their pagan priests perform ritual sacrifices and read auguries from animal entrails on the eve of battle. The Middle Ages produced a number of sword-bearing warrior-priests, but by the Renaissance, chaplains played chiefly a non-combatant role in the military.
Rod Dreher, Ministers of War: The Amazing Chaplaincy of the U.S. Military in National Review, Vol. 55, March 10, 2003
When William, Duke of Normandy, invaded Britain in 1066 he had some priests on his staff. His brother, Bishop Odo of Bayeux, led his own hundred and twenty Knights into battle but because the Church objected to priests shedding blood with the sword, he used a mace as a weapon. By the fourteenth century clergymen in the Army were fulfilling a priestly role. ...
By the time of Henry VIII Chaplains had become more established and in 1621 Regimental Chaplains were mentioned in Standing Orders. Oliver Cromwell took things a stage further so that in the New Model Army of 1645 the status of Chaplains was regularised and most Regiments had their own Chaplain ... the Articles of War of 1662 specify the duties of Chaplains.
History of the Royal Army Chaplains' Department
An open-air Church of England service, attended by the 10th Irish Division at their camp in Basingstoke. From The War Illustrated, 12 June 1915 ©
First World War
Army chaplains came into their own during the First World War (1914-1918), with its extended periods of trench warfare and the ensuing heavy casualties.
Not all chaplains served at the front - some commanding officers would not allow them to risk their lives - but where they could, many chaplains did. For men surrounded by seemingly futile death, a churchman willing to risk his life to join them in the trenches helped them make sense of the war and feel that God had not abandoned them.
One chaplain recounted his experiences in a letter to The Times.
I can go where I like; I go to see the wounded when being brought back from the front, and to see if I am needed when gunners have been shelled. If necessary, I am ready to go to the firing line, but I should only be in the way in the daytime. I see the sick who come in daily and are sent off by the ambulances to a hospital down country.
My first two Sundays I had no services. My third Sunday I had one in a farmyard lasting 20 minutes; and we had to march almost directly after. My fourth Sunday I crossed a river into the danger zone and held a service (without a surplice) for two companies, who were sleeping in bivouacs of straw in a wood in inches of water, surrounded by pools of mud up to 1ft. deep! I then went on to another wood to some more troops, and began a service, but a deluge stopped it, and I had to cancel a third owing to rain. We generally fight or march on Sundays!
From the Front: The Army chaplain at work, The Times, Thursday 8 October 1914
In 1919 the Army Chaplains' Department became the Royal Army Chaplains' Department when King George V officially honoured its work. By 1920 all the Protestant denominations involved had consented to be governed by the department, although the Roman Catholics did not join until 2004.
179 British Army chaplains died in the First World War. Three of them were awarded Victoria Cross medals.
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1942: Chaplains Fred W. Thissen (Catholic), Ernest Pine (Protestant) and Jacob Rothschild (Jewish), at the U.S. Army chaplain school in Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana ©
Second World War
The role of chaplains expanded and changed during the Second World War.
Many things were expected of a Second World War chaplain. For example, in the Canadian army:
...in addition to celebrating mass and administering the sacraments, chaplains would visit the sick, wounded, and incarcerated, and offer religious instruction. Furthermore, chaplains were charged with strengthening regimental unity, maintaining high morale, encouraging and assisting soldiers to write to their families, censoring letters, actively participating in mess duties, and assisting medical staff in treating the wounded.
Most importantly, the Department had learned during the First World War that a "jovial" chaplain visiting the front lines boosted troops' morale more than endless hours of counselling and religious guidance in the regiment's chapel. Accordingly, chaplains were encouraged to forge friendships with all military personnel and to inspire them in these times of war. In addition, chaplains were expected to maintain records of wounded and deceased military personnel and to inform the families of these tragedies, as well as to help the men relax by organizing sporting and social events.
Yves Yvon J. Pelletier, Faith on the Battlefield: Canada's Catholic Chaplaincy Service during the Second World War, Historical Studies, 2003
The Vatican made some special wartime concessions to make life easier for military chaplains. They were allowed to celebrate mass at times that did not interfere with soldiers' duties. Chaplains were permitted to grant "general absolution" when they did not have time to hear individual confessions. The required period of fasting before receiving the Eucharist was reduced from eight to four hours, and waived altogether for troops on the battlefield. In recognition of the many difficulties involved in feeding soldiers, meat on Fridays was officially allowed.
96 chaplains from the British armed forces were killed in the Second World War.
Frederick Browning introduced the Padre's Hour ©
The Padre's Hour
The Padre's Hour was introduced to the British army during the Second World War by The Reverend J.J.A. Hodgins on the instructions of Major General Frederick Browning. Commanders were required to provide an hour out of training time once a week for the padre to instruct the troops religiously. Other armed forces, including Canada's army, copied the initiative.
The hour was informal ("they can smoke if they want", Time Magazine reported) and groups ideally consisted of a platoon of 20-25 soldiers rather than a larger number. After a fifteen-minute talk by the chaplain, the rest of the time was taken up by questions from the troops.
The Hour is apt to be quite as instructive for the padres as for their men. Many chaplains have been joggled by such questions as: "How can you justify the Church's ownership of slum property?" Many have been startled by posers like "Why is God always represented as male?" Some 75% of the questions are social-economic, about 15% are purely religious.
Padre's Hour, Time Magazine, Monday 8 March 1943
I recall a few anxious moments when difficult questions have come up, like... "Come on Padre, how come you are talking to us about God when we have to go out and kill?" If anyone thinks there is an easy answer to that one - good luck. All I could do was to help the troopie to see that the country had the right to both rule and defend itself, and that the Christian had a moral obligation to be involved in both.
I would also like to say that during the whole of my association with the Battalion, I have not come across one man who claimed categorically that he is an atheist. They might not have been Church-goers, but they accepted the fact that there was "someone up there" looking after them.
Major The Rev. Bill Blakeway, The Padre Remembers, in The Cheetah, Souvenir Edition, 31 October 1980
"The opportunity for these informal give-and-take talks has been welcomed by many of the troops," wrote Major C.P. Stacey, the historian of the Canadian Army during the Second World War, in a 1943 report.
There are suggestions that some commanding officers felt the Padre's Hour was not a productive use of time, or that it represented an attempt by the Church to increase its influence within the army.
Some commanding officers cancelled Padre's Hour frequently, with or without advanced warning to the padre... On other occasions, Padre's Hour coincided perfectly with unscheduled but mandatory military exercises.
Yves Yvon J. Pelletier, Faith on the Battlefield: Canada's Catholic Chaplaincy Service during the Second World War, Historical Studies, 2003
However, most COs seem to have encouraged the initiative for its positive effects on morale and conduct.
Multifaith army chaplains
When the Army Chaplains' Department was formed it consisted solely of clergymen of the Church of England, but pressure developed for Chaplains of other denominations to be admitted. The first group to succeed in this were the Roman Catholics in 1836. They were followed by the Presbyterians in 1858, Wesleyans in 1881 and Jews in 1892.
History of the Royal Army Chaplains' Department
Chaplains to the Military Mandeep Kaur, Krishan Attri, Asim Hafiz and Dr. Sunil Kariyakarawana, at their inauguration in 2005 ©
At the moment (2007) all commissioned padres in the armed forces are Christian. The Buddhist, Sikh, Hindu and Muslim soldiers in all three of the armed forces are served by Buddhist, Sikh, Hindu and Muslim Chaplains to the Military. Mandeep Kaur (Sikh), Krishan Attri (Hindu), Asim Hafiz (Muslim) and Dr. Sunil Kariyakarawana (Buddhist) were appointed in November 2005 by John Reid, then Secretary of State for Defence.
Unlike Christian padres, who are commissioned officers, the four Chaplains to the Military are civilians. At the time of their appointment there were 220 Buddhists, 90 Sikhs, 230 Hindus and 305 Muslims serving along with around 183,000 Christians. There was already a rabbi acting as honorary chaplain to the 65 serving Jews.
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The Revd David Wilkes (a Methodist) is the Chaplain General, in charge of all army padres. He described the difficulties involved:
We've certainly had to begin to educate both the services and chaplains into their role because their role is slightly different. They are civilians, they have a responsibility for all personnel, army, navy and air force, so they have a mammoth task before them, and quite often they are not seen as much on the ground as a unit chaplain would be.
Nevertheless, they're very proactive and get about and communicate with their people because their role is to look after the specific spiritual needs of their own community.
The Revd David Wilkes, Chaplain General
Wilkes believes the army will eventually have full-time, commissioned non-Christian chaplains.
The armed forces are moving towards better provision for all religious dietary requirements, including kosher and halal meat.
As well as ministering to individual soldiers, the chaplains act as advisors and educate the armed forces about their respective faiths. It is also their job to conduct services when a soldier is killed.
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After 18 months in the post, Imam Asim Hafiz said he had already made personal contact with over 100 serving British Muslims.
On the whole I have been welcomed by the military. People have been engaging, getting in touch and using me as much as possible.
However, like any change it can take time for people to adjust and there will always be a minority of Muslims and non-Muslims who feel there is no place for an Imam in the armed forces. But I feel my appointment has boosted confidence and morale among serving Muslim soldiers.
Imam Asim Hafiz, Muslim Chaplain to the Military
Imam Asim Hafiz ©
Muslim soldiers are given room to pray five times a day and are allowed to fast during Ramadan as long as it does not interfere with military duties, although some Muslim soldiers have said they were made to feel that it would be more convenient if they didn't pray.
War in the Muslim world
The Iraq war was already in full swing when the four multifaith chaplains were appointed in 2005. Imam Hafiz talked about his reaction to the fact that his troops were fighting in Muslim countries:
As a chaplain I don't see the military's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan to be an opportunity or a problem. You know, I'm the chaplain and I've been appointed to do a specific job, and that job is to provide spiritual and religious support to the Muslim military personnel. From the Islamic perspective it's not good to use violence or bear arms against anyone, regardless of their faith, and no life should be killed unjustifiably.
Imam Asim Hafiz, Muslim Chaplain to the Military
Recruitment
Army vehicles on a base in Iraq
To join the British army, chaplains must be British or from a Commonwealth nation or the Republic of Ireland, in which case they must be sponsored by a British church.
Chaplains receive a three-year commission that can later be extended to five years. After that term is at an end, what happens next depends on the age of the chaplain. The average age of recruited chaplains is 38.
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Training
We don't expect them to arrive as a sort of spiritual Rambo.
Padre Jonathan Ball, staff chaplain and secretary of the chaplain selection panel
Selection is a three-day series of assessments designed to test the padres mentally, physically and spiritually and see how they work as a team. They need to be able to work in extreme conditions overseas and meet soldiers' needs when they're facing the threat of death every day.
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Sandhurst Royal Military Academy
The padres do their own specialist training. Like officers, they are sent to the Sandhurst military academy. Their course is four weeks long instead of a year and is informally known as the 'vicars and tarts' course. It's also for doctors, dentists, lawyers and veterinarians. Padres have to get fit and receive basic grounding in military procedures. They are not taught how to fire a weapon.
They have their own specialist lectures from the senior chaplain, including how to persuade 70 or 80 recalcitrant soldiers to sing!
In the U.S. armed forces, chaplains must have a master's degree in divinity and two years' experience in a church (or mosque or synagogue). They are taught all the same skills as soldiers, except how to use a weapon.
There is intense preparation for counseling, and learning how to minister to soldiers who are not part of the chaplain's own religious tradition. And then there is the matter of learning how to prepare soldiers spiritually for death -- and for the task of killing others.
To many clergy outside the military, an ordained minister helping a man get comfortable with taking another man's life is a betrayal of the clerical mission. Military chaplains, however, understand that in a fallen and imperfect world, war (to quote Gen. Colin Powell) should be a last resort, but it should be a resort. ("If we're not going to war with a tear in our eyes and our hearts broken, we aren't coming at it from the right place," one chaplain told me.) This is what they tell the troops.
They also give them a theological grounding in just-war theory, which attempts to set out conditions under which violence, even killing, is the morally responsible thing to do.
Rod Dreher, Ministers of War: The Amazing Chaplaincy of the U.S. Military in National Review, Vol. 55, March 10, 2003
Role of military chaplains
In my first operational tour I, certainly in the first few days, struggled a little bit with the question of "What am I doing here?" I shared this with my commanding officer and he said "Well goodness me, on operations I'd rather have a padre before I have a doctor". I think I understand what he was getting at now.
Anthony Feltham-White, army chaplain
Chaplain Andrew Martlew visits soldiers in their watchtower
Chaplains hold a unique place in the army. They wear the army uniform but, although employed and paid by the Ministry of Defence, they are sent by their churches and their churches retain spiritual authority over them. If this authority is revoked the chaplain must leave the army.
Padres do not think of themselves as army officers at all: they are clergy, first and foremost, who happen to work in the military. At the end of their chain of command is God.
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What do chaplains give to the military?
In a situation of violence, of despair, of evil, there's a need for somebody to be an agent of the presence of God, and perhaps part of our function may be to humanise the army as much as possible.
Stuart Richards, Church of England minister
My vision for my ministry is that I come along and hold up the cross, I represent Jesus, I bring Jesus into these situations, not necessarily to preach but to bring, through this fragile vessel, something of his love, something of his compassion, something of his understanding.
Jonathan Daniel, Baptist minister
I think it's a sense of normality, because I attend church in the UK so coming to church on a Sunday is a pretty much regular thing for me to do. Apart from when we get mortared, obviously, and fall to the floor and grab our body armour.
Sgt Joanne Hammick, worshipper
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Funerals
While out on a tour of duty, chaplains have to hold funerals. Such times are difficult for the soldiers, but also for the padre.
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Chaplains' moral role
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Army chaplains believe that they are following the 'incarnational' principle: following the example of Jesus, they live alongside their charges and share their life.
A chaplain needs to know the rules and also have a wider moral view. Sometimes this may mean adapting the Church's rules in practice.
We tend to sit very lightly on the church's rules about things like communion. If somebody comes to communion they get communion and I encourage them to come. We'll deal with the legalities later.
Andrew Martlew, chaplain to 40 Regiment Royal Artillery
Padres are allowed to raise moral questions. If they have doubts about specific plans, they will discuss them with the commanding officer. The Revd David Wilkes, Chaplain General, calls the army padre "the friend of the soldier and the critical friend of the C.O."
I think part of his job is taking the temperature of morale and being able to guide the chain of command to apply greater welfare... arguably more so than the conventional chain of command who don't have quite that time or thought to be able to do that.
Lieutenant Colonel Martin Gamble, Andrew Martlew's commanding officer
This is not to say chaplains are allowed to be subversive or encourage soldiers to disobey orders. Not only is this far outside their duty, but it could put lives in danger - not to mention careers.
[The troops I serve] are soldiers and Muslims and one does not take precedence over the other; they need to be just as good at both. But they understand that they are soldiers and in the end they have a job to do.
Imam Asim Hafiz, Muslim Chaplain to the Military
Disapproving of a war
It is possible for the church to disapprove of the war the army is fighting.
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(left to right) Chaplains Andrew Martlew, 40 Regiment Royal Artillery, David Banbury, 33 Field Hospital, Tom Place, 1st Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment and Anthony Feltham White, Ghurkhas
Like a soldier, if a chaplain felt that they could not remain in uniform on conscience grounds, they have the option to resign. Most choose to stay, not least because of the drive to minister to soldiers in the same situation.
Padres are not there to justify the conflicts that the army is in. Their purpose is "to walk with the men and to help them", to be there for people who need them and to be, as one padre put it, "a bit like Jiminy Cricket... the little voice of conscience".
I haven't given them my blessing and said "the Church is behind you". What I was able to say to them is: there are people praying for us as we go out to Iraq and do our job.
Tom Place, army chaplain
Why be an army chaplain?
You feel the warmth when you walk in, the comfort of other people around you. We have a little sit-down and a discussion afterwards as well. Back in my regular church it's, you go in, you have the service and you leave. In here it's more of a family community and more of a social circle.
Sgt Joanne Hammick, worshipper
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Reasons for signing up
I feel that in a variety of ways my heart has been spoken to and it's something I can't ignore.
Jonathan Daniel, Baptist minister
When you talk to military chaplains about why they chose this relatively rare vocation, you inevitably find a special love for soldiers, sailors, and military life, as well as a missionary hunger to be a witness for God in extreme life-or-death situations.
You will also often hear Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German evangelical pastor martyred by the Nazis after they learned of his role in a failed plot to assassinate Hitler, invoked as a role model. "He rejected a comfortable appointment in America to go back to Germany during the Nazi persecutions," says Army chaplain Timothy Mallard. "He said he'd have no moral right to stand with his people after the war if he didn't stand with them now. I feel that way too."
Rod Dreher, Ministers of War: The Amazing Chaplaincy of the U.S. Military, in National Review, Vol. 55, March 10, 2003
(left to right) Chaplains David Banbury, 33 Field Hospital, Tom Place, 1st Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment and Anthony Feltham White, Ghurkhas
Rewards
What does their often difficult job give to these padres?
Andrew Martlew, David Banbury, Tom Place and Anthony Feltham-White describe in their own words what they feel to be the rewards of their work.
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I would say on a daily basis I have a quite significant spiritual conversation with someone. Often faith is very sketchy or has a fair degree of superstition in among the shreds of orthodox faith, but soldiers are spiritual beings like any other person and actually they have spiritual needs which it is a real privilege to serve.
David Banbury, army chaplain
The sort of questions and conversations that I've had in these few weeks here [in Iraq] are totally different from four years in a country, rural parish where we were lucky if we even talked about the weather; here it really is questions of life and death.
Anthony Feltham-White, army chaplain
I think my faith has grown because in amongst all the chaos and carnage, a deeper conviction that in the mess of it God is actually somehow in control - that has grown in me.
David Banbury, army chaplain
Reconciling faith with violence
I do not know how I would react if I were in a firefight, there were people being shot around me and weapons and bullets going spare, and the lives of those I care about being at risk. I suspect, knowing me, I'd probably pick a rifle up.
In theory we shouldn't do it. In theory we should stay as a non-combatant. But as a human being, I'm not that good at not doing stuff.
I hope I will never need to know.
Andrew Martlew, chaplain to 40 Regiment Royal Artillery
Andrew Martlew in his chapel on base
How do you balance being a man or woman of God in an organisation whose job, when all else fails, is to kill people?
Padres themselves are non-combatants but they must work with soldiers, some of whom may be questioning their role in the conflict. What advice can they give?
Each chaplain may have a different way of reconciling him or herself to this quandary.
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We always live with that tension... before we come in and during our initial phase of training, we spend a lot of time thinking through that issue and I think we've all reasoned our own way through that dilemma.
There is a tension, there has to be, but most of us are in a position where we realise that the government makes the decision; it's not the army that makes the decision to go to war. If our government decides it is something that we should be engaged in, then our soldiers are required to do it; and they need chaplains just like everybody else in civilian life, and we should be there with them.
The Revd David Wilkes, Chaplain General
At some time any soldier may question the conflict they are fighting. If they are concerned about killing other Muslims I tell them that Islam regards all life as sacred and no life should be wasted unjustifiably.
But I can't advise them on how to do their job and it is not for me to say which conflict they should or should not fight in.
Imam Asim Hafiz, Muslim Chaplain to the Military
There's an element in me which thinks that the people on the receiving end of these bullets would have families, but equally our guys have got families too, so it points out very clearly the whole Christian view of violence and the ambiguity of a chaplain's position. One is part of an organisation which kills people. If that ever ceases to be a dilemma for me as a priest, then I think I should leave.
Andrew Martlew, chaplain to 40 Regiment Royal Artillery
I think it's very important that they know people care for them - just because they've been told to go and do something that they may or may not like or believe in - it's very important that we as Christian ministers go and stand alongside them and say "People care about you, and in those dark places that you're going to go we will go with you".
Anthony Feltham-White, army chaplain
God and the Gun series
God and the Gun
Martin Bell in Basra, Iraq
This two-part radio series was broadcast on Mondays 12th and 19th March, 2007, on Radio 4. It was presented by Martin Bell, himself a former soldier, and was the culmination of more than a year's time spent with army chaplains during training, while stationed at military bases and on the battlefield.
Most of the audio clips used throughout this article are from the series. Below, you can listen to the programmes in full.
God and the Gun won the Premier Award at the 2007 Sandford St Martin Trust Religious Radio Awards.
God and the Gun - programme 1
2006 was a watershed year for the armed forces chaplaincy; it was the year it turned from an exclusively Christian service to a multifaith one.
With more and more recruits joining the army, navy and RAF from ethnic minority communities, the chaplaincy had to change with the times and a Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist and Hindu were appointed to serve those growing spiritual needs.
What does it take to become a chaplain in the army? How have the new multifaith chaplains coped with their new high-profile role?
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God and the Gun - programme 2
Fr. William Cummings, a padre serving with the US Marines in the Pacific during the Second World War, is often credited with the saying "there are no atheists in foxholes."
The maxim may have grown hackneyed over years, but when soldiers go off to war zones their thoughts understandably turn to what might happen if things go wrong. This is when army chaplains can step in to bring help and comfort.
Martin Bell travels to Basra in Iraq to meet The Reverend Andrew Martlew, chaplain to 40 Regiment Royal Artillery.
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