Chaplains in Times of Crisis.

Crisis situations are going on in our backyard and all over the world today. That is when chaplains are usually called upon for ministry. It may be a tornado that destroys our property or our neighbor’s property or it may be a death in the family or in our Legion family. So how can chaplains in the legion have an effect on our people in Oklahoma? We need to remember that a person in crisis cannot fully focus on their job. I have about 200 chaplains that have gone though the course called “Critical Incident Stress Management.” CISM will train you to help a person that is going through a critical incident. Contact me for more information and the next training.

My friend and Past National Chaplain Calvin Turpin, writes that chaplaincy has many purposes. One of its major purposes is to help persons grow in their relationship with God and one another. Also, we serve as a reminder of the transcendent and seek to develop an environment within which Legionnaires are encouraged in their personal and collective moral and spiritual growth. We are to remind all Americans that God is the source of all rights and privileges.

In reading the American Legion Chaplain’s “How to…” Manual, I took the following from what my friend Jim Akers had written. The Rev. James T. Akers is a past National Chaplain with the Legion from Kansas.

In crisis, some people push the panic button, throw overboard their morals, their values, and their principles. Some even throw away their faith. In a sermon that was preached it was said that “so many people’s religion is a fair weather affair. A little rain, and it runs and crumbles: a touch of strain, and it snaps. So long as we feel God’s will runs parallel to ours, we follow cheerfully. But the moment they cross or clash, when life grows difficult and we don’t understand how apt faith is to fail us just when we have need of it.”

There is an incident reported in a book called Chaplains in the Civil War. It concerns the most widely reported and oft-recalled general absolution given by Father William Colby of the Irish Brigade on the second day of Gettysburg. (I quote)

Colby stood on a large rock in front of the Irish Brigade, saying that each one could receive the benefit of the absolution-he urged the men to do their duty reminding them of the high and sacred nature of their trust as soldiers, and the cause for which they fought. Catholic and Non-Catholic alike bowed their heads, and even cynical Gen. Winfield S. Hancock removed his hat and bowed in reverential devotion. Colby intended the General Absolution to be for all, irrespective of religion or region, who would fight that day.

Here was a Chaplain who saw a great opportunity to bring God’s comfort and blessing to those who were facing death. We as Legion and Auxiliary Chaplains are not called upon to do something as dramatic, but we should be a “Visible Reminder of the Holy” to those about us. If ever there was a time when we, as Chaplains, need to be visible in our communities and states, it is now! Chaplains need to be involved in local ministerial alliances and let other religious leader know we want to help them with their needs.

Paul E. Bettis

Department Chaplain