Faith Tradition Responsibilities
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Limited Freedom. Civilians with little military contact have occasionally asked me about the role of a chaplain. Their questions wonder if I need to perform all rites, sacraments, and ordinances of all faith traditions for all people. This is absolutely not the case. Each chaplain maintains endorsement by a distinct faith tradition as a member of the clergy of that faith group. As such, the chaplain has voluntarily been restricted from performing religious acts of other faith traditions out of personal conviction and ecclesiastical limitations. As mentioned before, chaplains do have the responsibility to provide for the religious needs of soldiers if it is not in their ability to perform the function. For instance, if the chaplain is not a rabbi they may invite a military or non-military rabbi to conduct a service during a Jewish holy day. Similarly, only Roman Catholic clergy will offer Roman Catholic confession, and only Lutheran clergy will baptize infants in accordance with Lutheran laws. Each chaplain does however, have an obligation to perform those functions which their faith tradition and personal conviction do allow. With such, religious freedom extends to chaplains as well. When performing religious acts, such as offering the Holy Eucharist, the Army has no authority to instruct what methodology to use, unless a soldier's mission, safety, or life may be compromised. Albeit a hot discussion as of late, the chaplain can not legally be asked to change normal religious behavior by an institution, otherwise there is "excessive entanglement" due to the institution taking on the functional role of the faith tradition's leaders who set the faith tradition's traditions. It is no more unlawful to require a chaplain to offer mass if the chaplain's faith tradition does not follow the practice. There are instances however, which due to the mandatory nature of the event or ceremony, a chaplain must recognize their religious actions may only pertain to the chaplain and a few others. In such an event, a disclaimer of sorts, inserted into or before the religious act should be seriously considered. Without such, "excessive entanglement" might lean the other direction whereby the institution is mandating participation in a religious act which does not apply to those present. A prayer disclaimer may be similar to the wording, "I invite you to pray in your faith tradition as I pray in mine." The disclaimer alleviates mandatory participation in the religious act and allows the chaplain to perform the act in such a way which does not violate any faith tradition or personal convictions. Cooperation. Adherence to the faith tradition limits requires all chaplains to participate and cooperate as a corps to fulfill the needs of soldiers. This is a basic principle which must be understood in a pluralistic setting such as the Army. Chaplains are professionals who understand diversity and maintain respect for other traditions. Further, the chaplain relies on the advice and direction of the supervisory chaplain. Supervisory chaplains carry experiences which thoroughly qualify them as experts on military culture, their own faith tradition, and leadership skills. Through the technical channel of supervisory UMTs, the UMT is trained and supervised in order to maximize effectiveness. |
