Praying to God for victory in warfare is all very well – but what if your troops just don’t believe in it?

Reclaiming chaplains who understand themselves first as chaplains, and not merely as decorative functionaries would be one way of retrieving Christianity in the public square.

The Canadian government released a report that addresses “Re-Defining Chaplaincy.” It reveals both secularist bigotry and the current Canadian government’s continuing campaign to use state funds to support the current government’s “values,” even though those purported values have no legal grounding.

Repentance, like faith, must be individual.

“There is much for the chaplain to teach the church, as well as much instruction to be received from the church.”

Can other churches use hail and farewell events to welcome military families better, educate civilians about military life, and show how servicemembers serve the church?

In this military vignette, originally published in Christianity and Crisis on April 19, 1943, John Joseph Stoudt depicts the religiosity of men confronting their own mortality. The Chaplain employs the clearest ritual means of communicating the weight of their task, the nature of their profession: Communion. In taking up the body and the blood, the gathered soldiers experience camaraderie in a common meal, and unanimously acknowledge of the enduring, indisputable value of sacrifice; both God’s and their own.

This article about the role and need for the clergy to serve as Chaplains during World War II was originally published in Christianity & Crisis in 1942.