ADVICE AND HELP

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21816, 20 November 1940, Page 5

ADVICE AND HELP

Spiritual And Material Part Of Padres In The Army (From the Official War Correspondent attached to the New Zealand Forces in Britain) October 22. Army religion is established. The chaplain is part of the official organisation, like the doctor and the paymaster. Apart altogether from his work and personality, he enjoys a preliminary status by virtue of his office. To argue the merits and demerits of this position would be to open up a much larger question, which would be out of place here, and in any case would lead us nowhere. Let it suffice to say that the Army padre stands in much the same relation to his unit as does the vicar to an English village. In an English county regiment the parallel is exact. If it be something less in the New Zealand Army that is because of the different organisation of life in the two countries —a difference far from being all in our favour: but there again is a larger question. Nevertheless, a chaplain with the New Zealand Forces, whatever his particular gifts, is more a part of the life of his community than ever he was in his home parish, although possibly in less Intimate touch with the devoted devotional few. In the careful sifting by which good and tested referees were chosen for our inter-unit Rugby competition, a detail overlooked was that one team would be playing in white, the colour in which referees also had been outfitted. At the opening match there was some pardonable confusion on the touchline:— •'Look at that Joker playing in spectacles!” "He's the referee, you ass.” “Referee? So he is.” “He's the padre—the Twenty-so-and-so's padre. Not a bad sort of a either.” Hardly the tribute of an earnest parishioner, one felt; yet sincerely spoken and honestly meant. And obviously based upon a closer association than that of the football field—an association bom of a common life within the Army. In civil life the spectator might know the padre as a first-class referee; but on that alone it would be impossible to classify him as a good or a bad sort. The Army, in bringing them together, has heightened respect on both sides. Padres wear the stars and crowns of rank, and live as officers, but are oddly classified as Chaplains to the Forces first, second, third or fourth class, corresponding in rank to colonels, Ueut.-colonels, majors and captains. They do not stand on the ceremony of their rank —few New Zealand officers dd—and move freely among the men. Not quite so freely, but increasingly as tb|e non-church-going among them lote their civilian backwardness in the presence of parsons, men go to the pqdres for advice and help: sometimes spiritual, more often material. Tire organisation of the Chaplains' Department of the N.Z.E.F., In coinmon with that of most other de-

partments, was upset by the diversion of the Second Echelon to England. Chaplains were selected, and apportioned among the several denominations, as for a division, so that when the three echelons came together and the New Zealand division was complete, each denomination would have approximately its proper representation. Some denominations are overrepresented in one echelon, and underrepresented in anothei. And the effect of continued separation, even when all three echelons are overseas, is that neither in Egypt nor in England does the denominational distribution of padres correspond quite to that of the men whom they serve. Thus there came to England with the Second Echelon, 11 chaplains: six of them Church of England clergymen, two Roman Catholics, two Presbyterians, and one Baptist. The Methodist Church, which has a large membership in New Zealand and probably a proportionate representation in the echelon, has no chaplain with the N.Z.E.F. in the United Kingdom, but will have adequate representation in the completed division. So will other smaller denominations. The senior chaplain, the Rt. Rev. Bishop Gerard, who has the rank of lieut.-colonel and is with the Second Echelon, would naturally prefer that every soldier adherent to one of the larger church groups in New Zealand could, if he wished, consult a padre of his own persuasion; but for the moment the exigencies of war prevent that in England. And even were the whole division assembled in one country, this denominational consultation would not always be possible. Chaplains are attached to specific units; and in the field units may be widely separated from one another. Except that the distinction between Roman Catholics and Protestants is always recognised, a unit padre is nominally and for official public purposes the padre of all men in the unit. Beyond those public duties he is given further opportunities to minister to men of his own denomination from other units; and equally they enjoy a right of access to him. In the stress of action it may occasionally be impossible to do more than ensure that a Protestant has attention from a Protestant chaplain, and a Roman Catholic from a Roman Catholic chaplain. Indeed, such is the comradeship of khaki, one can well believe that padres on both sides of the Reformation barrier will be found ready on occasion to minister to stricken soldiers of the other faith. Difficulties Overcome This comradeship has gone far towards overcoming any practical difficulties attaching to denominational disproportion of chaplains with the Second Echelon. Men of churches which either have no padre here, or are relatively so small that they will have no padre of their own in the completed division, tend to attach themselves to a non-Anglican Protestant, and are made to feel at home. Then there is constant coming and going between padres. Each acts as agent for the others; so that a soldier wishing to talk with a chaplain of his own denomination need do no more than mention his wish to the chaplain of his unit, who will see that it is realised. Similarly a man wishing to know what services are being he.d by a padre representing his own church can always find out by inquiry from the resident padre of another church. Announcements of special services for

men of one denomination are made every Sunday at public services conducted by chaplains of other denominations; and one is constantly encountering instances of doctrinal differences forgotten when two or more padres bring their heads together to hasten some work of immediate practical Importance to the troops. In the early months, chaplaincy work was retarded somewhat by the difficulty of getting about for consultation and ministration. Now all the padres either have cars or light vans, or are on the point of being supplied with them. They habitually carry a stock of first-aid requisites and comforts—by rucsac when they are up front beyond their cars. Common problems are discussed at regular chaplains’ meetings, and sev-

eral profitable mornings of instruction have been held under the leadership of the Assistant Chaplain-General of the British Expeditionary Force, who was able to draw on first-hand experience in talking of the difficulties and opportunities of spiritual work under fire. Qualifications For Success A chaplain’s success in his office depends first upon his own qualities of teaching, example and leadership, and secondly upon the extent of co-oper-ation given him by his combatant commanding officer and by sub-unit commanders. Some have been active church members and workers in civil life; others have not. It may be taken for granted that the first class will help the padre all they can, irrespective of the branch of the Church to

which he belongs. In dealing with the second class a chaplain may have to fall back on the personal qualities which commend him to the troops. Many an officer not himself a churchman is cordially predisposed towards the Church. If in addition he comes to admire the Church’s representatives with the Army, he probably will become an active co-operator. Even the officer who is more or \ less openly hostile, or he whose example is constantly if unconciously exercised against the influence of the Church, is open, if not to conviction, at least to favourably impression from growing acquaintance with his chaplain. But the fact remains that the padre’s job, now as formerly, is one of the hardest in the Army. It is also, happily, one of illimitable possibilities.