Friday, September 25, 2009

A US Chaplain Describes a Soldier's Calling



Army Lt. Col. John Morris, 34th Infantry Division chaplain, presents Army Staff Sgt. Bellatrix Estrella, a chaplain's assistant with the division, with a Bible during a religious support conference for unit ministry teams at Contingency Operating Base Adder, Iraq, June 30, 2009. Minnesota National Guard photo by Sgt. Mark Miranda

Face of Defense: Division Chaplain Answers Call
By Army Sgt. 1st Class Jon Soucy
Special to American Forces Press Service

ARLINGTON, Va., Sept. 23, 2009 - For many chaplains, providing spiritual and mental support for soldiers is a calling. But for one Minnesota Army National Guard chaplain, that's just part of the equation.

The real calling is that of being a soldier.

"I've often said in sermons to soldiers that I believe serving in the military is a call, and that it's a call to be a peacekeeper or a peacemaker," said Chaplain (Lt. Col.) John Morris, chaplain of the 34th Infantry Division, which is currently deployed to Basra, Iraq.

"These phrases that we use like selfless service, which is a common phrase in the Army, it's a vocational, religious connotation whether a person has a spiritual background or not," Morris said. "We're calling them to self-sacrifice on behalf of other people."

Read the whole piece here.

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Mad Padre

Mad Padre
Opinions expressed within are in no way the responsibility of anyone's employers or facilitating agencies and should by rights be taken as nothing more than one person's notional musings, attempted witticisms, and prayerful posturings.

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