ference-these periods being preceded or directly fol- follow from a system which makes it practically impossi, lowed by a fellowship dinner, arranged by the ranking for Catholic chaplains to reach the necessary seventy-th chaplain of the sector visited, points for redeployment or for eventual separation fro overseas units. It is obviously a system which does n
CHAPLAINS DISCUSS PROBLEMS work out in the Chaplaincy. And our recommendation
The discussion periods were made helpful by an invita- Washington was joined with that of every chaplain pr. tion given at the outset for all to reveal problems dis- ent at these conferences that this system be given nmei covered to exist or to persist, and to offer constructive ate study to be replaced by a system which applies-fo criticism or make recommendations for the improvement instance one which is based rather on length of service, of a ministry to which all of us were consecrated and about length of overseas service, combat experience, depended which we were all vitally concerned. The fact that most cies, demand for service in home churches, and fai of the conferences had to be dismissed before all problems situations and difficulties. had been cleared is, we believe, an indication of the lively There was evidenced the crying need for replacement interest which was taken in the discussion which always chaplains, this supply having unexpectedly been disco became a feature of the conference. Ranking chaplains- tinued in May, 1945, with the result that combat-we generally presided. At Frankfurt the ETO Senior Chap- chaplains were still kept active in important details. lain, Chaplain (Col.) Tiemrnan presided and took active There was the urgent suggestion that directives be giv part in the lively discussion period. But questions were fixing definite time for service so that home churches an directed as a rule to the president of the Association who, chaplains' families might have information which seem after the matters involved had been thoroughly aired, essential to them (and the chaplain) in the period of a promised attention would be given the more vital problems justment ahead. at issue by the Chief of Chaplains office when he made his report to Washington. We should like to announce here MORALS AND SPIRITUAL LIFE that this stated promise has been kept. Every one of the Then there was the very much more serious problems problems raised have been placed before the Chief of the moral and spiritual collapse so evident to all chaplain Chaplains of the Army through the detailed and exhaustive since VE and VJ Days. A deep concern for the welfare report deposited with him after a long hearing on our officers and men was apparent as chaplains grappled wi return to Washington. Through him the report has gone this problem at every conference. That restrainingin on up to the higher echelon in the War Department for fluences must be brought to bear at once if complete mo study and for final disposition. chaos is to be averted was plain as chaplains discussed wl
The problems raised covered a wide range of issues, was happening openly and boldly. One army, the 7th, 1 many of which had caused considerable irritation, some- already by command of Lt. Gen. Geoffrey Keyes, releas times because of lack of proper information, sometimes far-reaching directives for immediate correction of a sit because of misunderstanding, sometimes because of the tion desperate enough to claim staff attention. Our repot exhausting effects of long combat experiences and because to Washington demands immediate and effective acting of long periods of separation from home and home in- and we hope it will be forthcoming. It will no longer fluences. Some of these problems resulted from unsym- to condone a situation fraught with gravest moral at pathetic attitudes on the part of commanding officers. spiritual dangers to a nation which entered this waro Some came as a result of the general spiritual and moral moral grounds and on a basis of international righted breakdown following the sudden releases of emotions and ness and justice. We cannot condemn others for their fa tensions of VE Day. All of them combined to result in ures, and condone at the same time failures of which conditions of most serious consequences for those whose are ourselves guilty. The chaplain is in this tragic siti responsibility it is to be men of God in a time of moral and tion, the army's hope for a solution which must be spiritual tension, chaos, and disaster. mediately discovered. The army must give the chapl O its every assistance in the promotion of this import REDEPLOYMENT AND POINT SYSTEM ministry. And the message the chaplain has been given
There was the ever-present problem of redeployment declare must be preached and taught with power and 9 with its point system for discharge which for the chaplains sympathetic love, for there is in this message the power resolves itself into a most impossible situation. Chaplains save even a lost world. have been separated from their units at ports of embarkation, have become casuals, made surplus, and have finally ENTERTAINMENT too often been lost in traveling units (of chaplains), all It must be the purpose of the Special Service Departe because this system does not take into account that chap- and of the Public Relations Department to keep a wat lains necessarily must become surplus when there no longer ful eye on entertainment policies for the ETO. Cheap"A remain units to be served or to which they can become at- tawdry and bawdy entertainment will not help to build tached. The system tends, too, to destroy the denomina- increase army morale. This entire problem of proper e tional assignment of chaplains on the recognized army tertainment for the overseas personnel has given and pro rata basis of three Protestant chaplains to one Catholic. giving our chaplaincy much concern. The issue was raised by Catholic chaplains themselves who at the conferences called attention to the disproportionate GENERAL PROBLEMS distribution of denominational representation which must Many other problems were given consideration: presc 12 The Army and Navy Chaplo