The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-05-29
THE US. NAVY CHAPLAIN
A FUNCTIONARY WHO MAY BE VERY
USEFUL IT HE KNOWS HOW.
His Position Not Ornamental, hut one
Involving Difficult Duties-of
Various Denominations.
New York Times.

New fOfk IlneS
Jacks and marines who go to sea in our
many styles Of naval fighting craft have
their spiritual welfare looked after by the
chapains. who not only afford them church
privileges on Sunday mornings, but read
the prayers over them to afford them Chris
tan burial--if the worst come Dur gov
eminent does not provide as many naval
chaplains as it ought, but one effect of the
present war agitation will probably be an
increase in their number. Twenty years
ago there were no ships worth putting a
chaplain aboard of, at least not one who
was more than a perfunctory person bent
on nothing save drawing his salary. Now
the splendid fighting machines whose very
names are household words and which are
helping TO make history have on each of
them a number equal to d large parish, and
all men. They are more and more recruited
from the ranks Of American homes-homes
IN Illinois. in Missouri. in Pennsylvania, in
Ohio. the Northwest-for the reason that
lacks are now required to be native born
or naturalized American citizens. Those
who are to uphold our honor on the seas
are not foreigners, as some suppose.
The chaplain is a friend to all of them.
And if the chaplain be the right sort of
man all the men are friends of his. Some
chapains upon entering the service make
asses of themselves. This is partly because
of their inexperience, partly because lands
men cannot readily understand sea life, and
a third of the responsibility rests with the
government itself, which ought to send
newly appointed chapains to a navy yard,
where they could gain experience before
going to sea, and where they might have
helpful consultations with old chaplans.
mt obar In
navy They must be, upon appointment, or
dained men and in good standing in their
respective communities. They are free to
use any form of servce-that of the denom-
nation to which they belong AS matter
of fact, many of them use the Book of
There are two reasons for this. 1t is well
adapted for the purpose, and Methodists
PresbyterianS, and others often turn to it
as an available supply of very apparent
need. And the influence of England, to
which the Prayer Book primarily belongs
is enormous on the seas Members of
churches who are sent upon the ships of
our navy either as Jacks or as marines,
will find the sacrament of the Lords Sup
orally in their own rooms. The reason for
this is the liza biity of the communicates be-
ING cdlleu upon AT any moment 10 go upon
deck to perform naval or marine duty. This
interfereS with a public communion serv-
ice. Hence the private one.
A NAVAL ORDER.
Rig church, is one of the regular naval
orders. The captain issues it and the rig
ging is done deck or elsewhere, ac-
cording to the season of the year or the
latitude Of the ship. 1t consists of much
or little. according as the chaplain is Meth
odist or Roman Catholic, Baptist or ritual
istic EpiscOpaan. When rugged the ships
bell is tolled. Attendance at church is quite
voluntary on the part of all. 1t rarely
happens, save under exceptional circum-
stances, that so few as 40 per cent. of the
men come. Generally half on shipboard at
tend Sometimes three-fOurths. They may
not all be so incHned but, unlike young
men on land they have nowhere else to
go. Sometimes the band, if the service be
on a flagship is used to accompany the
singing, but generally some officer or per-
maps an able seaman plays the organ, with
which 2ll ships that have chaplains are
And the singing! 1t is grand. Three hun
dred men, with strong voices. And for the
most part the men like to come and sing.
something's Sunday evening lectures are
given. This depends upon the chaplain,
whether he wants to and whether he can.
Other services are prayers on weekday
rade at evening. Here attendance is COM
pulsory, but the service is very short. By
chaplain is pastoral. The service has a ire
mendous influence on the men, even if they
do not attend it. If the ship be lying in
harbor other ships men hear the bell and
know divine service is going on The whole
effect is wholesome and money paid to
chaplains is well invested
When Jack dies, the funeral unless cir
cumstances prevent. is exceedingly formal
Recently while the training squadron was
on deck. The funeral held on a Sunday,
could hardly have been made more formal
All the shipping in the harbor had flags at
half mast. and the funeral procession, a
long one, was made up of ships boats bells
on all ships near were tolled everybody was
assembled on the spar deck. and stood
throughout
as the body was carried on shore, a girl
came hastily out of the crowd put some
flowers on the casket and ran away into the
crowd. The interment was in the seaport
cemetery which, like all such cemeteries
from Halifax southwark, contain the re-
mains of persons inferred under similar con-
ditions, hailing from every quarter of the
globe.
NOT ORNAMENTAL.
In the minds of most people navy chap
lain is a rather ornamental parsonage, who
reads an occasional service and lives in
comparative luxury at sea. with good pay
extra inducement. The impression is
wrong. There are in our navy twenty-four
chaplains. Of this number ten are Meth
odsts. and the remainder are Episcopalians,
Baptists, Roman Catholics. Presbyterians
and Disciples of Christ. There is no more
trying life of which one can conceive than
that of a navy chaplain. The navy chap
lain must be courageous, physically and
spiritually. He ought to be prepared 70
handle a cutleSs; he must restrain himself
from the least suspicion of wrong, night
and day; he must be an example TO men and
officers
He is under the eye of the officers and
crew at all times. and suspicion is fastened
on him very quickly. The men with whom
the chaplain is thrown have a different way
of thinking. Life or shipboard means plenty
of moral freedom. which will pass unnoticed
among the men themselves. But the chap
lain must beware of all license. He must
know where to stop. He must know how to
unbend. but he must not pass the breaking
point. The average chaplain aboard shrinks
from the very thought of entertaining a
civil clergyman. The landsman cannot seem
to appreciate, TO come in touch with, his
strange surroundings. He is likely to bring
on board with him a number of curious
women. who seldom show tact. One Scotch
minister's first remark on coming aboard
one of our ships was: Have you any
thing to drink? l believe in taking the good
things as they come along" The chaplain
FASTENED to reply that there was no liquor
ahoard-saying within that there was none
for the visitor 1t may be added that by
law only wine and beer are allowed to be
taken on board our men-of-war
The chaplain of to-day is an altogether
different parsonage from the chaplain of
thirty forty and fifty years ago Then you
would have found 1t difficult to know a
chaplain as such. He was required to wear
the uniform of a commissioned officer with
a sword at his side. The chaplain of those
DAYS was most often low church Episco-
palah He was very low church.; in fact,