The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-09
CHAPLHINS in THE NAVY
THE QUALIFICATIONS WHICH ARE
DEMANDED By THE SERVICE.
Evil Results Of Appointments Due to
Relations with Officers.
Washington Letter in New york Post.


The prominent part which Chaplain Nc
Intyre has played in some recent dispatches
from the West has aroused interest in the
position of naval chaplains generally. There
are, by limit of law, never more than two
dozen chaplains in the naval service An
applicant for appointment to such a place
must be not less than twenty-one or more
than twenty-five years of age, and min
lister of good standing in his denomination
This last fact, as we'll as his character and
qualifications in general, must be attested
unequivocally by men of decided promi-
nence in the applicants church, who are
willing to assume responsibility, as far as
any outsider can, for the appointment. 1t
is needless to add that political influence
and pressure are very important adjuncts
in such case and often turn the scale
when the other qualifications and recon-
mendations are about evenly balanced be-
tween several candidates. When an APP
pointment is made solely on grounds of
political or personal favoritism, the rule is
almost invariable that the government has
cause later to regret it. Instances have
been known of men of grossly unfit char
acter getting into the service and having to
be got out again to avoid bringing even
the VIGOROUSLY free-mannered Jackie under
their demoralizing influence.
The position of a chaplain aboard ship is
like that of any other commissioned staff
officer. His relative rank varies from COM
mander to captain, and his salary ranges
between a passed assistant surgeons and a
surgeons, and is a little higher than that
of lieutenant of the line. He messes in
the ward room with the other officers and
is entitled to private stateroom, but he
wears no uniform, and ordinarily dresses
in the close-buttoned clerical coat or, if
a Roman Catholic, in the garb of his order.
NO positive rule prevails as to the pro-
portion appointments which shall be CIV
en- to the different denominations, but the
President uses his discretion. President
Cleveland, though a Protestant of the most
pronounced sort by inheritance, recognized
the fact that perhaps the largest single re-
HglouS element among the seamen OF the
navy-who needed the chaplains care more
than their officers-was Roman Catholic,
and accordingly appointed an extraordinary
number of Roman Catholics to naval chap
laincieS during his two administrations The
latest ecclesiastical census near the hand
of the writer shows the Methodists in the
lead in the list of naval chaplains, the
Protestant Episcopalians second, the Bap-
lists and the Roman Catholics on an equal
footing, the Church Of the Disciples next,
and the PreSbyterians bringing up the rear.
NO SINECURE.
The office of chaplain, if conscientiously
must be man of great natural tact, as he
is the one link, as it were, between the
social levels, of officers and men. respective
ly. In order to compass the great object of
his existence. he must gain the confidence of
the crew, and to do this requires that he
should spend no inconsiderable part Of his
time with them. Their faith gained, one of
the first evidences of it is apt to be that the
chaplain is made their confidant on all sub
Jects, including their opinions of his brother
olncers, which are quite as often critical as
complimentary. To refuse absolutely TO
listen to these condolences would be to con-
vince Jackie. who is a trife suspicious of
anything emanatlng from the wardroom
art, that his spiritual adviser is in league
with his professional superiors to make his
HE uncomfortable. On the other hand to
encourage plain speaking about his brother
otncers has it's marked disadvantages, as
each recital by Jackies is likely to increase
the feeling which first impelled it. until very
trl1llng INCIDENTS are SWelied to vast pro-
portions. The chaplain is, therefore Obliged
TO handle Jackie very cautiously, and when
he gets back to his mess table, to make any
suggestion for the amelioration of Jackie S
CONDITION with the utmost deicacy: for if
ms fellow-officers should once measure him
up as merely the privileged mouthpiece of
the forecaStle, his place would soon hecome
little worth holding
One of the most successful chaplains the
navy ever had was young Roman Catholic
priest his commanding officer on one oc-
caSiOn did him the honor to say that the
priest commanded the men with more sue
cess than he did himself. The secret of the
chaplalns influence in the forecastle was
tnat ne was man first and a clergyman
afterWard. He was thoroughly sympathetic
in his relations with the sailors. Witfout let
ting oi4e of them feel on terms of undigni-
ned familiarity and-what Jackie appre-
ciated more than anything else-if a man
was spelling for round of fisticuffs the
chaplain could always accommodate him.
He was good general athlete and superb
boxer. He seemed to enjoy nothing better
than putting on the gloves with some am
bilious sailorman and showing him a trick
or two at the expense Of his nose or any
other perilously obtruSive organ. Once in a
while the chaplain would find in his an
tagon1st not good-natured playfellow. but
a rather brutal seaman of the old school,
with the conventional notion that parson
would not know how to defend himself, ard
then it was the chaplain'S special pleasure
to batter the fellow, up till he, admitted that
he had enough, and was ready to go to his
quarters in very much humbled condi-
ton.
He HAD TACT
This chaplain contrived, without losing
caste among his fellow officers to meet the
men on simple footing, talking to them in
language which they could understand.
interesting himself in their domestic rela-
tons and love affairs, writing letters for
those who were not masters of the pen, and
above all avoiding the subjects of religion in
his conversation unless the men raised it
themselves. His experience was that after
he had gained the confidence of the men
they would talk to him as freely on that as
on any other subject, and wholly of their
own accord. When they did consult him on
religious matters, he did no mincing, but
stated points and answered questions with
a candor which left no doubt of his sincerity
in the mind of his interlocutor. and which
did nothing in the world to fiatter the
wrongdoer into a sense of complacency
One of his hobbies was temperance
which he did not, however, run into
the ground. He preferred to make
the drunkards ashamed of themselves
when they faced him, as they might
have been if going home in an inebriated
condition to face their families. 1t was no
ticeable that the general tone of morality
on that mans ship was higher than almost
on any other in the service. and largely
because he sank the professional side of
himself in the human side. In the wardroom
he was no less successful than among the
common sailors. He smoked and snapped
stories with his brother officers and acquired
the name of a jollv companion. Protestants
liked him as well as Catholics; and when
he had the honor of conducting the first
high mass ever held on the deck of an
American man-of-war. the foes of his faith
joined enthusiastically with its warmest
champions in rigging church and taking
part in the exerciSeS-not that they objected