One day we're coming out of the gas mask drill, you know, you're all
disoriented and everything and they said "Get in the classroom now."
So we thought we were in trouble. We go into the classroom, on the television
was 9/11 happening. So I'll never forget thinking, this is real.
I'm going to go serve with the Marines in the combat assault battalion in
Okinawa, Japan as an active duty Navy Chaplain. And I started praying,
I was wondering, "What did God have in store for me?"
I'm Father Joe Coffey, I'm a Catholic Priest, I'm a Lieutenant Commander
and a Chaplain in the United States Navy.
There are two ways to become a Navy Chaplain. The first is as a Chaplain Candidate,
which means if you already have your college degree and you're in an accredited
seminary studying for what's usually a Master of Divinity or an equivalent degree
in your faith tradition. You can apply and become a Chaplain Candidate,
which means you will get commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy,
and then you'll do some training while you're in your graduate school program.
The second way is, if you are already a religious clergy person -
Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Orthodox, Muslim, Buddhist - and you have the approval of the
endorsing agent, which in my case would be our local bishop. You apply for the program,
and then if you get accepted you go off to Officer Development School up in
Newport, Rhode Island, where you learn the basics of becoming a Naval Officer.
And then you go down to Fort Jackson, South Carolina, which is where the actual
Navy Chaplain School is, and for seven weeks you learn how to be a Navy Chaplain.
And it is great fun.
One of our slogans in the Navy Chaplain Corps is, "We provide for our own, we facilitate
for others and we care for all," but we also advise the command.
What that means is, as a priest I'll say mass for the troops, hear confessions,
that kind of thing. But we also facilitate for others of other faith groups,
so we make sure that others have a place and a time where they can worship in
the way they see fit. Because we really take it seriously the free exercise of
religion that's so dear to all of us as Americans. In the early days of the war
in Iraq there was a time when there was a tremendous amount of tension in a local
village among the Marines and the locals. The chaplain said to the commander,
"Sir, have the Marines hand out water." Marines started handing out bottles of water and
instantly the tension just lowered dramatically.
Ministry of presence, that's where we're out and about in the workspaces seeing how the
troops are doing, asking them how their families are. We also do a lot of counseling where
we talk to the Sailors and we try to give them some good advice. If someone comes to a
Chaplain for counseling, that is one hundred percent confidential. No exceptions.
The military sees it as a benefit to have one person you can go to where no one else will
know about it - and that's the Chaplain. We take that real seriously and we really think
that's an important part of our ministry.
Well I think most Chaplains would say that it really is a vocation within a vocation.
The first vocation is being called to serve.
But then it's also a call to serve as a Naval Officer.
So you're combining the two and it's an incredible way to live a life of service for others.
Well one of the great things about being a Navy Chaplain is we serve the Navy, the Marines,
and the Coast Guard. So you have an incredible variety of possible assignments around the world.
Serving on ships, serving on bases, serving in hospitals, serving out in the field.
The great variety of ministry is fantastic. You just can't find that in the civilian world.
We have, in the Navy Chaplain Corps there's over a hundred different denominations that are represented.
And you really learn how to work with people of other faith groups and also caring for people without any faith.
I've always loved water sports, whether it's swimming in the Ocean or kayaking or outrigger paddling.
I've been able to go to Tanzania and climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and I've had a lot of great experiences
in the outdoors, you know, being a Navy Chaplain.
My first piece of advice would be to pray. Pray to see if God is really calling you to this,
because we want to feel fulfilled in our ministry, we want to feel like we're making a difference,
we want to feel like we're doing what we're called to do.
Thank you for watching this Navy webcast. If you have any questions, visit navy.com or find us on Facebook.