A Call to Chaplaincy

Jeffrey Hildner talks with Colonel (Ret.) Janet Horton,
Endorser of Christian Science Chaplains for TMC
Reprinted from the May 20006 issue of the Christian Science Journal

Currently, the US Army has 1,400 clergy (most are Christian, about 30 are Jewish, and 15 are muslim), but as Mr. Jonsson reports, the top brass is aiming to recruit nearly 600 more chaplains to serve in the next five years. the following interview, Janet Horton, Endorser of Christian Science Chaplains for The Mother Church (TMC), addressed this urgent need in light of the special healing mission of Christian Science chaplains.

Military chaplains accompany US forces wherever they go. Read The Christian Science Monitor’s recent front-page story on chaplains by Patrik Jonsson, and you’ll get a quick thumbnail of the chaplaincy’s crucial role. You will learn that chaplains provide trustworthy inspiration and counsel for soldiers in battle zones and for service members and their families facing war’s aftermath. And you will learn of the urgent need one that cuts across denominational lines for more chaplains to fill the ranks of the US military.

Currently, the US Army has 1,400 clergy (most are Christian, about 30 are Jewish, and 15 are muslim), but as Mr. Jonsson reports, “the top brass is aiming to recruit nearly 600 more chaplains to serve in the next five years.” the following interview, Janet Horton, Endorser of Christian Science Chaplains for The Mother Church, addressed this urgent need in light of the special healing mission of Christian Science chaplains.

Colonel Horton entered the US Army as a Christian Science chaplain in 1976 and retired in 2004. During her 28-year groundbreaking career as a female Christian Science chaplain, she ministered to others even as she faced down personal adversity and practiced Christian Science in a challenging environment.

She was tested early—on her first day with her permanent military unit after basic training, she toughed out an arduous morning run, had a run-in with an antagonistic supervisory chaplain, and then was told at her first chapel meeting that she would not be allowed to preach.

But over time, through her steady demonstration of Christian Science, Horton won respect as she trailblazed a path in the military not only for Christian Science chaplains but for all female chaplains.

The first woman assigned as a Division or Corps Chaplain and the first woman promoted to Colonel in the Army Chaplain Corps, she supervised religious support for the Joint Task Forces in Albania, Macedonia, and Kosovo, wrote the current revision of the Department of Defense Directive on The Appointment of Chaplains for the Armed Forces, and developed the post-9/11 brief, “Terrorist Mindset Divine Command Morality,” for the Distinguished Speaker Program for the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Let’s start with some basics, Janet. What is an Endorser?

When you apply for a commission in the military as a chaplain, one of the pieces of paper that you have to submit is an endorsement from a church that is registered with the armed forces. Churches that want to sponsor military chaplains have to have someone from their church guarantee the government that the religious ministry professionals they nominate have the appropriate education and experience, and also meet the requirements of their church. The government cannot say what a church’s requirements are. So someone in that church has to say, “they are going to produce the bona fides of our religious ministry professionals that we would lend to you to be chaplains in the military.”That is the role of the Endorser.

When did the office of the Endorser begin?

During World War I. In 1917 General Pershing asked for the first certification of clergy chaplains’ credentials.

And when did the Christian Science chaplain program start?

While chaplains have accompanied the US military for over 200 years, the first Christian Science chaplains entered the military during World War I. Because Christian Scientists were drafted, the military had to find a way to provide for their religious needs and their religious support. So The Mother Church was given a small token participation in the chaplaincies through what were called “chaplains at large.”

Are there enough Christian Science chaplains at this point?

We have very few—a total of seven. We have two in the Air Force, two in the Navy, one in the active Army, one in the Army Reserve who’s also serving with the active Army right now, and one of only three chaplains in the Coast Guard.

How does that compare to the representation of other religions and to Christian Science representation in years past?

There are well over 250 religions that, at any given time, have provided chaplains for the military, and these religions are represented by a widely varying number of chaplains. So representation by some of the smaller traditions would be pretty similar to ours. Right now, we are at an all-time low.

I would say that in many years past, when we were regularly providing chaplains, we probably had around 25 or 30 chaplains. And that increased at times when there was a conflict such as the Vietnam War or the Korean War. Now again there is a greater need because there are so many military operations going on.

What is the fundamental purpose of a Christian Science chaplain in the military?

As chaplains, Christian Scientists’ fundamental purpose will always be healing, no matter where they are, including the military, where there is an almost ever-present opportunity to help someone one on one. If a soldier or an airman or somebody comes to a Christian Science chaplain for counseling, they receive a completely spiritual response, rather than a psychological one. They get deep, prayer-based support.

So many times you’ll hear a service member leave your office saying, “That is such an uplifting, spiritual approach to things. I never would have looked at this problem or this challenge I’m having through that kind of specific prayer.” There’s just a great sense of openness and depth they feel when they talk to a Christian Scientist who’s familiar with how to give a healing treatment when there’s a challenge.

Then there are opportunities to help the military collectively, such as participating in prayer breakfasts and Bible study, and delivering sermons for a general Protestant service, all of which are amazing experiences. The “simple seekers for Truth” are really out there, hungering and thirsting.

The ideas of Christian Science are welcomed with open arms.

The unique ideas that we learn in Christian Science—that spiritual understanding of the Bible that brings a practical knowledge of the healing Comforter—are just welcomed with open arms, lovingly and joyously, in the general Protestant community.

And, of course, Christian Science chaplains minister not only to Christian Scientists and Protestants. You are part of a network of clergy that together provides comprehensive religious support for all people of every religion in the military.

All chaplains have a sense of universal love for mankind, and they have the ability to talk to a person about prayer, about God, about their relationship to God, about a sense of peace or a sense of safety in a spiritual way. What is special about Christian Science chaplains is that they are ideally suited to demonstrate how powerfully and practically healing prayer can meet the daily demands of the people who serve in this uncommonly demanding profession.

Let’s say there are Christian Scientists who feel a sense of service stirring within them. And they want to become chaplains. Aside from church and Department of Defense requirements [see sidebars], what other qualities would you look for?

Well, our approach to that, of course, is a very prayerful one, and we would be looking for solid metaphysical qualities that are clearly based on the healing practice of Christian Science. The one that really jumps out to me is humility. And there are others that I think are very important. You really have to have a deep love for mankind. I think you have to understand what it means to be ever vigilant. I call it being at spiritual attention to God.

A divine sense of order is helpful because of the structure of the military.

And I think you have to have a real reverence for divine Principle, for intelligence, and to be very deeply aware of God’s omnipresence and omnipotence. A divine sense of order is very helpful because of the structured nature of the military. These types of characteristics form a firm foundation for a Christian Scientist to engage in the healing practice in the military chaplaincy.

What is the climate of receptivity in the military for a Christian Science chaplain today?

There is not a lot of overt group resistance, but there is still some covert individual resistance. But I have always found that prayer cuts right through that. God produces an experience or situation that allows those challenges to come to the surface to be healed. I think as long as I have known Christian Science chaplains, they have all been able to see very clearly that things do not occur unless they occur to bless. And so the healing of these impositions really blesses everyone involved.

For example, I was serving in the desert, and I was asked to run up a small mountain behind our quarters with some of the other new chaplains. Five miles out, we realized the mountain was no closer, and we had to run back. We were deep in the desert. Because I was praying, I did not realize that the male chaplains had raced ahead and had climbed into trees at the edge of a small desert town.

Suddenly I realized why they had climbed into the trees—a pack of wild dogs was running toward me! As they surrounded me, I prayed to know what to do. It came to me to get down, and as I knelt, the dogs lay down, too, and listened attentively. I spoke directly to the lead dog. What I did was literally “preach the gospel to every creature,” as Jesus told his disciples to do.

I told the dogs they had a purpose.

I told the dogs what the Bible says: “God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.”
And I told them that means that they, too, were very good. I repeated a passage from the Christian Science textbook: “All of God’s creatures, moving in the harmony of Science, are harmless, useful, indestructible.” I told them they had a purpose, as did I, but it wasn’t here. I motioned with my hand that they could go.
The lead dog jumped up and left, and the others followed. The male chaplains sheepishly came down from the trees and confessed to some rather ravenous and hateful things they had previously been thinking about Christian Science and women chaplains. But they said that what they had just seen was such a remarkable healing of danger that they had completely changed their minds.

They realized that I was not just a star-spangled Barbie doll and that Christian Science healing was not a myth. They had seen with their own eyes the power of healing prayer. This led to a deeper understanding of the practical application of Christian Science and a more harmonious reception for women and their place in the chaplaincy.

Paint a picture of the future. What do you see as the ideal landscape for Christian Science participation in the military?

Well, I see ongoing healing, and in all kinds of forms, including uplifting the view of policy at the highest strategic levels. We have had our chaplains welcomed by the highest leadership of the military and the highest leadership of the military chaplaincies because of the purity of our chaplains’ thought, the precision of their thought, their professionalism, the kindness they have always displayed. And so, even though our chaplains have had challenges, they have always risen to positions of responsibility.

We have had chaplains who have worked in the Pentagon, advising at the Department of Defense level, and chaplains who have worked in the Chiefs of Chaplains’ offices. In the past, our Chaplain Training Program candidates who were enrolled in seminary programs, largely at Boston University School of Theology, have been immensely appreciated for their diversity and quality of thought. I think this kind of genuine respect and appreciation will always be the case when people of other religions and points of view come to know us and see the day-to-day living of the Christianity that Christian Science chaplains and candidates display. I see that continuing.

What else would you like to communicate to readers who want to have a fuller understanding of the purpose, mission, and effectiveness of the chaplaincy program, and may want to participate or support it financially?

I think the Christian Science chaplaincy has represented to the military how a church can provide chaplains who have a really great trust in the Father-Mother’s love for everyone and a deep sense of assurance that God has an abiding care for His children. The thing that has impelled the military to ask us to send more chaplains has a purpose that seems very pure, very right.

I think what the military sees is our pure desire to be witnesses to the power of the healing Christ presence. And I think because we Christian Science chaplains study daily “A Rule for Motives and Acts,” it’s been seen that we’ve demonstrated a clear spiritual impetus in our performance in the military. We’ve shown in practice our scientific certainty that God is governing and that with Him all things are possible.

“Troubled soldiers turn to chaplains for help,” The Christian Science Monitor, March 8, 2006

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 11th, 2006 at 6:48 pm and is filed under Interfaith, Christian Science. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response.