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This year, three of our nation’s military branches (U.S. Army, U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps) all celebrated historic milestones. 250 years ago this year, the Continental Congress established the Continental Army, the Continental Navy and the Continental Marines - the forerunners of today’s Army, Navy and Marine Corps.
The U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps is also celebrating its 250th Anniversary this year. For 250 years, the Navy Chaplain Corps has been called to serve God, America, and America’s sea services. Through wars and peacetime, in good times and bad times, Navy chaplains have provided ministry, counseling and solace for Sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen and their families at home and in countless places around the globe.
On 28 November 1775, the Continental Congress established regulations to govern the new Continental Navy. Article II directed captains to provide for religious services aboard their ships. This date is regarded as the birth date of the Navy Chaplain Corps. Reverend Benjamin Balch, a Congregational minister from Massachusetts, is recognized as the first Navy chaplain. During the War for Independence, Chaplain Balch served aboard the frigates Boston and Alliance and earned the nickname ‘the Fightin’ Parson.’
Most of the early Navy chaplains were Methodists and Episcopalians, accounting for over 2/3rds of ordained Navy chaplains during the Navy’s first 80 years. Over time, other denominations came to be represented including Presbyterians, Lutherans, Orthodox Christians, Jewish and Baptists.
Reflecting the growing numbers of Catholics serving in the Navy, the Navy began commissioning priests as chaplains starting in 1888 with the commissioning of Father Charles H. Parks.
Since Father Parks’ commissioning, Catholic priests have served with distinction in the Navy Chaplain Corps. Chaplain John P.S. Chidwick survived the explosion and sinking of the battleship Maine in Havana Harbor in 1898, then ministered to the dying and wounded. During World War One, Chaplain John J. Brady served with the Marines, including at the Battle of Belleau Wood. Chaplain Brady was awarded the Navy Cross for heroism and later became the first Roman Catholic priest promoted to Rear Admiral.
On 7 December 1941, Presbyterian Chaplain Thomas Kirkpatrick of USS Arizona and Catholic Chaplain Aloysius Schmitt of USS Oklahoma were killed in the surprise Japanese attack on Hawaii.
Throughout World War Two, Navy chaplains served honorably in harm’s way to support Sailors and Marines. Chaplain Joseph O’Callahan was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism aboard the aircraft carrier USS Franklin when she was severely damaged and nearly sunk by Japanese kamikaze planes.
During the Vietnam War, Chaplain Vincent Capodanno was killed in combat while ministering to the wounded of 3/5th Marines. He was later awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for saving the lives of several Marines in complete disregard for his own safety.
Chaplain John J. O’Connor served with the 3rd Marine Division during the Vietnam War. Promoted to Rear Admiral, he served as the Navy’s Chief of Chaplains from 1975 to 1979. Under his direction, the Navy established the Religious Program Specialist (RP) rate in January 1979 to provide Navy Chaplains with dedicated enlisted sailors to assist them with ministry, administrative matters and personal protection when serving with Marines and Seabees in combat zones. After retiring from the Navy, John J. O’Connor was appointed by Pope Saint John Paul II as the Archbishop of New York and elevated by him to Cardinal.
The Navy Chaplain and RP form a Religious Ministry Team (RMT). Navy RMTs have deployed with Navy and Marine forces to the Persian Gulf for Operation Desert Shield / Desert Storm in 1990-91 and again in 2003 for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom.
As a Navy Reserve RP, I was privileged to work with several outstanding Navy Catholic chaplains, including Chaplain Edward Gorman who ran a RCIA program in Iraq as part of his ministerial duties. One of my fondest Navy memories is attending Chaplain Gorman’s Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve 2009 at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq.
In 250 years, the Navy Chaplain Corps has grown with both the nation and the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard that it serves. Wooden ships may have given way to steel ones and machine guns and automatic rifles may have replaced black powder muskets and cutlasses, but the mission of the Navy’s Chaplain Corps remains the same: to provide spiritual ministry to the sea services at home and forward deployed.
The U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps - “Vocati ad servitium” (“Called to Serve”) for 250 years and beyond.
Bryan J. Dickerson is an author and historian specializing in military and naval history, and Catholicism. He earned his BA in History from Rowan University (NJ), MA in American History from Monmouth University (NJ) and a graduate Certificate in Archival Studies from Louisiana State University. His writings have appeared online and in print in such publications as Columbia (the magazine of the Knights of Columbus) and Celebrate Life (the magazine of the American Life League). He is a 4th Degree member of the Knights of Columbus and a Past Grand Knight of a council in New Jersey. His book The Liberators of Pilsen: the U.S. 16th Armored Division in World War II Czechoslovakia was published by McFarland Books in 2018 and his book Dive Bomber Down: James A. Nist Naval Aviator in the Pacific War is now available from McFarland Books. He has also self-published sixeen books, including In the Name of COVID: The Assault on Religious Freedom in 2020. A former U.S. Navy Reserve Religious Program Specialist 1st Class (Fleet Marine Force), he mobilized and deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom twice. He and his wife Lisa have four children and live in southern New Jersey.
