Part One: What’s an FBI Chaplain do?
A Chaplain is a resource the FBI makes available to employees and their
families. Chaplains are qualified, having a minimum of five years prior law
enforcement chaplaincy experience, then are Bureau trained.
Chaplains provide “privileged” counsel to FBI personnel and their families.
Chaplains offer personal, family counseling, grief counseling, prayer,
“presence,” and work to restore spiritual equilibrium.
Chaplains also are used for death notifications, some are involved in CISD
(Critical Incident Stress Debriefing) as sent out with some CISD teams, others
are in CIP (Crisis Intervention Program)
The Chaplain offers a “pulling alongside of” ministry, day and night to agency
personnel. Relates to the Greek “Parakletos”
meaning “one who is summoned, called to one’s side, esp. called to one’s aid” –
used referring to the Holy Spirit in the context of the Comforter, five times in
the New Testament, such as in John 15:26, where Jesus said, “But when the
Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even
the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall
testify of Me:”
The Chaplain offers insight, wisdom, counsel and prayer. We
expect Chaplains to be available anytime, day or night.
A chaplain may go for months without being called out and then be called
two or three days in a row. The Chaplaincy is not a “mom and pop hug squad.”
Most of the people we serve do not see themselves as needing services and won't
seek them, so it is up to the Chaplain and EAP to help people feel comfortable
talking to the Chaplain and taking advantage of the Chaplain’s services. For
Chaplains, it’s not “we're here if you need us!” It's ”we are here and here's
what we can do for you.”
Pastors and Chaplains:
A pastor (minister, priest, rabbi, imam) is a leader of a local church,
synagogue or mosque congregation, and as such represents the movement,
denomination or at the very least the congregation whom he or she serves. A
pastor is involved with the promotion of his or her faith, congregation its
programs, doctrinal distinctives and theological perspectives.
A chaplain generally does not offer religious or spiritual advice unless the
employee specifically requests it. A chaplain may share parts of his or her
spiritual journey where appropriate when it coincides with a specific aspect of
the clients’ situation.
FBI
chaplains serve the personnel of the Bureau and their families, and have a
responsibility to provide an effective and ethical service.
A chaplain is
not a proselytizer. A chaplain coerces no one.
Counsel given by a Chaplain is directed only to those who seek him or her out.
It may be helpful for the individual seeking help to differentiate between a
Christian chaplain and a chaplain who is a Christian.
Chaplains, in a desire for the good of the whole person, seek to contribute to
an environment which supports mutual respect, self esteem, and the appropriate
pursuit of personal and professional growth and agency goals.
The role of a chaplain may differ according to the individual chaplain’s
educational background, expertise experience and faith tradition, but generally
can be described as follows:
1.
Pastoral
Chaplains provide pastoral or supportive care for employees and their families,
supplementing the other support services of the EAP. It is recognized that some
employees may prefer a chaplain to a peer or clinical counselor for personal
counseling. chaplains help to provide for spiritual, personal and social needs,
and to facilitate the goals and directives of the EAP. It is intended that these
services contribute positively to the quality of life and operations in the FBI.
2. Chaplains
provide practical care in a number of ways which may include:
§
enabling
individuals to understand their spiritual concerns;
§
providing
personal advice and counsel;
§
providing
prayer, counsel and spiritual support in times of crisis, such as divorce,
family problems, use of deadly force, lawsuits or internal investigations.
§
providing
services to newly assigned
employees who are dealing with the dislocation and adjustments of living and
working in a new city. The chaplain, as
“local” can help ease the new arrival into the local culture;
§
diversifying
social contact especially for newly arriving employees;
§
providing
support for those who are spiritually inclined or are deeply religious and want
counsel and help that comes from someone who truly understands their issues.
§
assisting
EAP peer counselors and clinicians when dealing with those who are deeply
religious and who may distrust counsel that is strictly secular.
§
providing
support for employees who are spiritually minded in relating professional
demands to the dictates of their conscience or
religious expectations;
§
promoting
the sense of family and community within the agency as a whole;
§
advocacy
where appropriate;
§
FBI
Chaplains recognize that in many instances it is appropriate that they work in
conjunction with other units of the FBI, as a ministry of presence or in a
consulting role; for example HRT, BSU or ERT’s.
3. Spiritual
Chaplains provide “presence” as an individual who is in touch with God, with the
spiritual aspects of life, and who bring peace, tranquility and understanding,
and hopefully offer counsel and comfort.
4.
Religious
Teaching
Chaplains may provide religious teaching and opportunities for dialogue and
discussion in accordance with the teachings of their faith traditions.
Specific
Uses of a Chaplain
When an
individual is deeply spiritual, and wants scriptural support for the counsel he
or she is receiving, it is a good thing to recommend a chaplain. (Many spiritual
people naturally distrust advice and counsel given by someone who does not
believe in God or is unfamiliar with the scriptures whether it is the Bible,
Vedas or the Koran).
When the
individual has been involved in use of deadly force and asks if God is mad,
because the scriptures say, “Thou shalt not kill,” it is a good thing to
recommend a chaplain.
When there
are life and death issues, such as a death or birth in the family, suicide or
diagnosis of the individual or family member with a possibly terminal disease –
it’s a good thing to recommend a Chaplain.
Conclusion:
We need to
recognize Law Enforcement Officers and their families as a people group with
their own very specific values, stressors, and family dynamics.
We want to
avoid the Humpty Dumpty Syndrome. As Chaplains we can help Humpty Dumpty before
he falls.
The counsel
of a Chaplain, minister, priest or rabbi is a matter of ethics, not one of
religiosity. There is nothing inherently religious about God. If a clinician or
peer knows of a resource that could help one of our personnel or has helped
others, and does not offer that resourced, it would be unethical. It is an
ethical responsibility to inform personnel of the possibility of drawing on
spiritual resources.
It's with in bounds for clinician to bring awareness that many claim to receive
help, relief serenity, thru practicing presence of God and found it the pathway
to healing. Chaplains are a key component in Agency health and functionality.
Part Two:
Other
resources related to chaplaincy
Chaplains
and Separation of Church and State
In an
interview with Tom Witosky for the Des Moines Register, June 1, 2007,
Tom Berg commented on the constitutionality of chaplains in a secular
environment. Berg is a constitutional law professor at the
University of
St. Thomas College of Law
in St. Paul, Minn. He
has authored two legal case books and more than 25 legal briefs on issues of
religious liberty and free speech. He is also an expert on the constitutional
issue of separation of church and state. Berg said that the U.S. Supreme Court
has ruled that religion-based programs can enter public institutions, but become
inappropriate when religion and government become one or the program becomes
coercive.
When religious initiatives are appropriate, according to Professor Berg:
The use of chaplains in the
U.S.
military and in prisons indicates that the government can be used to provide
religious counsel and help to those who want it. "Government is deeply involved
in those situations," Berg said. "If it didn't provide that avenue for prisoners
and soldiers to have access to a clergyman, then government would be viewed as
suppressing religion."
Berg said
that an institution needs to "… structure [the Chaplain’s program] in such a way
as to make sure the chaplain is simply there as a resource and not participate
in any kind of coercive pressure."
Excerpts from From Chaplain Leadership as the Art of Persuasion by Chaplain
(MAJ) Paul A. Baker, USAR , published in the “Army Chaplaincy” Winter 1998.
“Military chaplains have not been exempt from the legal and historical
influences of voluntary association. This is why the legal justification for
military chaplains rests on the free exercise clause of the First Amendment.
Soldiers must be free to practice their religious faith and have access to
clergy of their particular faith community as an exercise of religious freedom
and voluntary association. To allow this to happen, the government provides
clergy who serve as chaplains. Chaplains provide for the religious needs of
soldiers and their families, while performing direct ministry to those who seek
it from the chaplains of particular faith traditions.
The legal and historical roots of religious freedom resulted in the
non-acceptance of clergy using coercive power as an instrument of government
authority. These same roots also forbid chaplains from exercising the coercive
power that undergirds command. That is why chaplains, along with civilian
clergy, are leaders who rely on the exercise of persuasion to accomplish their
mission.
“Consider the differing vocabularies of command and ministry. Words like
control, dominate, dictate, order, regulate, and obey are identified with
commanders. Words like mercy, caring, sensitivity, compassion, reflective,
loving, justice and servant are identified with chaplains. These words mirror
the cultural expectations of clergy as leaders reflected in Schuller’s study.
Most Army commanders, it seems, expect chaplains to comply with the cultural
roles required of all clergy. Chaplain Everette J. Thomas in 1981 surveyed
thirty-nine Army colonels with the intent of identifying how commanders
perceive chaplains.
The following percentages indicate how many commanders identified each
characteristic. The survey indicated that commanders perceive a chaplain as
a dedicated person of God (100%); a counselor to soldiers (97%); a moral
influence on troops (95%); concerned with service, not status (95%); a
member of the military team (90%); a clergyperson more than an officer
(74%). The chaplain was not seen as unnecessary by all 39 commanders.
Also, the vast majority of commanders surveyed did not perceive the
chaplain as without dedication or calling (95%), involved with non-clergy
duties (92%), or as a justifier of the military establishment (85%). The
characteristics perceived by the colonels as positives mirror the qualities
and expectations of leadership that rely on persuasive techniques and
personalities. (from Everette J. Thomas, "The Commander-Chaplain Perceptual
Communication Gap," unpublished study paper, February, 1982)
Excerpts from Warrior, prophet, priest: the strategic value of chaplains
to the war effort and community -
Infantry
Magazine, July-August,
2006 by
Stephen Muse, Glen
L. Bloomstrom
Contributions of the Chaplaincy
Historically Army chaplains have been and remain the critical link in assisting
with Soldiers' morale and helping with the transition between war and civilian
life. Chaplains have consistently been catalysts and innovators in addressing
Soldier and family needs and initiating programs, which later became independent
Army programs. Chaplains established lending closets and provided "Helping Hand"
funds using offerings taken up at chapels which were the precursors to today's
Army Community Service and Army Emergency Relief. After World War II, chaplains
were at the forefront of initiatives to racially integrate the force. During the
Vietnam period and following, chaplains initiated and were integral to drug and
alcohol treatment and "Human Relations" programs.
The chaplain remains the primary frontline professional person in whom Soldiers
are likely to confide in or seek out in distress. While the stigma of the label
of "mental illness" still prevents Soldiers from talking with psychiatrists and
medical personnel, the American Association of Pastoral Counselors found that
when ".confronted with a personal problem needing counseling, 66 percent of
persons would prefer a counselor who represented spiritual values and beliefs.
Eighty-one percent prefer someone who enables them to integrate their values
and belief system into the counseling process." Results of the Sample Survey
of Military Personnel (SSMP) indicate that next to a friend or close
relative, Soldiers rank chaplains as the one "most likely for Army personnel
to turn to for advice about confidential personal or family problems."
Excerpt from : Chaplains: The Calm in the Chaos, Newsweek - May 7, 2007 issue
By Lisa Miller
“They inspire, give comfort and pray for safety. Throughout
America's
history, chaplains have 'come nigh unto the battle.”
History's battlefields have almost always held a place for men and women of
God—someone to inspire and give comfort, give parents and fiancées the bad news,
file forms, educate, pray for safety and, failing that, safe passage.
Deuteronomy 20:2-4 says, "And it shall be when ye are come nigh unto the
battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people."
In America, the role of military
chaplain has, in the past 250 years, grown from ad hoc—the village pastor who
fought with the boys in his congregation—to bureaucratic. But from the start,
the job has had inherent tensions: To whom does the chaplain ultimately report?
To the troops who need guidance? The government that pays the bills? God? And in
the hell of war, how does a chaplain hold on to faith?
George Washington thought chaplains belonged in the military and he wrote 50
letters saying so; in 1775, Congress approved funding. Almost immediately,
though, the position raised ethical and constitutional questions. In his
"Detached Memoranda," James Madison worried that military chaplains might
violate the Establishment Clause.
In the 1840s, a group of Protestants from Tennessee wrote a letter to the
secretary of War, saying they didn't want their tax dollars to pay for a
Catholic chaplain—and as the diversity of the U.S. troops grew (black and Jewish
chaplains joined the military in the Civil War), so did these tensions. Two
years ago, the Air Force had to issue a statement saying it didn't prefer one
religion to another after staffers complained of proselytizing by evangelicals;
in 2004, General William G. Boykin was reprimanded for making anti-Muslim
remarks.
On a frigid night in 1943, the
U.S.
transport ship Dorchester was sailing near Greenland when it was hit by a torpedo from a German sub.
Among the dead were four chaplains—two Protestants, a Catholic and a Jew—who
gave their own life jackets to men on deck. They could be heard praying together
as the massive ship slipped under water, and their sacrifice and compassion
became the stuff of legend.
With Sarah Childress, Sarina Rosenberg and John Barry © 2007 Newsweek, Inc.
Excerpt from War in the Chaplain Corps
By Ward Sanderson,
Stars and Stripes
Stripes Sunday magazine,
November 23, 2003
The
American Civil Liberties Union does not oppose chaplains.
"It’s
been challenged and upheld by the courts," said Arthur Spitzer, legal director
of the ACLU’s national capital affiliate. "The reasoning is, when the military
takes someone and puts them on a ship, or somewhere in Afghanistan,
it’s reasonable for the government to provide some means of exercising their
religion. That’s the same thing that happens in the prisons. We’re not opposed
to that."
Doug
Bandow, a religion and politics analyst with the libertarian Cato Institute,
agreed.
"I don’t
see how you can have folks in the military and not give them access to
chaplains," Bandow said. "You can’t put guys in Iraq and say, ‘Good luck, now find a
church.’ I don’t think anyone can argue that it’s establishment of religion."
The
chaplaincy is inherently about religion, and diverse ones. Navy chaplains
constantly bring up the idea of pluralism. The problem, evangelicals maintain,
is that it can mean the ability of all chaplains to pursue their faith, a
requirement that all chaplains not offend the faith of another or simply
describe the environment of many faiths making up the sea service.
Cmdr.
Lawrence Zoeller, an equal opportunity investigator testified: “A chaplain
wouldn’t preach his doctrine if it was offensive to another religious group,"
"That is,
in effect, both an establishment of religion and a violation of free exercise,"
Arthur Schulcz, the Vienna, Va.-based attorney said of the testimony. "That is,
in fact, contrary to the whole spirit of the First Amendment."
"Pluralism, again, doesn’t describe how we do what we do," Navy Chaplain
Hendricks testified. "It more describes the context in which we serve."
Chaplain Steve Davis
FBI HQ Washington, DC
P.O. Box 177
Bryans Road, MD 20616
sdavis@spiritofthelaw.org
301-659-0194
