Armed Forces Conference
Diocesan Press Service. August 1, 1962 [I-4]
Scoring the "notorious disposition of Americans to neglect our military personnel in time of peace," participants in the Conference for Eastern Armed Forces Chairmen held at Seabury House, Greenwich, Conn., in late June, declared that "it is urgent that all of our parishes and dioceses be fully aware of the fact that our Citizen Soldiery did not fully disband at war's end."
First of its kind, the Conference was designed by the Armed Forces Division of the Church's National Council to give definition to two areas of Armed Forces work in which dioceses are most directly involved: parishes in relation to adjacent military installations, and parish preparation and follow-up of their own servicemen away on active duty.
In a statement drawn up by the attending chairmen at the conclusion of the Conference, it was noted that of the nearly 3,000,000 Americans now in uniform, an estimated 90,000 are Episcopalians. "Having, by quota, only 108 Episcopal chaplains in all service branches, it is manifest that our ministry to Episcopalians in the service cannot be left to the chaplains alone. If we are to have anywhere near an adequate ministry to our people in the Armed Forces, it must be from home ground - from the Churchman's home parish and diocese," the statement said.
The 15 Armed Forces chairmen attending the four-day Conference were drawn from Provinces I - V and included representatives of the Dioceses of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Long Island, Newark, Virginia, Southern Virginia, East Carolina, Western North Carolina, Chicago, Michigan, Quincy, Indianapolis and Northern Indiana.
According to the Rev. Worthington Campbell, Jr., Associate Secretary of the Armed Forces Division and the Division's diocesan resource person, the Conference was planned as an opportunity for "support and encouragement to diocesan chairmen in their work," rather than a chance to super impose an additional burden by presenting the chairmen with ready-made techniques.
In addition to the Rev. Robert J. Plumb, Executive Secretary of the Armed Forces Division, and Mr. Campbell, the Conference staff included the Rt. Rev. Chandler W. Sterling, Bishop of Montana and the Very Rev. Walter C. Klein, Dean of Nashotah House, seminary in Wisconsin, as visiting lecturers and Chaplain (Capt.) Alister Anderson, USA, as Conference chaplain.
Among the special guests at the Conference were Lt. Col. C. E. Spragins, field commander and instructor at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, and the Academy Chaplain, Lt. Col. Gordon Hutchins. Also visiting the Conference were Chaplain (LCDR) Samuel Hardman, USN, of the USS Galveston and the Rev. Robert C. Martin, Jr., administrator of the Advance Adult Education Program, of the National Council's Christian Education Department. Chaplain Hardman and Mr. Martin recently conducted for the twenty one Churchmen aboard the guided missile cruiser Galveston, the first of a series of experimental conferences aimed at listening to groups of servicemen comment on what happens to a man's values when he leaves home to go on active duty and what resources are available to him to help him cope with life in a new environment.