Chaplain Shortage

The Navy needs 370 chaplains immediately, will need 500 more in the next six months to keep pace with its new ships, increased overseas duty. Said Chief of Navy Chaplains Robert D. Workman last week: "If additional clergymen do not apply for the chaplaincy,. . . men in uniform will be denied the consolation and inspiration of a religious ministry during the most crucial and soul-testing period of their lives."

Although the Navy has failed to attain its full chaplain quota, its chaplains have increased from 104 (before Pearl Harbor) to 1,809. Roman Catholic and Jewish quotas are well filled, but the Protestant quota lags. Chief of Army Chaplains William R. Arnold has no such problem. Last week Roman Catholic Chaplain Arnold reported that the Army is "about on schedule" with "approximately 7,000" chaplains in service. Only the Methodist Church is "very short." The Army recently upped all denominational quotas 35% so that chaplaincies left unfilled by one church may be filled by candidates from another church which has already made up its own quota.

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