Refresher Course

Many a young ex-chaplain was beset by misgivings. Misgiving No. 1 he shared with mustered-out Americans of every sort, from radio stars to ribbon clerks: "Will I get a job?" Ex-chaplains too recently graduated from divinity schools to have had a parish and those whose pulpits have been filled by able successors feared they might have to sweat it out a long time.

Misgiving No. 2 they also had in common with their brother veterans: "How can I get along with civilians?" A few decided to break themselves in gradually to civilian churchgoers' standards by returning to the seminary for a "refresher course." Said one chaplain with a battle record in the Marines: "I'm here at school as a cushion between my wartime experience and the little old ladies over the teacups I'll have to minister to when I get back to a parish."

The Job Ahead. Older chaplains, wiser in the ways of parish life, found readjustment less difficult but still far from easy. The rector of St. Andrew's Memorial Episcopal Church, Yonkers, N.Y., the Rev. Lynde Elliot May III, 40, entered the Navy in November 1942, served as a "flotilla chaplain" during the invasion of Southern France and elsewhere in the ETO, was discharged in November 1945. The experience as a padre he valued and would not have missed, but he was "darned glad to get back" to the tranquillity of his parish and to his own job. Ex-Chaplain May admitted that the humdrum routine of parochial life took some getting used to. In a parish a high percentage of problems falls into a groove, whereas in the Navy the kinds of problems are legion.

An underlying question with every ex-chaplain was how to put his war-widened experience to account. Last fall, Baptist Dr. Alfred Carpenter made a two-month, 33,000-mile tour of U.S. chaplaincies from Casablanca to Japan, Korea and the Pacific for the Navy. On his return, he said:

"Chaplains should not hasten to return to a pastorate or other local work but rather minister to a large number of churches over a period of four to six months. The denomination should make his itinerary possible.

"It is not a matter of what the denomination or church can do for the returning chaplain, but rather how can the denomination utilize the assets of the chaplain. . . ."

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