Service Sermons

After God and his neighbor, Monsignor Maurice S. Sheehy loves the U.S. Navy. His regular job is teaching (he heads the Department of Religious Education at Washington's Catholic University of America), but he served five years as a naval chaplain in World War II, holds a captaincy in the Naval Reserve, and confesses to being "the most biased man in the world about the U.S. Navy. . . To me 'gob' means God's Own Boys."

Just published is a book of short Sheehy sermons, broadcast, as he would say, on a serviceman's wave length. Head Over Heels (Farrar, Straus; $2.75) is as studded with fighting-man anecdotes as an old destroyer is with rivets. Samples:

P: "One day a pilot landed aboard the U.S.S. Saratoga, against orders, violating about ten landing rules. When the landing officer called him to time, he merely said, 'God is my co-pilot and I wanted to give Him a chance.' Yes, God is our co-pilot--but He expects us to follow His landing rules."

P:A gunner on the Mississippi told him: "Chaplain, back in Pearl, I had a hard time behavin'. Up here with them Jap subs somewhere around, it ain't no trouble at all. I'm afraid I'll grow wings." Chaplain Sheehy replied: "We have been 62 days at sea, and we are now drawing on the ship's reserve supplies. Each man has a reserve tank of virtue in him--and the fact of danger may make him tap it. Don't rely upon it for long. It soon runs dry . . . -"There is a spark within each man which is likely to respond to a fire alarm. For three hours, it is alleged, perfect generosity existed in San Francisco after the great earthquake . . ."

Jet planes, Sheehy goes on to say, fly high and fast, but their fuel consumption is terrific. "Real virtue calls for a steady flow of power. We should thank God for the lift in an emergency, but God doesn't try to win souls by manufacturing crises."

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