Parade Ground to Pulpit

Nobody gave a second glance to the four rows of ribbons on the silk stole of the curate as he greeted the members of the congregation. Parishioners of St. John the Baptist's, Anglican Church in the little Berkshire town of Crowthorne--like churchgoers throughout England--are growing used to having a middle-aged pastor with military decorations. In Britain today, the church is second only to "the City," London's commercial center, as the favored career for senior officers retiring from the armed services.

The curate behind the ribbons at St. John the Baptist's is the Rev. Narbrough Hughes D'Aeth, 58, and three years ago he was an R.A.F. air vice-marshal, with a C.B. (Companion of the Bath) and C.B.E. (Commander Order of the British Empire) after his name. A professional fighting man with a record of service around the world and the long habit of command, he now works at the beck and call of St. John's aging and nearly blind vicar, the Rev. Andrew Nugee, must tumble out of bed to take early service when the vicar tells him to.

When Air Vice-Marshal D'Aeth an nounced his intention to enter the ministry at the farewell dinner given him on his retirement from the R.A.F., "it spoiled a jolly good evening. No one knew how to treat me afterwards." But such announcements are growing less unusual all the time. Across Britain, parish-church notice boards are quietly ablaze with initial letters of decorations awarded new curates and vicars in their old careers. At last month's meeting of the Anglican selection board for ministerial training, the only two candidates over 40 were army majors; at the R.A.F. Chaplain's School, a quarter of the 125 candidates for ordination are senior officers.

The Church of England, desperately short of candidates for the clergy, is glad to get them, though their age is a negative factor. "It is true that senior officers have had experiences which must surely be beneficial to the church," said an Anglican official last week. "But, alas, they have only perhaps five,'ten, or at most 15 years of useful life to give." Instead of the usual three-or four-year course, the church educates them for parish service with an 18-month "pocket" course, minus the usual classical-language requirements.

The brand-new vicar of Gidleigh, Devonshire, 65-year-old former Navy Captain John Mortimer Scott, feels that he is well prepared for his career. "I often think people who go straight through the university and into the church haven't seen enough of the world. I found in the navy that a commanding officer is a sort of welfare officer, and once men trust you they will ask you for advice on all sorts of problems."

For its part, the church is well aware that the military mind needs some special retooling before being turned loose on a flock. Says the Rev. Peter Curgenven, General Secretary of the Central Advisory Council, which is in charge of training the swelling ranks of officer-clerics: "These chaps have to learn that they can't issue orders for people to turn up at church--or court-martial habitual sinners."

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