THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 8, 1994 TAG: 9406070351
SECTION: MILITARY NEWS PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KRYS STEFANSKY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940608 LENGTH: Medium
Hampton Roads has more than 20 chapels on Army, Air Force, Coast Guard and Navy installations. Thousands of area military, retired military and even civilians choose them as their houses of worship. Doors open on schedule for religious services, Bible study and Sunday school even though rotations in military orders regularly change the faces of both the chaplains and congregations.
{REST} Some military churches, like the Chapel of the Centurion at Fort Monroe built in 1858, boast a historical past. Tourists are told it is the oldest wooden Army chapel and still has its original altar, said James Rayburn, an Army major and chaplain.
Some base chapels, like the 800-seat church at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base, rival the biggest of civilian churches. Others are intimate chapels like First Landing Chapel on Fort Story in Virginia Beach, with room for just 250 in 24 wooden pews.
Fort Story gets a sprinkling of civilians for several reasons. It's conveniently located at the extreme North End of the city. The base is easily accessible because of its tourist attractions, the First Landing Cross and Cape Henry Lighthouse.
Military chaplains say they welcome civilians, who, like military retirees, provide constancy.
``Anyone who comes through the door is automatically a member of the congregation because we are so transient,'' said Capt. Carroll Starling, base chaplain at the Norfolk Naval Station and Tidewater area coordinator of Navy chaplains.
One big difference between base chapels and civilian churches is money. Base chapels are built with federal money and chaplains collect government salaries. Offerings made at services go to national groups like the American Red Cross and the YMCA.
And because several denominations may use one building, military chapels built to house more than one faith have a generic look from the street. Inside, religious symbols like crucifixes are movable.
The Pentagon has endorsed more than 80 faith groups and allows military chaplains to provide them ministry. ``And the count changes all the time,'' Starling said. ``The Army now has a Muslim chaplain and it won't be long before we get Buddhists.''
The largest number of military chapels in Hampton Roads is on Navy installations.
``Those of us who minister in the Navy, we tend to take as our model for our ministry the skin of a ship rather than a parish,'' said Starling, a Protestant chaplain with 27 years in the service. ``Religion on board ship is very portable. And there's usually just one chapel on a naval base so we're told, `You Catholics, Protestants and Jews, work it out,' and we do because we do it on ship.''
Chaplains join the military after receiving their theological education. New recruits become members of the service and are commissioned as officers. And just like other service members do, chaplains also have assignments considered choice. ``There are pulpits that are sensitive like the Naval Academy, the chapel in the Navy Yard where all the brass goes or the chapel on Nebraska Avenue where some of our dignitaries go. But not everybody wants that,'' Starling said. He said most of his colleagues do enjoy sea duty. ``But we won't talk about it around our wives.'' by CNB