Why chaplains/ padres in armies ?

Just reading the horrific report into the killing of Baha Mousa in Basra. One of those named as failing to report the torture was the Catholic Chaplain to the regiment concerned. Why would any priest/ minister want to be in an army - any army? Surely a soldier and a priest are total opposites of each other?

Possibly the reason being that the Priest is there to say Mass etc for the soldiers. When the Irish soldiers go overseas they are always accompanied by an army chaplain.

Molli, I know why there are chaplains in the army. My question is why would any priest/minister want to be in an army? A soldier is a killing machine - that's their training - a priest should be a man of peace

Yes johnd I understand what you mean and good point. The army here is different as they go abroad in a peacekeeping role.

Exactly my point! and that doesn't apply to British or US army. I regularly read the magazine America, it carries advertisement for priests to become army chaplains. This does not go down well with its readers who object (most of them are opposed to the war in Iraq) and the magazine has had to justify their inclusion of these ads.

Apparently there were chaplains in the Nazi army too! Can you believe it?

There are no athiests in foxholes

johnd said:

Apparently there were chaplains in the Nazi army too! Can you believe it?

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And there were millions of ordinary citizens drafted into the Wehrmacht, no different to any other soldier. It wasn't all a Nazi army

Anyway back to the question, the chaplains go where they are required, much the same as missionaries head to far flung countries where they feel they are needed.
Yes they are deadling with soldiers but soldiers have needs too and even a man of peace can serve this.

micmclo said:

There are no athiests in foxholes



And there were millions of ordinary citizens drafted into the Wehrmacht, no different to any other soldier. It wasn't all a Nazi army

Anyway back to the question, the chaplains go where they are required, much the same as missionaries head to far flung countries where they feel they are needed.
Yes they are deadling with soldiers but soldiers have needs too and even a man of peace can serve this.

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Well said.
Men who are close to death are usually close to whatever faith they hold.

OP- you are seriously asking why a priest would do anything that seems morally wrong ,or at least contradictory to their supposed beliefs ??!!

You'd wonder why those priests didnt just tell the soldiers to lay down their weapons and embrace the enemy -as Christ I imagine told them to do.
But ,sadly, this has rarely been the case.

Perhaps priests support soldiers because those soldiers are fighting on God's side, - regardless that priests on both opposing armies tell the troops the same thing "Gott mit uns" and so on.
Considering priests have -in God's name - burnt men women and children at the stake for their heretical beliefs -along with centuries of torturing, during inquisitions, then we shouldn't be surprised at whatever priests do.

Many priests encouraged tortures and massacres of innocent people,even recently, - perhaps the Croatian Ustashi priests held the record in this during their massacres of Serbs and Jews in WW2. Even recently Rwandan priests and nuns have been found culpable for their part during the Hutu massacres of the Tutsi.

Priests involvement -and even participation - in war and killings has had a long history.

And, yes, yes, someone will no doubt now tell us about all those "good" priests...

oldnick said:

Many priests encouraged tortures and massacres of innocent people,even recently, - perhaps the Croatian Ustashi priests held the record in this during their massacres of Serbs and Jews in WW2. Even recently Rwandan priests and nuns have been found culpable for their part during the Hutu massacres of the Tutsi.

Priests involvement -and even participation - in war and killings has had a long history.

And, yes, yes, someone will no doubt now tell us about all those "good" priests...

Click to expand...

You don't have to look that far.

In the North, you had a Catholic priest who carried out the Claudy bombings and countless other atrocities in Derry.

Or Billy Wright, a born again Christian preacher while murdering Catholic people based on their Christian faith.

I suppose men of the cloth are first and foremost men, with the failings of any human. People can interpret the bible in many different ways. A series of books, many of which have no grounding in reality. Those Westboro baptist church people believe that they are doing the work of God.

Addendum to my post.

Just reading the Gage Report into brutal behaviour,torture and murder by Brit troops in Iraq where the "Roman Catholic padre attached to the battalion concerned must have seen the shocking condition of the detainees ...did not intervene or report... many inconsistencies ..." etc etc .

They are there for a number of reasons, the most obvious one being the funerals/services of any dead soldier.
They also act as quasi-councilers for soldiers, and are often the nearest to any kind of mental help/counciling services front line soldiers can have. In addition, they provide support to wounded soldiers and can often be the main point of contact for the families of wounded/killed soldiers. Under the Geneva Convention they are deemed non-combatents and in many countries are not allowed to bear arms

Whilst some posters on here have (rightly) identified cases of wrong behaviour by chaplins/priests, I have no doubt, there are also plenty of cases that don't get anywhere near the publicity, where they stopped such actions.