Chaplain Corps, USN

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Chaplain Corps, USN

• Statistics, Research
• and Litigation
• Prepared 2002

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CHC Litigation Quiz

• There is a lawsuit pending in federal court
  against the Navy chaplain corps.
• True or False

• True and False.
• There are actually five separate suits in federal
  courts concerning the CHC. Some have been filed
  by individuals, others by groups.

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CHC Litigation Quiz

• A senior chaplain who is in the know has told
  me that the lawsuit is a dead issue.

• Actually one of the suits recently was given
  class standing by the judge. This class action
  suit will eventually include between 700 to 1000
  chaplains. The suit has now entered the
  discovery phase.

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CHC Litigation Quiz

• These suits have been filed by a bunch of upset,
  bitter, passed over chaplains who couldnt hack
  it and now are angry about being passed over.

• A federal judge has ruled that the suit should be
  heard because of the significant constitutional
  questions being raised. The litigants have
  argued that the current system of preferential
  treatment is a violation of the law
  specifically, the First and Fifth Amendments to
  the Constitution.

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CHC Litigation Quiz

• Chaplain Corps boards always promote the best
  qualified. Why even question them?

• A number of studies have been done that prove
  that CHC selection boards do not always promote
  those with the best records.

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Religious DemographicsUSN and USMC8/16/99
The religious demographics of the Department of
the Navy are readily available. The 2001
demographics look like this when sorted into the
major groups of Roman Catholic, Liturgical
Protestant, Non-liturgical Protestant and Special
Worship and No Preference.
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Expanded Demographics
If one were to remove the no preference group
from the USN demographics, and expand the
remaining numbers evenly, the result would look
like this.
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Expanded Demographics
One would expect a Chaplain Corps based on the
religious demographics of the DON to reflect
these numbers 36 Roman Catholic, 12
Liturgical Protestant, 48 Non-liturgical
Protestant and 4 Special Worship.
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Religious Demographics of CHC1999
In fact, we find little or no correlation between
the current makeup of the Chaplain Corps and the
religious demographics of the Department of the
Navy. The next two charts compare the statistics.
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Expanded DemographicsVsActual CHC Composition
1999
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CHC Demographics

• The result is that liturgical Protestants are the
  most over-represented group in the Navy.
• Non-liturgical Protestants are significantly
  under-represented as the following charts
  illustrate.

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Chaplain Availabilityby Faith Group, 2000

• Liturgical Protestant
• Congregational 117
• Episcopal 1121
• Lutheran 1172
• Methodist 1296
• Presbyterian 179
• Orthodox 129
• Reformed 123

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Chaplain Availabilityby Faith Group, 2000

• Special Worship Groups
• Christian Science 1117
• Jewish 1104
• 7th Day Adventist 1127

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Chaplain Availabilityby Faith Group, 2000

• Non-Liturgical Protestant
• Baptists 1475
• Pentecostal 1293
• Other 1457
• Roman Catholic 1696

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Chaplain Availabilityby Faith Group, 2000

• Average Liturgical 1140
• Average Non-Liturgical 1494
• Average Special Worship 1116
• Average Roman Catholic 1696

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CHC Accessions

• Just as CHC demographics do not reflect the
  religious makeup of the DON, research reveals
  that CHC does not recruit to meet these
  demographics.
• Non-liturgicals were significantly
  under-represented in the recruiting goals set by
  the Chaplain Corps from the years1992-1996.

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CHC Accession Goals1992-1996
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CHC Actual Accessions1992-1996
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CHC Accessions, FY 1990-2001 by Faith Grouping
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Accession from the Reserves

• The Chaplain Corps regularly accesses chaplains
  from the Reserves at various pay grades.
• Only certain groups, however, have been accessed
  at the LCDR and above level.

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Accession from ReservesFY 1990-2000
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CHC Leadership

• One would hope that the key leadership positions
  in the Chaplain Corps would be evenly distributed
  among faith groupings, so that each would be
  equally represented in Chaplain leadership.
• In 1995, Chaplain Larry Ellis did a study of 15
  key billets, the core of CHC leadership
  positions. He looked at the faith groups of
  chaplains serving in these positions for the
  previous 15 years.

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CHC Leadership

• These billets included the Chief of Chaplains,
  Deputy Chief of Chaplains, Executive Asst to the
  Chief, Director of Training, Director of
  Distribution and Placement, Director of Plans and
  Policy, Director of Eccl. Relations, Asst for the
  Naval Reserve, Asst for USMC, PACFLT, LANTFLT,
  CINCUSNAVEUR, CNET, US Naval Academy and the
  Director of the Chaplains School.

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Ellis Report - 1995
Chaplain Ellis found that only 12 of these
billets had been held by non liturgicals during
this period of time.
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CHC Leadership

• Take a brief look at the following statistics and
  make your own conclusion.

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Chiefs of Chaplainssince 1980

• OConnor Roman Catholic
• Trower Lutheran
• Stevenson Presbyterian
• McNamara Roman Catholic
• Koeneman Lutheran
• White Reformed
• Muchow Lutheran
• Holderby Lutheran
• Black 7th Day Adventist

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Deputy Chiefs of Chaplains

• Moore United Methodist
• Stevenson Presbyterian
• McNamara Roman Catholic
• Koeneman Lutheran
• White Reformed
• Muchow Lutheran
• Holderby Lutheran
• Black 7th Day Adventist
• Iasello Roman Catholic

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CHC Leadershipby Faith Group since 1980

• Chaplains Holding the Position of Chief or
  Deputy
• Three Roman Catholics
• Four Lutherans
• One Presbyterian
• One Reformed Church of America
• One 7th Day Adventist
• One United Methodist

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CHC Leadershipby Faith Group
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Promotion Board Compositionby Faith Group
Category

• Chaplain Corps board members shall be nominated
  without regard to religious affiliation.
• SECNAV Instruction 1401.3, 8 Aug 1991

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Promotion Board Compositionby Faith Group
Category

• As you read these charts, keep in mind the
  following demographics
• Non liturgicals compose 40 of the active duty
  Chaplain Corps.

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Promotion Board Compositionby Faith Group
Category
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Promotion Board Compositionby Faith Group
Category
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Promotion Board Compositionby Faith Group
Category
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Promotion Board Compositionby Faith Group
Category
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Promotion Board Compositionby Faith Group
Category
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The Future?

• The Chaplain Corps has lied to clergy about
  opportunities for ministry in the sea services.
  When new chaplains discover how they are
  restricted in their ministry by senior chaplains
  who are jealous of their talents, they become
  angry and return to civilian life informing their
  clergy friends about the truth of what they can
  expect if they become Navy chaplains.
• CAPT Gomulka (Roman Catholic) memo
• Navy Chaplain Shortage In Search of a Solution