Diversity as an Army Chaplain Corps Value

This is the Army Chaplain Corps values card that I received in the mid 2000's. The Chief of Chaplains wanted the issuance of these cards to be a solemn occasion, so all the chaplains and chaplain assistants on my base gathered together at one time to receive them, and to sign the back of the card in unison. I still have mine.

Diversity was one of the Chaplain Corps' stated values. This same SACRED acronym showed up in the training circular TC 1-05, The Religious Support Handbook for the Unit Ministry Team, published in 2005.

My own journey as an Army chaplain began over a decade earlier because the Army valued diversity. When I first called a chaplain recruiter and identified myself as a United Methodist, the recruiter said, "You baptize babies. We're looking for you."

After I retired from the Army, I served as the chaplain endorser for my denomination for nearly six years. As the endorser I occasionally met with the chiefs of chaplains for the Army, Navy and Air Force. In speaking with the endorsers, the chiefs were quite clear about the continued need for diversity in the ranks of the chaplaincy.

I can't remember a time when the diversity of the branch wasn't highlighted as both a strength and a need. Recruiters targeted not only Catholic priests - where the numbers were always fell short of the requirement - but women, ethnic minorities, and low-density faith groups as well. As recently as 2023, the Army chaplaincy reasserted its commitment to recruiting a diverse corps.

The Department of Defense also celebrated the 50th anniversary of women in military chaplaincy at the beginning of 2023. More recently, however, an Army social media post described Army Chief of Chaplains Matthew Zimmerman (1990-1994) as "history making" without saying how exactly he made history as the Army's first black chief of chaplains. I wonder if the Army can still say that diversity is one of the chaplain corps' values.

Within the chaplain corps, diversity is not just a theoretical benefit. It is mission essential. That should be obvious with regard to religious affiliation. A Methodist like me can't provide everything that Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Episcopalians, or even Baptists might need.

Ethnic, cultural, and gender diversity is just as important. Providing religious services to their constituents is only one part of a chaplain's job. An equally important part requires them to develop personal connections with the members of their units. Again, one aspect of this should be obvious. A female soldier might not be willing to discuss being sexually assaulted with a male chaplain, while she would with a female chaplain. A diverse chaplain corps offers service members the opportunity to connect with chaplains they can trust in sensitive situations.

But shouldn't service members be able to trust every chaplain, regardless of race, culture, or gender? Certainly they should. But this is another way in which diversity helps the branch accomplish its mission. A chaplain corps that develops a reputation for being only one race, one culture, one gender, one type of one religion will have difficulty connecting with service members that don't belong to the same club. The officer-enlisted divide already creates a barrier that makes connecting with the troops more difficult. We shouldn't add others.

The fact that I served cooperatively beside black chaplains, women chaplains, Spanish and Korean speaking chaplains, and chaplains for other faith groups made it easier for me as a white, male, Methodist to connect with service members who are not white, male, or Methodist. The diversity of the corps as a whole engenders the ability of service members to trust their chaplains, regardless of gender or ethnicity.

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