Pastoral Care

The Chaplains at the New Entry training establishments play a key role in establishing the Chaplain in the trainees’ minds. The trainees discover that the Chaplains’ focus is on them as individuals, with all their needs. They find them to be the ones to whom they turn when training is not going well, when there are domestic crises, when they have something to celebrate and when they find that the Sunday Services have begun to fan the flame of faith.

Everyone in the Naval Service has the right of access to a Chaplain in confidence. While others can offer sensitivity and discretion, only the Chaplain can offer absolute confidentiality. The House of Commons Defence Committee remarked on this in one of their reviews and very much valued it for our Servicemen and –women.

At sea and on operations with the Royal Marines, the Chaplain brings not just knowledge but experience to the task of pastoral care, when other sources of assistance may well be absent. During times of conflict, a Chaplain will accompany the Naval or Royal Marines Officer who breaks bad news to a family about a fatality, and their role then in addressing this first outburst of grief is invaluable.

And, of course, there is all the pastoral care which people will expect around the rites of passage, with the birth and baptism of a baby, a couple getting married and the rites of funerals.

Naval Chaplains since the days of Nelson have been known as “the friend and adviser of all on board”. It is a calling and expectation which Naval chaplains take seriously.