Word: chaplains
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...Army appointed its first Muslim chaplain in 1993, and five years later the Navy opened the U.S. military's first mosque at Norfolk Navy Base in Virginia. The Pentagon is eager for the language skills of Muslims, and has been awarding signing bonuses and expedited citizenship (for the two-thirds of enlistees who are legal aliens) since 2003 to recruits fluent in Arabic, Dari, Farsi, Kurdish and Pashto. (The Army's website, in its typically patriotic but omnisciently weird way, declares these 450 new soldiers - all sent to Afghanistan, Iraq or the Horn of Africa - "100% support the Global...
...small group-study sessions, chaplains offer guidance for the challenges that come with the players' new money and fame. Carey Casey, chaplain for the Kansas City Chiefs, uses the Book of Proverbs (Chapter 7: 6-27) to warn the players about crafty women they might meet in downtown clubs. When crises hit, a chaplain can provide paths to repentance; however, most prefer not to help anyone play Monday-morning Christian. Faith, they say, should be cultivated, not used as a fallback position. When a player gets into trouble, the coaches and management might be tempted to trot out his Christian...
...wears his green vestment with gold lining when he performs Mass in Green Bay, Wis. And while it has nothing to do with the Packers' team colors - green is mandated by the Vatican - it is something of a holy coincidence, given the fact that he has been the Packers' chaplain for the past 13 years...
Every football team in the NFL has at least one chaplain to whom the players and coaches can turn for religious guidance. And though some may question the appropriateness of bringing one popular American Sunday pastime - God - into a considerably more commercial and violent Sunday pastime, the chaplains believe it is precisely their mission to help reconcile the two. Forget the mysteries of the sacraments - what about the answers to these theological questions: Does God want us to lose? Does he favor the Steelers? What makes Lambeau Field sacred? Is it right to pray for first downs when people...
...chaplains are often former professional athletes. Adam Burt, an Evangelical chaplain for the New York Jets, spent 14 seasons in the NHL. As ex-players, they understand the anxieties of always being watched and evaluated, and experience can be next to godliness. "Moses went through the desert himself before he took the Israelites through it," says Pastor James Trapp of the Atlanta Falcons, who was a defensive back on the 2000 Baltimore Ravens championship team. They aren't paid team salaries but usually fall under the managerial rubric of "player development." (At least one, the chaplain for the Chicago Bears...