chaplain's role

Friends;

I am headed into what appears to be my last month on deployment. I am writing my afteraction report and reflecting on the significance of this work. Janet and I have traveled over 11,000 miles between Afghanistan, Qartar, and Iraq. I have a fairly realistic view of what is going on here and I am encouraged, that we are doing the right thing. I believe that as we increasingly engage the civilian population here the prospects for peace will increase, not only in these countries but across the middle east. I am enclosing a wonderful article from the CENTCOM news. It is exactly what I believe Chaplains should be doing.


26 October 2006
By Spc. Mike Alberts3rd BCT, 25th Inf. Div PAO

KIRKUK – Diversity is the mark of the Kirkuk province. Arabs, Christians, Kurds and Turkman coexist here with all their attendant cultural and religious nuances. Despite its many differences, however, there is a commonality among many of the region’s people, and that’s poverty. Coalition Force religious leaders and representatives from Kirkuk ’s Religious Unity Council met to discuss their joint, cooperative “mosque food-drop” for less-fortunate people here at the Al Rasheed Mosque Oct 12.The Kirkuk Religious Unity Council consists of local and regional Muslim and Christian religious leaders that formed an alliance after a diversity conference 18 months ago. Since then, the group meets regularly to discuss how the community’s religious leaders can positively affect Kirkuk , according to Chaplain (Maj.) Scott Sterling, brigade chaplain, 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division.“The council is a unique organization. Its membership includes all the different religious sects and ethnic groups of the area,” said Sterling . “Through this humanitarian program they are recognizing the need to come together in a show of unity amidst their diversity for the needy people of the city. They have set aside their differences to do something good for their community,” he said.


According to Sterling , the program was planned to coincide with Ramadan. For Muslims, Ramadan is a month of blessing marked by prayer, fasting and charity. For that reason, religious leaders were determined to give gifts of food to the needy members of their congregations. Coalition Forces assisted by providing the food, which everyone seemed to appreciate.

“Your involvement in giving food is a very good thing,” said Sheik Ali Khalid through an interpreter. Ali Khalid is a Sunni Arab and the Religious Unity Council Chief. “Because it is during Ramadan my people will see that coalition forces are helping people. For that reason, this holiday is the perfect time to reach our people,” he said.
50 food baskets including sugar, tea, rice and cooking oil are delivered to the doorstep of the Al Rasheed mosque, Kirkuk .
The religious partnership provided basic food staples like sugar, tea, rice and cooking oil, among other things, for 50 families per mosque. The program targeted 11 mosques here and five in the district of Hawija. While providing food to the needy is the primary goal of the food drop, Chaplin Sterling emphasized an equally important goal.“In this society, the people tend to listen to their religious leaders more than their political leaders. If we can empower the religious community, they could be a positive force in the city and for coalition forces,” said Sterling .



Let there be HOPE!!!

Dave