Not everyone who serves in the Canadian Armed Forces is a soldier. Military chaplains are members of the military who provide pastoral, ceremonial, counselling and other services to soldiers, veterans and their families.
But their work is often not well understood.
Maj. Rev. Tom Hamilton is a reservist military chaplain with the 36th Brigade in Prince Edward Island, a military historian, and an ordained pastor with the Presbyterian Church in Canada.
Hamilton is also writing a book, to be published by McGill-Queen’s University Press, about Canadian chaplains during the Second World War.
Hamilton spoke with Canadian Affairs reporter Meagan Gillmore about how military chaplains serve the military and what Canadian civilians can learn from them.
MG: Can’t religious members of the military just go to their own pastor or priest or imam or rabbi? Why do they need somebody who’s a military chaplain?
TH: [Chaplaincy is about] ‘ministry of presence.’
Chaplains are … in garrisons on training nights, training with soldiers. Chaplains are in the field when the unit is on exercise. Chaplains have this unique relationship because of their presence, because they are there and uniquely engaged.
Chaplains are the only ones … that can go around the chain of command and can report directly to the commanding officer.
When I’m in garrison in Charlottetown, I will usually … have a check-in with the commanding officer, and he’ll often ask me how the morale of his soldiers is, and if there’s items that I think he needs to know, I’ll bring those to his attention. Morale is something that we take very seriously.
MG: And that would be morale for all soldiers, whether religious or nonreligious?
TH: Chaplains care for all. While we might have our own religious distinction, chaplains care for all, regardless of what soldiers believe or don’t believe.
I would argue that there is a precedent for that in the First and Second World Wars. When soldiers were dying, you have Protestants conducting last rites for Roman Catholic soldiers. You have Roman Catholic priests holding the hands of Protestants as they’re dying.
You don’t lose sight of the religious distinctiveness, but there’s a huge overlap that the chaplains care for all.
MG: How have you seen things change in the last 15 years that you’ve been a chaplain?
TH: Certainly, things have become more inclusive. We now have humanist chaplains that were not there when I started. There are now Buddhist chaplains. There are other religious groups that are being included, certainly to attempt to be more inclusive of Canadian society.
MG: Do nonreligious reservists call up their chaplain to talk?
TH: Absolutely, because of relationship. …
In the Second World War, it was common for a soldier, regardless of their religious background, regardless of what they believed, to knock on the chaplain’s tent or the chaplain’s door. And the phrase was, ‘Padre, do you have a minute?’
So when I’m in my office in the garrison … I often get a knock on the door, ‘Padre, do you have a minute?’ I have soldiers knocking on my door, texting, calling, and they vary from Muslim members to Christian members to pseudo-Christian members to atheists.
It’s that relationship, it’s that feeling of trust, it’s the confidentiality that is unique to our trade, too, and the belief that they will be listened to, respected and taken seriously.
MG: A parliamentary committee is doing a study on veteran suicide. Some people who work in that space are saying we could be heading into a more intense period of suicide risk for veterans, and that this is not being addressed. Have you seen an increase in mental health-related concerns or suicide?
TH: Certainly. I think the military is trying to take it seriously.
I think there’s a correlation between spiritual resilience and mental health. It’s certainly not the only factor.
We’re complex individuals as human beings — mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. I think that the spiritual portion needs to be addressed with the same amount of seriousness as the mental and the physical and the emotional.
When I say spiritual resiliency, and I’m talking about the soul, I’m talking about those aspects that are true to everyone, regardless of what they believe or don’t believe.
[Questions like:] Who am I? What is my purpose? Why am I here? What is my future? What matters about my life? Is there an eternity? What will really matter after my life is over?
These are all deeply spiritual questions that are important, regardless of whether one has faith or not, and it’s the chaplain that is uniquely positioned to be able to address these issues.
MG: Do you think we have a good understanding of what veterans are going through when they come home?
TH: I think sometimes veterans wish there was more recognition for what they had done. I think every veteran wants to be valued for what they’ve done. War changes people. Deployments change people, and how it changes them, in my opinion, varies depending upon who they are, their trade, where they are.
A lot of veterans I’ve interviewed have said, ‘I didn’t anticipate how my time in the military would change who I was and how I needed to adapt to that and their families.’
MG: You mentioned the need for spiritual resiliency for mental health in general. How can civilian Canadians take these skills and apply them to their own life and spiritual resiliency?
TH: I think there are spiritual resiliency life lessons that chaplains can teach anyone.
What does it mean to understand yourself? What does it mean to lean on a higher power? What does it mean to look to the future with hope? What does it mean to be able to deal with regrets and past mistakes? What does it mean to look honestly at yourself when it comes to the present relationships and ask yourself, are there things that I could be doing better in the nuts and bolts of life?
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
