IRAQ: Navy chaplain stays on the move in far-flung Anbar
Father Paul J. Shaughnessy (great link) has a unique congregation: spread out over 32,000 square miles in Iraq's Anbar province, about the size of South Carolina.
Shaughnessy serves troops of all religions in numerous outposts in the far-flung province as the Catholic chaplain for the Marines' Regimental Combat Team 5. At the mega-base at Al Asad, a Mass may attract a hundred or more Marines, sailors, soldiers and others; at a tiny outpost on the Syrian border, he recently performed Mass for a single Marine.
Now in his fourth deployment to Iraq, Shaughnessy, a Jesuit, keeps on the move: by Osprey (when available), by regular helicopter (when necessary) and sometimes by slow-moving overland convoys (done at night as part of a U.S. policy to give back the roads to Iraqis.)
The goal, Shaughnessy said in a telephone interview, is presence. The more times the troops see him, the more comfortable they are, more liable to open up with the issues that bother them, the less reluctant to discuss faith.
"When you're with them all the time, you're not as threatening," he said. "They're not worried you're going to hit them with religion."
As the pace of the U.S. mission in Iraq slows down, Shaughnessy said, the Marines have become "more contemplative, more interested in their relationship with God." He's taught a class about the references to modern Iraq in the Bible.
"Outside of Israel, Iraq is cited more times than any other region in the Bible," said Shaughnessy, 58, a native of Worcester, Mass., who worked for the FBI before entering the seminary.
And it's not just religion that piques the interest of the young Marines and sailors. A common question is about the definition of priestly celibacy. "When I tell them, the reaction usually is, 'Are you kidding me?' " he said.
Like the rest of the regiment, Shaughnessy will return this winter to Camp Pendleton. And after that?
"I've always wanted to see Afghanistan," he said.
— Tony Perry
Photo: Father Paul Shaughnessy, Catholic priest and Navy officer, says a prayer for a solider on the eve of battle in Najaf, 2004. Credit: Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times
Link (here)
Articles by Fr. Paul Shaughnessy, S.J.
6 comments:
The same man who penned this review?: http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/001/295pzsns.asp
Sorry, try this link: http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/001/295pzsns.asp
Yes. I have never seen that article from 2002.
Just read The Gay Priest Problem What Needs to Be Done, and Why It Won't Be...
He cannot be popular at Jebbie conventions!
Wow.
Thanks to Fr. Paul!
I was privelaged to be a member of the professional staff of a Catholic treatment centre in Canada. I was not Catholic (yet). In the Executive Director's office (he's a Jesuit) was a homoerotic photo of a 'gay' model sans shirt holding an infant. I'st clue I may be in the wrong place.
At the weekly clinical revue with my superior I was obliquely informed that the 'Director' had been 'rolled' a number of times when on the prowl for sex. Not being raised Catholic i din't understand how a Priest could drive an expensive Audi sportscar, and vacation on the Cape where again 'obliquely' it became apparent that he didn't sleep alone!
This is the fellow who is sought out by Judges for his 'expert' opinion on matters pertaining to buggery of children by Roman Catholic clerics.
I was there over two years and NEVER heard about consecrated CELIBACY! Instead a primary therapist opined one day a lunch that 'SEX IS JUST SEX'!
One of the sweetest people I've met was a naive Irish priest who had been affirmed in his 'gaiety'. He' DEAD. AIDS.
We live in momentous times. Put on your armour. The sky's not falling, THE LORD OF HOSTS IS COMING!
Thank you for your comment it gives us much to think about
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