The good fight

Legate Admiral James Ellis helps bridge the gap between faith and the military . . .

Archbishop Timothy Broglio

Retired Admiral James Ellis has shuffled through the desert sand to go to Mass, received Communion in the forecastle of an aircraft carrier off the coast of Vietnam and attended Christmas midnight Mass at the Vatican.

Those and other experiences have marked his 39 years with the U.S. Navy, giving him a singular perspective on the relationship of faith to military service.

Like many U.S. military, Ellis, a member of Legatus’ Atlanta Chapter and president and chief executive officer of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, says his Catholic faith sustained him throughout his navy career By reinforcing the standards and expectations of military life and inspiring him in times of challenge.

Core values

Although some might see military service and faith as incongruent, Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services says many of the same values inherent to the life of faith — devotion to an ideal, willingness to work within a structure, and acceptance of a hierarchical value system — are also innate to the life of military personnel.

Like people of faith, men and women in uniform make sacrifices for what they perceive to be a higher good, Archbishop Broglio says. In addition, they face their own finite existence so that many seemingly significant things pale, causing them to ask fundamental questions about life and God.

This is reflected in the number of religious vocations among men with armed forces experience, Archbishop Broglio says. Of all the priests ordained in the U.S. each year, 10% have been in the military. “It’s an interesting statistic,” he says. “It makes me archbishop of the diocese that provides the most vocations, despite the fact that we desperately need more priests.”

Monsignor Marvin Borger, pastor of St. Rose Parish in Perrysburg, Ohio, spent three years as a Navy chaplain in Bahrain and on the U.S.S. Saipan, an amphibious assault vessel. He says that faith and military service have much in common — including their shared emphasis on service and core principles. For instance, he says, the Navy’s defining values are honor, courage and commitment.

In his own military career, Ellis says he never wore his faith on his sleeve, but he felt responsible for making sure that those under his command had access to the spiritual resources they needed. By showing up at religious services, especially ecumenical ones, Ellis demonstrated that faith was important to him.

“People look at you as a leader and measure you by what you stand for,” Ellis says. “The fact that you stand for something like this is an important element. It’s an additional way they can understand who you are and what your expectations are.”

Goodness and compassion

Ellis says his faith also served him personally when he was in the lonely position of being the senior officer of a ship. “Who do you talk to? Who do you confide in when the time comes? You need somebody, too, that you can have a private and candid conversation with, someone who brings a human face to that for your own needs and support.”

Often, he says, that was one of the ship chaplains. In several cases, a chaplain brought him difficult news, such as in 1996, when he was serving in Bahrain and learned that an earthquake had hit San Francisco where his family was living. “It turned out my family was OK, but you don’t know that at the time.”

In the same way, Ellis says, the news of his grandmother’s death was delivered by a chaplain in a very personal and humane way. “There is a great value in that from a personal perspective as well,” he says. “It’s not just another service you provide to the crew. It’s a very personal thing for me as well.”

Ellis says his various military duties, which included service as commander of the United States Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, restored more than challenged his faith.

Two such instances involved evacuating women and children from the Philippines after Mount Pinatubo erupted and setting up refugee camps for Albanians fleeing the Kosovo war zone. “Sometimes you have to gear up and face the enemy and do what needs to be done. But more often than not, you’re bringing goodness, compassion, caritas. That’s why faith is an important part of who we are in the military and I think it always will be.”

Overall, Ellis sees minimal differences between the Church and the military. “There is such a thing as a just war. Over time we have come to the understanding that really there are some things worth fighting for. I think the Church believes that and the military believes it. When it’s done properly with the right amount of oversight and consideration, I think we’re closer to the same answer.”

Challenges

The government’s recent repeal of the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy governing the presence of openly practicing homosexuals in the armed forces has caused tension for many Christians in the military.

Archbishop Broglio, who believes the policy should have been left in place, says he worries that activists who promoted the repeal will look for situations where they can demand further policy changes to advance the homosexual agenda. His primary concern is for chaplains who, because they serve everyone, could be accused in a counseling situation, for example, of bigotry against gays and then be subjected to an investigation.

James Ellis

Last year, Archbishop Broglio told Catholic News Agency that underlying the repeal “is an agenda to force everyone to accept — as normal and positive — behavior that is contrary to the moral norms of many religions, including the Catholic Church.”

Under DADT, Monsignor Borger says, someone’s sexual orientation was not something that was publicly proclaimed. Homosexual sailors who wanted to talk to someone about it could go to a chaplain and have a confidential conversation.

Ellis, who retired in 2004 when DADT was still in place, wouldn’t speculate on what will happen under the new policy.

Throughout his career, Ellis says, he found that having the Church as part of his life was most reassuring. “It’s something that’s there wherever you go. And when you gather [for Mass onboard], you’re not the captain of the ship anymore, you’re just one of the congregation.”

Judy Roberts is a Legatus Magazine staff writer.