"PADRE'S HOUR "
SIR,—I should like to endorse all that George Burgess said in your issue of November 5th, and to add that during the two years I served in the Army in this country I came across only one chaplain who seemed to have the least influence over the men in the battalion under his care. He was a distinguished and very gallant soldier.
During the three months which I spent in hospital prior to my dis- charge I was only once visited by a Church of England padre. On this occasion an acting Chaplain to the Forces gave the Easter Communion two days late. To my certain knowledge, the Senior Chaplain to the Forces took the Good Friday and Easter services at the local parish church for the townspeople. As Mr. Burgess said, church parade was regarded as an imposition, which is understandable, since never once in six months did the Senior Chaplain take the service following the parade —it fell to the civilian acting chaplain, with a parish of his own and no special regard for the Army, to deputise for him.
Quite obviously, insufficient care is taken in appointing these men whose influence should be for the good of all those in their charge. None can dispute the need for suitable chaplains for our men abroad, but it would appear that there is a tendency to forget that the Home Army must be spiritually, as well as physically, equipped for service overseas, which will assuredly call forth the utmost effort from every fighting
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