" PADRE'S HOUR "
Snt,—I am afraid all the nice things about the " Padres' Hours " stat in your issue of October 22nd are not appreciated by the rank and f of the Service men.
By a strange coincidence I have received an air letter from my serving now in North Africa and with the Eighth from Alamein, which he states that the lectures given by the padres are unreal outside the ken of the ordinary serving men. He has had experience four chaplains, of whom two have been approached for advice. In be instances, my son states, " They knew nothing of the ordinary thin of life and it is a waste of money and man-power to appoint such pee who are not only ignorant of working-class conditions but have a pm which no other country would tolerate."
I have, during the last three years, enQuired of serving soldiers airmen on this and other matters concerning padres, and I find these gentlemen are looked upon as just another officer, who be-10• having a man to look after his wants, expects subservience, and
responsible for what is the most unpopular parade of the week, the Sunday morning Church Parade. As one young man remarked, " Why should I be compelled to listen to a man, with the usual drawl of the upper classes, to many statements which a very large proportion of educated people disagree with, and why should our country be the only one to compel compulsory religion? Are we so bad as all that? "
The Chaplains' Corps can learn a valuable lesson from our three great Allies, none of which compel their fighting men to attend religious services. If we must have Padres' Hours, let the padres come down to the average soldier and airman, let the Chaplain-General insist that his men are capable of understanding the lives and understandings of the workers, which constitute our gallant fighting men, and learn a few lessons from the Red Army, who are putting up a great fight without
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