Base chaplains, local religious leaders unite

Published March 13, 2013
By Staff Sgt. Maria Bowman
375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- The 375th Air Mobility Wing chapel team hosted the Clergy and Religious Leaders Appreciation Luncheon at the Scott Club March 7 to help foster a relationship between Scott chaplains and local religious leaders.

"We wanted to say thank you to the religious leaders in the area for what they do for our military members and their families," said Lt. Col. Christine Blice-Baum, 375th AMW chaplain. "They help take care of our members spiritually; the base chaplains can't do it all by ourselves. Our partnership with them is very important to Scott."

Capt. Erik Tisher, 375th AMW chaplain, said that part of the chaplain's mission is to make sure all military members and their families are spiritually fit.

"Military members and families have to have spiritual resilience," he said. "We recognize our own limitations, so partnering with off-base clergy is necessary to accomplish our mission.

"The luncheon helped the off-base clergy to understand what the chaplains' job entails and what their mission is to the military members here on base."

Blice-Baum added, "We let them know about some of the unique challenges some of our military members go through. One of the items we gave them was a caregiver book for religious-based groups dealing with military members returning from deployments and what the family members go through."

Because not all military members and their families wish to attend services on base, building a partnership provides the base chaplains with off-base religious leaders' contact information, so they are better informed with what religious services are available.

"If we have somebody come to us looking for a certain faith group, we can put them in contact with a person, instead of just an address," Blice-Baum said. "We would like to network and build a relationship with the people off base."

More than 70 people--including 40 off-base clergy--attended the event. The chapel team invited Capt. Dennis Bourdo, 375th Medical Group mental health psychologist and Senior Master Sgt. Matthew Randall, U.S. Transportation Command first sergeant, to explain their roles when helping military members in achieve comprehensive fitness.

"Most off-base clergy have a genuine interest in their people and want to know what they do," Tisher said.

Clergy attended the luncheon along side military members and had a chance to engage with them in a military setting.

Rev. John Dawson said he was very appreciative for an opportunity to come to the base.

"I enjoyed myself today," he said. "This was my first time coming to the base. It was nice to learn about what is available here. I now know who's available to talk to if I have questions or need further assistance with military members who attend my church."

Chapel team officials plan to continue building this newfound relationship in the future.

"We saw the luncheon as the beginning of a genuine relationship between the Scott Chapel team with the off-base clergy," Blice-Baum said. "We are hoping that the local clergy groups will start to extend invitations to us so that we can attend some of their functions. We want to have a relationship that goes both ways."

In addition to this luncheon, the chapel team plans on doing more outreach to the local clergy in the future.

"We are hoping to have a faith community fair in August where we invite these different groups to come in with their literature and information for people who are looking for a faith community," she said. "This would give the religious leaders a chance to meet our military members face-to-face."

Fostering positive relationships with the local community is a valued tradition at Scott, and the Chapel team wants to support that.

"We recognize that spiritual health is only enhanced by us making these relationships happen," Blice-Baum said. "The bottom line is gratitude--together I think we can make a bigger impact than just doing our own thing. We can't do it alone."