Chapter 1-Religious Program Support Part I

CHAPTER 1 RELIGIOUS PROGRAM SUPPORT PART I In your career, you will have extensive responsibilities for rendering professional support for an effective CRP. Although the variety of your experiences will be directly related to the chaplains, faith groups, events, and rites-religious or secular—with which you will come into contact on a daily basis, the information in this chapter should give you an overview of your role in this broad field. No matter where you are assigned, your increasing awareness of your role in religious program support should help you advance in this important field and become a more effective RP. Because you must learn about many different subject areas in the field of religious program support, we have divided our discussion into two sections. In Part I, which is the content of this chapter, we will primarily acquaint you with the various aspects of worship. In Part II, presented as chapter 2 of this TRAMAN, you will read about counseling, pastoral care, and other responsibilities you will have in religious program support. Before you proceed to chapter 2, make certain you understand the information presented in chapter 1. After reading the information in chapter 1, you should understand some fundamental administrative and legal responsibilities you will encounter in your career. You should also understand the fundamentals of worship. You should be able to describe the religious ministry facility in terms of its purpose, components, and various uses. In addition, you should be able to recognize the ceremonial traditions in military weddings and funerals and the essential characteristics and rituals of worship of the major faiths. As we describe the fundamental religious support functions with which you may become involved, we will emphasize your role. As an RP, you must be aware of your role in religious program support and how your duties and responsibilities will involve your knowledge and awareness of the following eight subjects: 1. United States Navy Regulations, 1990 2. Ecclesiastical endorsing agents 3. Specialty reports 4. Active duty chaplain’s report 5. Statistical conclusions in reports 6. The religious ministry facility (RMF) 7. Navy military weddings 8. Navy military funerals In your career as an RP, you will likely become involved in most of these functions. The information in the following sections should help you become aware of your duties and responsibilities in each of these areas. ADMINISTRATIVE DUTIES Let’s first take a look at some of the administrative aspects of your duties and responsibilities in religious program support. UNITED STATES NAVY REGULATIONS The first subject we will discuss with which you should become familiar is United States Navy Regulations, 1990, more commonly referred to as Navy Regs. This document profiles the foundation of Title 10, United States Code, Section 6011, for the government of all persons in the Department of the Navy and is the “principal regulatory document of the Department of the Navy, endowed with the sanction of law as to duty, responsibility, authority, distinctions, and relationships of various commands, officials, and individuals.” The CNO is responsible for making certain the content of Navy Regs agrees with the needs of the Department of the Navy. Every naval person should be familiar with Navy Regs. As an RP, you should be especially familiar with Articles 0817, 1063, and 1136 because these articles are relevant to promoting worship in the United States Navy. The content of Articles 0817, 1063, and 1136 is shown in figure 1-1. ECCLESIASTICAL ENDORSING AGENTS In the field of religious program support, you should understand the role of the ecclesiastical endorsing agents. The military services acknowledge over 100 different faith groups. Each faith group establishes a unit known as an ecclesiastical endorsing agency. Each 1-1