Naval Chaplaincy

Five couples are trying to concentrate on the liturgy as toddlers play with toys and babies scream for attention around them. It’s just a regulation baptism preparation in the naval chaplaincy centre. Our naval chaplains expect to baptise more than 70 children each year, so it’s hardly surprising that they choose to meet several families at once. They also perform 25 weddings or more annually ­ but hardly any funerals. It’s a measure of the different type of demands placed on chaplains in the Royal Navy. Some may go to sea and be on call 24/7 for naval officers and ratings who are missing home or who have time to think about issues of life and death. Some may find themselves in the middle of war situations, when prayer and spiritual comfort may be as vital as food and drink. Others, such as the Rev Chris Luckcraft, are stationed ashore and help sailors cope with more day-to-day issues. But they are still on the frontline of the Church’s work ­ 90 per cent of the people they talk to are not churchgoers.

Chris heads up an ecumenical team based at HM Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth. He is the Anglican chaplain, and there is one Roman Catholic and one free church chaplain as well as three chaplaincy support workers. Technically, Anglican naval chaplains aren’t actually members of our diocese ­ they are licensed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and accountable to him through the Archdeacon for the Royal Navy ­ but they still look to our bishop and cathedral for support. And the chaplaincy team run St Ann’s Church in the dockyard. It’s much like any other parish church, with a congregation drawn from a cross-section of naval and dockyard communities, serving and retired. But the vast majority of their work is for those who don’t form part of that congregation. “It’s a ministry of presence and ‘being there’ for people,” said Chris. “This particular job is more like a parish than virtually any other naval chaplaincy post because there is a full church programme to run. “Our team is responsible for the naval base, HMS Nelson, HMS Temeraire and MCTC Colchester, as well as ships themselves when they are tied up alongside and those living in married quarters estates. There is a lot of pastoral work that goes on, dealing with day-to-day pastoral issues for those who are sick and can’t go to sea or face some kind of family crisis.”

Chris was himself a naval officer for eight years before becoming ordained. He served as chaplain on board HMS Illustrious as well as working as a chaplain at Haslar Hospital in Gosport. “There are times when we have the ability to make a difference to people’s lives, because we can be both pastors of people and prophets to the system,” he said. “Because we have no rank, we can talk to senior officers on equal terms, telling them something they weren’t aware of and get it changed. And it’s the navy that pay us and they seem to value our work.” Lieutenant Chris Hefford, whose six-month-old daughter Millie was baptised last month, agreed. “St Ann’s is a good focal point when you are ashore and the naval chaplains are an excellent support when you are at sea,” he said. “You always know that you can come to the local naval chaplain and they will understand the nature of your work and the pressures of naval life.”

Contact the naval chaplaincy on 023-9272 2915.