Cranmer Hall, Ushaw College and Wesley Study Centre MA in Theology and Ministry Module 401 THEOLOGICAL AND PRACTICAL REFLECTION ON MINISTRY AND MISSION SUMMATIVE ESSAY NOW WHAT SHALL I WEAR? A DILEMMA FOR AN ASSAULT SHIP CHAPLAIN Simon Springett, Cranmer Hall 4371 words June 2008 ª¼ demonstration of further learning, theological reflection and ministerial outcomes.º --- --- --- --- M401 TPR Summative Assignment - Simon Springett Page 1 NOW WHAT SHALL I WEAR? A DILEMMA FOR AN ASSAULT SHIP CHAPLAIN MINISTERIAL CONCERN and PERSONAL EXPERIENCE HMS ALBION's diverse Ship©s Company, men and women; Royal Navy and Royal Marines; ratings and officers perform many activities and wear many different uniforms even over a single day. On one not untypical day recently I attended a Heads-of-Department meeting, conducted pastoral interviews, helped carry rubbish ashore, taught GCSE English, visited around the ship, took two services in the chapel and attended an on-board social event; not to mention going for a run, eating three meals and sleeping. Chaplains have more allowed varieties of uniform (ªrigº) than most. Not for us does uniform offer freedom from `try[ing] to figure out what ¼ to wear for that day at work; [we are constantly] remaking [our] external character©.1 I have huge choice: what initially appears as uniformity is far from uniform. I can wear: Combat Soldier 95 (CS95), for work ashore and (with a scarf) for services: 1 Fussell, Paul Uniforms: Why We Are What We Wear (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2002), 108 M401 TPR Summative Assignment - Simon Springett Page 2 No 1 Uniform (but only the Chaplain of the Fleet wears the gold braid aiguillettes!). No. 3 uniform (white shirt and tie) possibly with jersey or hat. A clerical shirt, with black trousers, or a dark suit ... >> M401 TPR Summative Assignment - Simon Springett Page 3 << ... or No. 4 (blue) uniform ... ... or: Red Sea rig; sports rig; Pirate rig or any of at least four varieties of tropical rig. My official role is to promote the spiritual growth of the Ship©s Company, provide pastoral care, advise the Captain on chaplaincy matters and undertake secondary duties, such as Education and Resettlement Officer. Captains expect chaplains to be around the ship, particularly with Junior Rates. Sailors and Marines want an accessible listener, and their wishes sometimes relate directly to clothing: ªCS95 shows you are one of usº said some Royal Marines, perhaps believing a same-uniformed chaplain `better [to] appreciate their problems'.2 Being in correct rig matters here: ªYou©re out of the rig of the dayº said my Executive Officer on seeing me in immaculate white tropical uniform, and this was a mild rebuke: I should have been in ªpirate rigº; tee shirt and civilian shorts. 2 Tagg, Mary Alison, `The `Jesus Nut': A Study of New Zealand Military Chaplaincy' (Ph.D. thesis, University of Auckland, 2000), 238 - 239 M401 TPR Summative Assignment - Simon Springett Page 4 Chaplains can substitute a dark clerical suit, or a clerical shirt and black RN trousers for the official ªrig-of-the-dayº. Within that freedom being in the ªrightº one of the many permissible rigs is clearly important. Other chaplains hold strong and divergent views: ªa clerical shirt with uniform is wrong: it's `mixed rig'º, ªNaval uniform's more practicalº, ªPriests should wear clerical dressº. The tension between uniformity and individuality is strongly felt: ©everyone must wear a uniform, but everyone must deny wearing one, lest one©s invaluable personality and unique identity be compromised©.3 Rig can divide: a quick glimpse around the Junior Rates' Dining Hall rarely reveals blue (Royal Navy) and green (Royal Marines) at the same tables. Questions of authority may be troublesome for chaplains, who have neither executive authority nor military rank. Uniform, however, speaks of both, indicating status and power, though no chaplains I know would agree with Porch that we see ourselves first and foremost as military officers.4 Day-to-day I operate as having the rank of the person I am speaking with, but I live in the Wardroom, my uniforms are ªofficer-likeº in appearance and the titles of some secondary duties contain the word ªofficerº. Might rig subvert these ªofficer-likeº elements, or conversely might chaplains lacking self-confidence use rig to reinforce them and gain that `feeling of inward tranquillity which religion is powerless to bestow?º5 Given the relative freedom to decide what to wear, the variety of existing practice and the lack of authoritative guidance, what should I wear? 3 Fussell Uniforms, 5 4 Porch, Douglas, review of Soldiers, Commissars, and Chaplains: Civil-Military Relations since Cromwell (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001), by Dale Roy Herspring, in War In History 11 (2004), 360-363 5 Bell Quentin On Human Finery (London: Allison and Busby, 2nd ed. 1992), 19Template M401 TPR Summative Assignment - Simon Springett Page 5 METHOD I have used Whitehead and Whitehead©s Method in Ministry (Method)6 for my theological reflection. I appreciate their action focus: the minister reflects `in order to act on a question that demands practical resolution now'7 where time for decision may be short. This reflects a truth about salvation: it relates not ©only to inwardness ¼ but is made visible by Jesus© action'.8 Method shares with praxis theology that ©the insight [often] becomes clear only in and as the decision is made.©9 In Method the voices of Personal Experience, Christian Tradition, and Cultural Information are brought into a ªtrilogueº, ©in which the [Ministerial] Concern is always central.©10 6 Whitehead, James D. and Evelyn Eaton Whitehead Method in Ministry: Theological Reflection and Christian Ministry (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1995) 7 Whitehead Method in Ministry, 24 8 Schillebeeckx, Edward The Church with a Human Face ± a New and Expanded Theology of Ministry (London: SCM Press, 1985), 21 9 Whitehead Method in Ministry, 100 10 Whitehead Method in Ministry, 12 M401 TPR Summative Assignment - Simon Springett Page 6 Method involves three stages:11 I. ATTENDING Hearing the three voices; recognising and responding to ©religious experiences implicit in apparently secular concerns [and listening] to the explicit religious questions ¼ that arise©.12 II. ASSERTION Engaging the voices in mutual clarification and challenge, to expand and deepen religious insight. Such reflection; ©Christian theology ¼ in dialogue with contemporary philosophy and culture;© is deeply Trinitarian.13 III. DECISION Moving from insight through decision to concrete pastoral action. Method is not beyond criticism. Questions remain about the relative authority of the voices. Perhaps reflecting its Roman Catholic authorship Method states without argument that there is `some mutuality among the partners [but] not a strict equality; the Christian Tradition [enjoys] privilege and priority in theological reflection'.14 Also unanswered are questions of pluriformity within the voices. Method's claim that increased awareness of personal experience normally leads Christians towards their 11 Whitehead Method in Ministry, 22 12 Whitehead Method in Ministry, 86 13 Greenwood, Robin Transforming Priesthood (London: SPCK, 1994), 93 14 Whitehead Method in Ministry, 95 M401 TPR Summative Assignment - Simon Springett Page 7 Tradition15 is arguably naïve: the possibility of conflict between the two is unaddressed. Having covered Personal Experience in my opening paragraphs, I turn to the other two voices of the trilogue. 15 Whitehead Method in Ministry, 61 M401 TPR Summative Assignment - Simon Springett Page 8 CULTURAL INFORMATION The Psychology of Dress holds that clothing is not merely functional but carries significance through its various attributes. ©Colours have meanings [and] dark colours convey power©.16 Clerical dress or a dark suit therefore assert power, over against working blue (No. 4) or white (No. 3) rigs. Surprisingly black also suggests inadequate and joyless faith, since faith should mean that `life [and] clothes will have colours rich and deep.'17 No. 1 uniform is navy blue: almost black's equal in status but `without its darker implications of death and sin'.18 White suggests status; it is easy to soil so cannot be worn by manual workers: thus officers wear white overalls, ratings wear blue. Red speaks of `military orders'19 and `good sex',20 even when the colour is only in the name, as with ªRed Sea rigº, white shirt, black trousers and cummerbund, which does not necessarily have any red colour in it at all. Psychology views the theological ascription of different meanings to colours (e.g. black for humility, red for martyrdom)21 as confusing at best, disingenuous at worst. 16 Rafaeli, Anat and Michael G. Pratt, `Tailored Meanings: On the Meaning and Impact of Organizational Dress' in Academy of Management Review 18, no. 1 (1993), 36 17 Harvey, John Men in Black (London: Reaktion Books, 1995), 257 18 Lurie, Alison The Language of Clothes (London: Bloomsbury, 1992 ed.), 199 19 Harvey Men in Black, 50 20 Harvey Men in Black, 254 21 Fussell Uniforms, 69 M401 TPR Summative Assignment - Simon Springett Page 9 Style is significant and again meanings may not be those clergy would wish: a dog-collar, for example, with its high neckband psychologically `symbolises `unapproachableness ¼ stand-offishness'.22 Uniform may indicate that a chaplain has given up the `right to act as an individual'.23 An example: The officers all wear white. Ratings are in blue. Variance of uniform allows comparisons between members of the organisation. Note subtleties: the Chief Petty Officer lecturer's white vest shows status, as do well worn overalls (left) compared to new ones. Not seen in the photo, the Navigating Officer (centre) wears cuff links: less practical = higher status. 22 Flügel, J. C. The Psychology of Clothes, The International Psycho-analytical Library 18 (London: Hogarth Press, 1930), 78 23 Lurie The Language of Clothes, 18; also Rafaeli, `Tailored Meanings©, 36 and Hurlock Elizabeth B.