Chaplain General
In the Anglican Church, chaplains general are the seniormost Anglican chaplains in otherwise non-Anglican organizations. Chaplains general are most commonly appointed in Commonwealth Realms, and are responsible for conducting religious services and ceremonies, and generally representing the Anglican faith in an organization.
During World War I, the chaplain-general John Taylor Smith was equivalent to a major general and under the control of the Permanent Under-Secretary of State. Llewellyn Henry Gwynne was from July 1915 deputy chaplain-general of the army in France, with the relative rank of major-general.
During World War II the head of chaplaincy in the British Army was an (Anglican) chaplain-general, who was formally under the control of the Permanent Under-Secretary of State. An Assistant Chaplain-General was a Chaplain 1st class (full Colonel) and a senior Chaplain was a Chaplain 2nd class (Lieutenant Colonel).
In 1948 the first Bishop to the Forces was appointed; the Bishop is a suffragan of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the full title of the Bishop to the Forces is "The Archbishop of Canterbury's Episcopal Representative to the Armed Forces". The Bishop to the Forces is not a military chaplain. The current holder of the office is the Right Reverend Stephen Venner. There is sometimes confusion between the (Anglican) "Bishop to the Forces" and the (Roman Catholic) "Bishop of the Forces": for this reason the latter is normally given his title in full, i.e. "The Roman Catholic Bishop of the Forces".
Each of the three armed services has a chief chaplain (ranking as an archdeacon), for the navy the Chaplain of the Fleet, for the army the Chaplain-General, and for the Royal Air Force the Chaplain-in-Chief.
The Museum of Army Chaplaincy holds archive material and information relating to the history of the Chaplains General to the British Army both past and present.
Read more about Chaplain General: Outside Anglicanism, Chaplains-General and Bishops To The Forces
Famous quotes containing the words chaplain and/or general:
“A chaplain is the minister of the Prince of Peace serving the host of the God of WarMars. As such, he is as incongruous as a musket would be on the altar at Christmas. Why, then, is he there? Because he indirectly subserves the purpose attested by the cannon; because too he lends the sanction of the religion of the meek to that which practically is the abrogation of everything but brute Force.”
—Herman Melville (18191891)
“Every general increase of freedom is accompanied by some degeneracy, attributable to the same causes as the freedom.”
—Charles Horton Cooley (18641929)