Father Jim Sheil

“A great deal of ministry occurs in the parking lot or in the commissary; in the military we all wear the same clothes. There is an informal closeness,” said Father Jim Sheil, Major, United States Army, currently a chaplain at Fort Stewart, Hinesville. “It is a ministry of presence.”

Father Sheil spoke with Debbie Sorkin for the Southern Cross on October 30 about his experiences as a military chaplain.

As a new priest in the mid-sixties, he said, “The Vietnam War was raging. My ministry was in service to troubled kids in Cleveland, Ohio, many of whom joined the military to straighten themselves out.” In November 1968, two years after his ordination to the priesthood, while delivering what he described as a “Duty, Honor, Country talk” to a group of such young men, Sheil recalled, “I realized I didn’t know what I was talking about. And I thought I knew everything.” Sheil continued, “Being young and impetuous I drove to the bishop’s home and told him I needed to join the military. I told him why I felt I should join and he agreed.” Sheil called the Army Chaplain’s office the next day. In May 1969, Sheil was commissioned a chaplain in the United States Army and served in Vietnam. When asked if he carried a weapon, Sheil noted that “Army chaplains by tradition and regulation are not armed.”

Weekdays were spent “in the field” with the troops. Sheil reports that his stays might range from an hour or two to a week. “We didn’t have Humvees back then and the Jeeps were no good in that terrain,” Sheil said, “so we walked a lot. We hitched rides on helicopters or fixed winged craft and then got shoved out with the cargo at the nearest landing zone.” Time in the field depended on transportation—“I tried to be back at the fire base on Saturday to prepare for Mass on Sunday.”

“When you get to know the soldiers you are knocked off your own pedestal. Because the relationship is so up close and personal, there is a marvelous humbling bond of trust and respect on the part of the soldiers and the guys in the field with them. Regardless of your mission, if you are sharing danger with them there is a tremendous bond that you will not find in civilian life.”

In some cases, after the commanding officer had notified a family of someone hurt or killed in action, Sheil would write letters if he knew the soldier. For a time after his return from Vietnam, he would visit families at the specific requests of some soldiers. As recently as two weeks ago he had contact with people who were a part of his Vietnam experience.

Father Sheil served as a military chaplain until 1977, when he undertook parish ministry in the Diocese of Cleveland. He was recalled to active duty in 1991 and has served as a military chaplain ever since.

His chaplaincy is different now from what it was in Vietnam. He is, he says, “a little too old to be in the field.” Currently Father Sheil’s ministry is directed at military families.

Unlike the Vietnam era, “today’s families know exactly what is going on,” said Sheil. Soldiers and their families ask serious questions. For military families, “Life and death are not theoretical, they are always over the horizon watching—that kind of changes your perspective.”

“We try to create a safe warm welcome environment for families to come together in faith,” Father Sheil said. On October 30, the evening of this interview, Sheil went to a parishioner’s home and celebrated an early Thanksgiving dinner with the family of a soldier who was deployed the next day.