58 mins
’Padre, can I have a word?’
PROFILE
“THE Kirk has a very long and proud history within the forces. Scottish Regiments like nothing better than having a padre who is one of their own. As Chaplain General I am very conscious that I stand on the shoulders of giants.”
The Rev Dr David Coulter, Chaplain General to HM Land Forces, is talking about his feelings as he ‘represents’ the Church of Scotland at the highest levels of the Royal Army Chaplains’ Department.
“Since 1796 there have only been 23 Chaplain Generals and I have the enormous privilege to be the 24th. I am also only the second Church of Scotland minister to hold this position after the Very Rev Dr James Harkness. I became the Chaplain General on September 17 2014, the day before the Scottish Independence vote, and received the blessing of the Church of Scotland by the Very Rev Dr John Chalmers in a wonderful service in St Giles’ Cathedral.
“I feel I can represent the spiritual and pastoral needs to our people to the Army Board as well as to Church leaders across the UK including the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster. It is also significant that we rely heavily upon the Endorsing Authorities and their faith specific help; support and advice from the Buddhist; Hindu; Jewish; Muslims and Sikh faith communities. Our aim is to provide the best possible faith specific provision for all our people.”
Born in Northern Ireland during ‘the Troubles’, David had a happy childhood.
His father was a policeman, so the idea of service but also security was drilled into David and his (late) brother constantly.
“My parents were religious and my late brother and I were brought up as members of the Irish Presbyterian Church. I find it sad today that there has been a fracture in relations between the PCI and the Church of Scotland given their history and the fact that I have a foot in both camps,” he says.
“At school I played a lot of sport especially rugby where I captained the First XV and so decided to try and join one of the services in search of a more active lifestyle.
“I looked at the Police Force and the RAF where my father had been a Second World War Pilot Officer navigator but the Army held most attraction for me so I applied and was fortunate to earn a Commission as a Regular Officer in the Royal Irish Rangers.
I loved being a Ranger and having command of soldiers,” he says, “but I was aware of a niggling call from God to enter the ministry and it would not go away.” David started to ask around about it, and received advice from many people.
Thanks to a number of chaplain colleagues, especially Padre Neil Cameron, an Irish Presbyterian, he was urged to apply to ministry with the Church of Scotland. David was, by this time, married to Grace.
Now, 37 years and 17 house moves later, they have two sons, Andrew who read religion and theology at Oxford Brookes and is now a trainee teacher in London; and Thomas, born in Edinburgh and after reading Agricultural Business Management at Newcastle University is now a grain trader in Suffolk.
David’s decision to go into the ministry was not initially met with overwhelming approval by his whole family.
“When I went to selection school in St Colm’s in Edinburgh my father, despite being very religious, thought I was being irresponsible, as I had a wife, a mortgage and a successful career. My friends in the regiment thought I was committing financial suicide. On passing the Church selection school I had to write to the Colonel of the Regiment to resign my commission.
General Bala Bredin, a distinguished and highly decorated Irish General, wrote back to congratulate me on passing selection school but with the comment: ‘If it doesn’t work out in the Church…come back?” His new career brought him to Scotland in search of a place to study.
“As I was already a graduate the advice from the Rev Ron Blakey at 121 was to go and look at all the Scottish theological facilities and see which one felt best. I was stationed in Dover at the time and we drove up to Scotland for a recce. This was 1985 and we had decided that Aberdeen was too far north and too expensive due to the expansion of North Sea oil. We didn’t really know Glasgow and so it was either Edinburgh or St Andrews. I ended up some years later doing my PhD part-time in New College in Edinburgh but we completely fell in love with St Andrews and the welcome we received from Maisie Blackwood, the longtime secretary at St Mary’s College.
We made some wonderful friends at St Andrews and I relished studying under Professor J K Cameron while Grace worked as a teacher in Glenrothes.
The Rev Dr David Coulter, Chaplain General to HM Land Forces
Since 1796 there have only been 23 Chaplain Generals and I have the enormous privilege to be the 24th. I am also only the second Church of Scotland minister to hold this position after the Very Rev Dr James Harkness.
“She still reminds me that I was a kept man for the four years I was in training and that the mortgage was in her name,” he laughs.
“In the end it was neither financial suicide nor disappointing – anything but – it was, I suppose, meant to be.”
But David wasn’t finished with the army.
“Having been a professional Army Officer and having been privileged to command Infantry soldiers I always felt I had a calling in becoming an army chaplain. When I finished St Andrews I did my probation with the Rev Bill Henney and the Very Rev Professor James Whyte at Hope Park Church. I was asked to consider doing a research degree and applied for the parish of Anstruthur but in the end felt in my heart of hearts to apply to the Royal Army Chaplains’ Department. I was interviewed by the Very Rev Dr James Harkness, the then Chaplain General.
“To be an army chaplain today we are looking for ordained ministers and priests who have a minimum of three years of pastoral experience. We expect all our chaplains to pass a modified version of the Army Officer Selection Board and to go to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst to complete the Professionally Qualified Officers Commissioning Course alongside the doctors, nurses, dentists, lawyers and vets. It is physically demanding and hard work but it is a privilege to earn the right to wear the Queen’s Commission,” he says.
”David feels that his faith influences everything he does. ‘Faith without works is dead’ it says in James chapter 2. I feel as a Christian everything I do is informed by my faith and vice versa. As a chaplain I have been able to take the love of God to men and women who come to me seeking help.
“All regular and reservist chaplains undertake basically the same course and all are commissioned into the Royal Army Chaplains Department. Then after a short period of leave the new chaplain will join their first unit as a Chaplain to the Forces Class 4, wearing the rank of a Captain.
“From the Commanding Officer to the youngest Jock everyone knows you and calls you Padre! That’s where the adventure really begins!” he says.
“Returning to the army as a chaplain for me was a blessing. I was in an environment I knew, serving alongside people I understood and where I felt God had placed me but also where I felt I could make a difference. We were extremely fortunate to be posted to the Queen’s Own Highlanders in Munster in West Germany for our first three years. Being a Church of Scotland minister with a Scottish Infantry Battalion was fantastic!
It was three hectic years in which our first son Andrew was born and I went with the Battalion to Northern Ireland and a tour of duty in West Belfast and deployed with the regiment and 2nd Field Regiment RA to the first Gulf War.”
But it wasn’t all fun and good times. “It was in NI that my first soldier died on operations and another three were killed in the Gulf War following a friendly ire incident,” he remembers.
“It was there I guess that I first earned my spurs and the enormous privilege of being in the frontline with soldiers on operational duty. To be with soldiers in barracks but most especially on operations leaves an indelible mark upon us all.” It was work David loved.
“To be in a position to minister to soldiers and their families in good times and in bad; in peacetime and in war; is unforgettable and life changing.”
And for an army chaplain, life, as well as having the normal challenges that face parish ministers, has some extra ones too.
“I will have been ordained for 30 years on April 2 2019. Most of that time has been spent in the RAChD. I have served alongside soldiers on six operational tours of duty including NI; Cyprus; Bosnia and Iraq. I have baptised some; married a few and buried too many. As a chaplain you are effectively embedded with your parish – where they go – you go. Chaplains are made to feel part of regimental life. They had all earned the right to wear the Queen’s Commission and are trained to do the job God has called them to do. The army needs and wants chaplains, ministers and priests who are prayerful; professional and who have a positive effect upon soldiers and their families. The army is in a constant state of readiness where they can fight tonight; sustain tomorrow and, for their chaplains, minister today. You provide on a daily basis pastoral care; spiritual support and give moral guidance. The greatest compliment any chaplain is ever paid is when a soldier or an officer says: “Padre, can I have a word?”
“One day a soldier who I will call John came to me in a distressed state asking: ‘Padre can I have a word?’ We sat and talked and he explained his father had died some months before and as an only child he had inherited his small house on a croft but because the old man had died in the house sometime before he was found, he couldn’t bring himself to enter the home.
“I managed to talk him into allowing me to go with him to the house and we could go in together. A day or two later we drove to his home and after a very tearful pause on the doorstep he opened the door and walked in. John was shaking; tearful; he wanted to run – but I did what I could to hold onto him. I put my arms around him and hugged him as hard as I could. When he calmed down I said a short prayer and eventually we left together. There are times when action speaks much louder than any words.”
David feels that his faith influences everything he does.
‘Faith without works is dead’ it says in James chapter 2. I feel as a Christian everything I do is informed by my faith and vice versa. As a chaplain I have been able to take the love of God to men and women who come to me seeking help. I have really enjoyed the ecumenical nature of life in the armed forces. My current deputy comes from the Church of England; my stafffchaplain is a delightful Roman Catholic from the West of Ireland and my Capability Officer is a fine Methodist Minister. All chaplains are there to bring God to man and man to God. It is an enormous privilege but with that privilege comes great responsibility. The army doesn’t need more soldiers or officers – it wants chaplains to provide for the spiritual needs of our people and we need more to ensure every deployable unit both Regular and Reserves has their own chaplain.
Our soldiers and their families deserve nothing less.”
David is a great advocate for ministers who might be thinking about a career with the military.
“I still hope and pray that more Church of Scotland ministers will feel called by God to serve alongside our soldiers and their families and that as a national church we would all seek to being the love of God to all people in our communities most notable to the veterans.
“I am by nature a positive and optimistic person. My stafffsay I am relaxed about everything except time – I don’t like to be late.
“‘What makes me despair?’ People who complain and give up trying to be the person God made them to be.”
This article appears in the November 2018 Issue of Life and Work
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