Chaplain’s Message – June 2010
For this message I would like to focus on the annual
Conference that I attend that is sponsored by the Federation of Fire Chaplains.
The Federation is a national organization and includes members from Canada.
Many of the Chaplains from the largest departments in the country are members
if the Federation as well of small departments from all over the nation.
Each year the conference opens with 2 eight hour days of an
educational curriculum and then the membership conference begins and runs from
Monday morning through Thursday noon. The department has sponsored me for both
the educational institute and the four day conference for the last four years.
The conferences that I have attended have been held in St. Joseph’s Missouri,
Okalahoma City, Okalahoma, Warwick, Rhode Island and La Quinta, California. The
2010 conference will be held in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The two day educational institute usually has a choice of
2-4 curriculums. The first year I took a class on the basics of being a
Chaplain that was very helpful to me as I was just starting out as a Fire
Chaplain for the first time. Last year the class was called Strategic Response
to Crisis and the instructor was Naomi K Paget who is Crisis Interventionist
with the Federal Bureau of Investigation: a very prominent position.
The four day conference that follows the educational
institute consists of a fully schedule of prominent speakers on a wide variety
of subjects that are of great interest to Fire and Rescue Chaplains. Of special
interest last year were presentations on fires in California that resulted in
fatalities of fire personnel and a presentation on how to start a program that
will reach and support families of Fire and Rescue workers. The previous year
in Rhode Island much of the conference was devoted to the terrible night club
fire that led to the loss of life to over 100 persons.
The most important benefit to me of the whole institute and
conference is the opportunity that I have to establish friendships and networking
relationships with other Fire and Rescue Chaplains. There have already been
occasions where these contacts have provided me direct benefits to me for my
work as a Chaplain as well as my personal life.