Jenna Carson, a returned missionary and Harvard Divinity School alum, to serve as a chaplain in the U.S. Air Force
By Jason Swensen 30 July 2022, 3:42 AM CST
When Jenna Carson dons the blue uniform of a United States Air Force officer next week, she will not only be following a family military legacy but also making Latter-day Saint history.
Both of Carson’s grandfathers and an uncle were Air Force pilots. Her father served in the U.S. Army. She calls it an honor to follow in their professional footsteps as she begins her own military career.
But Carson is blazing an uncharted trail — becoming the first female military chaplain endorsed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Earlier this month, the returned missionary was set apart by Elder Jeremy R. Jaggi, a General Authority Seventy, and she will begin her military service as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force.
This is pretty big news since the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not ordain women to its priesthood. The article goes o
I guess this means you don’t have to be an ordained member of the clergy to be a military chaplain, just have a Masters degree in Theology. I’ll bet that comes as a surprise to a lot of people.
I know that many, if not most or even all, of the lists abounding say the prospective chaplain must be ordained, but that’s not really the case. What is required is an endorsement from the prospective chaplain’s faith group for military service as a chaplain unless that faith group does not have a hierarchy making decisions about appointments; for example, rabbis are not required to get an endorsement. 1st Lt Carson does require her faith group endorsement and has received it.
Also, not all faith groups practice ordination. In the United States, at least, there are Muslim military chaplains and they are not ordained.
I just noticed I left the OP unfiished. The last sentence should be:
The article goes on to say there are other women in the LDS miiltary chaplain training pipeline.
My information is about 30 years old, so things may have changed a little.
Almost all Mormon males over 12 are ordained to the priesthood. Women (and blacks until 1978) are not eligible.
With the exception of General Authorities (less than 100), all positions are “lay” positions. The leader of the local congregation (bishop) is someone from the congregation (ward) who is called. He could be a plumber, office executive or whatever.
Some positions require that you have the priesthood. You need to be a priesthood holder to be the bishop, pass the communion (sacrament) and other things. You don’t need to have the priesthood to be a Sunday School teacher.
So, apparently the change is that you don’t have to have the priesthood to be a chaplain.