Helping the Chaplain

The chaplain serving in the Division lived a hard life cut off from religious reading and the company of other chaplains, and it was difficult for him to remain spiritually and mentally fresh or to keep himself abreast with movements in the civilian Church. For example, a great religious movement, which was organised by the National Council of Churches and known as the ‘Campaign for Christian Order’, made a profound impression in New Zealand and yet was hardly heard of by the men overseas. In 1944 arrangements were made for Church magazines to be sent regularly to the chaplains by air mail.

A regular letter, enclosing religious pamphlets and magazines together with Departmental news and gossip, was later sent by the chaplain at Maadi to a number of chaplains serving in the Division. This served a useful purpose in giving the Divisional chaplain an unofficial link with the outside world, for whereas he could always write to the Senior Chaplain and be certain of getting a helpful reply, yet he felt that the Senior Chaplain was too important and too busy a man to encumber with a stream of questions and a formidable shopping list.