CHAPTER 1
RELIGIOUS PROGRAM SUPPORT PART I
In your career, you will have extensive
responsibilities for rendering professional support for an
effective CRP. Although the variety of your experiences
will be directly related to the chaplains, faith groups,
events, and rites-religious or secular—with which you
will come into contact on a daily basis, the information
in this chapter should give you an overview of your role
in this broad field. No matter where you are assigned,
your increasing awareness of your role in religious
program support should help you advance in this
important field and become a more effective RP.
Because you must learn about many different
subject areas in the field of religious program support,
we have divided our discussion into two sections. In
Part I, which is the content of this chapter, we will
primarily acquaint you with the various aspects of
worship. In Part II, presented as chapter 2 of this
TRAMAN, you will read about counseling, pastoral
care, and other responsibilities you will have in religious
program support.
Before you proceed to chapter 2, make certain you
understand the information presented in chapter 1. After
reading the information in chapter 1, you should
understand some fundamental administrative and legal
responsibilities you will encounter in your career. You
should also understand the fundamentals of worship.
You should be able to describe the religious ministry
facility in terms of its purpose, components, and various
uses. In addition, you should be able to recognize the
ceremonial traditions in military weddings and funerals
and the essential characteristics and rituals of worship
of the major faiths.
As we describe the fundamental religious support
functions with which you may become involved, we will
emphasize your role. As an RP, you must be aware of
your role in religious program support and how your
duties and responsibilities will involve your knowledge
and awareness of the following eight subjects:
1. United States Navy Regulations, 1990
2. Ecclesiastical endorsing agents
3. Specialty reports
4. Active duty chaplain’s report
5. Statistical conclusions in reports
6. The religious ministry facility (RMF)
7. Navy military weddings
8. Navy military funerals
In your career as an RP, you will likely become
involved in most of these functions. The information in
the following sections should help you become aware
of your duties and responsibilities in each of these areas.
ADMINISTRATIVE DUTIES
Let’s first take a look at some of the administrative
aspects of your duties and responsibilities in religious
program support.
UNITED STATES NAVY REGULATIONS
The first subject we will discuss with which you
should become familiar is United States Navy
Regulations, 1990, more commonly referred to as Navy
Regs. This document profiles the foundation of Title 10,
United States Code, Section 6011, for the government
of all persons in the Department of the Navy and is the
“principal regulatory document of the Department of the
Navy, endowed with the sanction of law as to duty,
responsibility, authority, distinctions, and relationships
of various commands, officials, and individuals.” The
CNO is responsible for making certain the content of
Navy Regs agrees with the needs of the Department of
the Navy.
Every naval person should be familiar with Navy
Regs. As an RP, you should be especially familiar with
Articles 0817, 1063, and 1136 because these articles are
relevant to promoting worship in the United States
Navy. The content of Articles 0817, 1063, and 1136 is
shown in figure 1-1.
ECCLESIASTICAL ENDORSING AGENTS
In the field of religious program support, you should
understand the role of the ecclesiastical endorsing
agents. The military services acknowledge over 100
different faith groups. Each faith group establishes a
unit known as an ecclesiastical endorsing agency. Each
1-1
