Chaplain Provides 'Ministry On The Fly'
(June 11, 2011) |
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| FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELARAM, Afghanistan (MCN - 6/7/2011)
— It's 2:53 p.m. at Forward Operating Base Delaram,
Afghanistan, and religious programs specialist Petty Officer
3rd Class Matthew Gallagher is looking quite nervous. Pacing
in the blazing Afghanistan sun, Gallagher knows that he and
the Navy chaplain he is sworn to protect have a convoy to
catch in seven minutes, one that very well may leave them
stranded if they are late. |
June 4, 2011 - Navy
Lt. Stephen DiCenso is the chaplain for Marine
Wing Support Squadron 272 based out of Marine
Corps Air Station New River, N.C. The Columbia,
S.C., native is deployed with MWSS-272 in
support of Marines and Sailors in southwestern
Afghanistan. |
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Gallagher has already given the chaplain several
notifications that they are running short on
time, but the Navy lieutenant is so engaged in
his conversation with a young corporal that his
priorities have shifted. This may be the only
chance that the lieutenant, based miles away at
Camp Leatherneck, will have to visit the Marines
from his squadron for some time.
Suddenly, with one minute to spare, Marine Wing
Support Squadron 272 chaplain Navy Lt. Stephen
DiCenso emerges. Luckily the convoy's departure
was delayed. It is clear DiCenso makes his
duties as MWSS-272's chaplain his first mission,
no matter the circumstance.
“That's what
you call ministry on the fly,” shrugged DiCenso
with a smile to a nervous Gallagher. “That is
what I love about this job!”
The
42-year-old Columbia, S.C., native and father of
three arrived at Marine Corps Air Station New
River, N.C. in April 2010, a newly minted, but
eager Navy chaplain. However, unlike many new
chaplains, he was no stranger to the Marine
Corps.
“I served as a weather observer
with MWSS-273, out of MCAS Beaufort, S.C., from
1987 through 1991 during the Persian Gulf War,”
said DiCenso. “I only stayed in for a single
enlistment and then used my Montgomery G.I. Bill
to go back and finish college to pursue other
opportunities. It just turned out that all those
other opportunities came together and I came
back in the military as a chaplain 20 years
later.”
In between his time in the Marine
Corps and becoming a chaplain, DiCenso tried a
few career options, becoming a New Jersey state |
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probation officer and disabled veterans
representative. But, it was his involvement with
the church during that time that would steer his
life in a completely new direction. |
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“I began attending church 10 years ago as a result of having
some of the same issues I minister to young Marines about
come up in my own life,” said DiCenso. “My wife and I were
married while I was in the Marine Corps and we struggled
with learning how to be married and how a good marriage
works. We struggled until we started finding solutions from
our church pastor.”
“The things he taught us are
principles that brought my wife and I closer together,
healed our wounds and made my family a stronger unit,” he
said. “These are some of the same tools I share with the
Marines and Sailors of my unit.”
During that time
while he was heavily involved in the church, DiCenso started
ministering to youth groups and said that was when he felt a
calling to become a pastor.
“When I first went to
seminary in August 2005 my intent wasn't to become a Navy
chaplain,” said DiCenso. “That was probably the furthest
thing from my mind. There was a chaplain recruiter who spoke
to us there and I was like, ‘Yeah right, I'm too old and too
out of shape for the military now.' I went through my time
at seminary intending become a pastor at a local church
somewhere.”
It was a friend of DiCenso's who had gone
to seminary and actually became a chaplain that made the
former Marine, then in his late thirties, begin to
reconsider his intention to stay a civilian.
“A
friend became a chaplain in the Army with the 82nd Airborne
Division and I remember him telling me about the ministry he
was doing and the interactions he was having with all the
young enlisted guys,” said DiCenso. “It just really got me
to think about it even though he was a lot younger than I
was.”
Originally leaning toward serving in the Army,
it was DiCenso's wife Evelyn that persuaded him to serve
young Marines and Sailors. By January 2010 DiCenso was in
training to become a Navy chaplain.
DiCenso had
little time after arriving at his new duty station, at MCAS
New River, before he was confronted with the harsh reality
of the duties the chaplaincy entails.
“I arrived at
MCAS New River in April 2010,” DiCenso recalled. “I received
a phone call on my duty phone at around 10 or 11 p.m. with a
Marine saying, ‘Hey Chaps, I got a shotgun to my head.' As I
talked to him over the phone, I asked him to get his
neighbor who got the gun away from him. At that point I
drove down to Wilmington, picked him up and with the
direction of his sergeant major, I brought him to the Naval
hospital.”
DiCenso said by starting a counseling
relationship beforehand with the Marine and letting him know
that he could call him anytime he had a problem, he felt he
was able to diffuse a situation which could have ended far
differently.
“I like being a Navy chaplain because
here it's about more than pulpits, pews and congregations –
it's more about personal interactions with people,” said
DiCenso. “I love learning about the lives of each and every
Marine and Sailor and understanding who they are.”
Since arriving in Afghanistan in March, DiCenso has been
busy fulfilling the spiritual needs of Marine Wing Support
Squadron 272 personnel based at Camp Leatherneck and other
forward operating bases in the surrounding area. Recently,
he travelled by convoy to Forward Operation Base Delaram to
visit the Marines stationed there.
“He's been down a
few times in the three months that we've been here,” said
1st Lt. Kevin Zaffino, the detachment officer in charge of
the MWSS-272 Marines at FOB Delaram. “He's dealt with the
personal problems of Marines here on many occasions and was
heavily instrumental in addressing one Marine's issues and
getting him back to Camp Leatherneck where he could receive
the appropriate help he needed.”
Gallagher, the
religious programs specialist who works closest with
DiCenso, said this is where the chaplain's former Marine
enlisted experience comes in handy.
“I think the
chaplain's greatest quality is his ability to relate to the
Marines regardless of rank,” said Gallagher. “I think this
is partially because he was a Marine. He's been there and
gone through most of the problems young Marines face.”
One particular Marine, Cpl. William Reid, an aircraft
rescue firefighter and Prattville, Ala. native with MWSS-272
stationed at Forward Operating Base Delaram, received an
unexpected visit from the chaplain on his June 4 visit.
Reid's wife Amy had given birth to his third child,
Gunner Mason Reid the day before and DiCenso had heard about
the event and came to congratulate the young Marine.
“I think it's really cool that he comes out to visit us like
this,” said Reid. “He seems like a genuinely nice guy. I
have no idea how he knew that we had a baby. It's crazy how
he just seems to know things like this.”
Zaffino said
that DiCenso's visits are something he greatly appreciates
and looks forward to. His Marines have a chance to vent
their frustrations and concerns to someone outside of their
chain of command and receive the guidance they need without
any inhibitions.
“It's pretty impressive that he's
been able to get here the times he has considering he has
over 20 locations in the area of operations that he's
responsible for,” said Zaffino. “The first question he has
when he gets here is always what he can do for the Marines.
It lifts morale when he's here and I can definitely tell the
Marines trust him.”
DiCenso said his goal is to
remain in the Navy and stay a chaplain for as long as
possible. However, he said for the time that he's in he
wants to stay motivated and continue to do quality work.
“I think my main motivation is probably my family,” he
said. “They know that even though I'm away from them,
sometimes for months at a time, I am committed to something
greater than myself. I've not chosen to work in a comfy
church; I've been called to work in this ministry and if the
calling is to be here, I can't deny it.” |
Article and photo by USMC Cpl. Rashaun X. James
2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (Fwd)
Copyright 2011 | |
Reprinted from
Marine Corps News
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