Navy Lt. j.g. Kelsey Fauser, whose parents live on Sugarloaf Key, is training at Naval Chaplaincy School to serve as a chaplain for America’s seafaring warfighters.
Fauser graduated from Coe College in 2017 and the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in 2021. She joined the Navy less than one year ago.
“I joined the Navy because I couldn’t shake this feeling to go and serve,” said Fauser. “My grandfather also served in the Marines, so that sense of service is part of who I am and I listened to that call.”
More than 800 Navy chaplains from more than 100 faith groups, including Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist, serve in the Navy Chaplain Corps. After seven weeks of training at Naval Chaplaincy School and Center at Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island, the chaplains embark on their mission to provide support and guidance to sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen at sea and on shore.
“In conversations about national defense, you hear about great power competition and competition among peers and near-peers,” said Capt. Charles Varsogea, chaplain and commanding officer of the Naval Chaplaincy School. “The people of the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard have no peers. Part of what makes them peerless defenders of the Constitution is their determination to do so with body, mind and spirit. No nation on earth can replicate the fighting spirit of our sea services. The graduates of our Basic Leadership Course are trained, developed and inspired to give our seagoing warfighters the strength of spirit necessary to complete their missions with honor.”
Chaplains and religious program specialists (RP) play a critical role in helping the Department of the Navy achieve and maintain a ready force through the delivery of professional religious ministry and compassionate pastoral care. Chaplains and RPs are embedded within commands operating at sea and ashore to ensure 24/7 availability. They provide a source of comfort and refuge that enables service members and their families to practice and grow in their faith and to face personal and professional challenges.
In the basic leadership course, Navy chaplains learn to tailor religious ministry to life in the sea services, said Varsogea. They also learn to facilitate the free exercise of religion for people of faiths other than their own. They learn service specific ways to care for all people and they learn how and when to render their best military advice.
“My proudest moment in the Navy was being selected to become an active duty chaplain,” Fauser said. “Being in the Navy means showing up for those who serve and making sure they know there is someone supporting them at all times.”
