A LITTLE INDIGNATION
The time passed quickly for me, though I think for most of the men it
went slowly; they seemed always restless, always longing to get to the
front. They used to come to me often with their little grievances. They
seemed to think that their troubles would disappear once they reached
training-camp overseas.
I remember one Sunday, after I had finished Mass and the last company
had marched off the field, two soldiers came forward from somewhere and
saluted. One of them, the taller of the two, acted as chief spokesman.
“Father,” he said, “we have not heard Mass today. We were ordered to
go to the Protestant service.” Excitement flashed in his eyes. “The
service is just over, Father, and we slipped over here to tell you.”
It was strictly against _K. R. & O._ to order Catholics to a
non-Catholic service. The lads did not belong to my battalion,
but to a construction battalion that had but lately come to camp.
Headquarters of this battalion were not far away, so I did not wait
for my breakfast, but obeyed the first impulse and went immediately to
the training square of the No. -- Construction Co. The church parade
was over and the chaplain had just finished packing his books and was
preparing to leave the field with the adjutant. I asked the chaplain if
the Catholics had been ordered to attend the service. “Yes,” he said,
and then went on to explain that it was a universal church service and
that all the men had been ordered to attend.
I asked him to look up a book entitled _K. R. & O._ I told him that it
was a serious offense that had been committed; that my men had a right
to attend their own service; that there was no such thing known in the
army as a universal church parade.
When they saw they had made a mistake both chaplain and adjutant were
very apologetic. Shortly after this, when the battalion was to leave
for overseas, the chaplain wrote me a note asking me to hear the
confessions of the Catholics. I think they came to a man; two other
chaplains came to help me. This construction battalion was composed
mostly of men who had moved quite a lot over different parts of the
world, and had grown a little slack in the observance of their
religious duties. Big things were done for Our Lord that night. Perhaps
many would have passed the summer without even coming to Mass had not
this great indignity been offered them.
So the days passed quickly, and then one evening word came that we
were to leave--but only for another camp. There was great rejoicing at
first, for the lads thought that orders for “Overseas” had come.