In the News - October 2011
Introducing Chaplain Steve Colladay
by Bill Leader
In 1978 the Los Angeles Times reported that a total of 58,000 U.S. military personnel were killed in Vietnam during the war there. And, between 1975, when the war ended, and 1978, 60,000 U.S. Military veterans had taken their own lives.
That's when Reverend Steve Colladay realized what he had to do.
"That's what really got my attention. I was appalled," said Reverend Colladay, Pastor of Unity Church of Christianity in Dallas.
For the past four years, he has volunteered his services as one of the 15 Volunteer Associate Chaplains of the DFW Airport Interfaith Chaplaincy program at DFW International Airport.
After reading the article in the Los Angeles Times over 30 years ago, Reverend Colladay remembers how horrified he felt at the number of suicides among ex-service people. He traveled to Venice, West Los Angeles, California, to help out at a newly-founded Veterans Center. It was U.S. Military veterans who founded the center. It offered counseling and general encouragement. It was a place to go, find someone sympathetic to talk with and receive advice. The Vietnam War was not popular among the American public and many veterans of that war were spurned after returning.
Many of these veterans were suffering from a condition called PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). This was something not fully understood or acknowledged at the time. So successful were the Veterans Centers that they have since merged with the VA (Veterans Administration) Hospitals.
Chaplain Colladay volunteers at DFW Airport on Fridays. He is on hand to greet troops arriving for two weeks of R&R as well as blessing troops departing for Afghanistan and Iraq. He boards the departing airplane and will say an interfaith prayer for the troops before the airplane pushes back. "It's very powerful to share a moment of prayer with our men and women," he said. Chaplain Colladay shares one of his recent prayers:
"Dear God, we come to You with our hearts and minds open to your loving presence. We give thanks for the pilots and flight crew taking us safely to our destination. And we particularly give thanks for Your bond of love that binds us with YOU and with our loved ones. We know that wherever we are, beyond space and time, that there is always a place within us, dear God, where your perfect peace, love and strength reside. Whatever the world brings to us or whatever we bring to the world, we know that You, dear God, have us covered. So we step out in faith under cover of Your divine protection, as we say the Prayer for Protection: 'The light of God surrounds us, the love of God enfolds us, the power of God protects us, the presence of God watches over us. Wherever we are, God is ... and all is well. Amen.'"
Chaplain Colladay makes himself available for counseling the troops and their families. He earned a Masters Degree in Counseling from Michigan State University and became ordained after earning a degree from the Unity School of Christianity of Lee's Summit, Missouri.
