BCAF-EA
BUDDHIST CHAPLAINCY TO THE ARMED FORCES: ENDORSING AUTHORITY
A STATEMENT
In the late summer of 2004 the Government decided that the chaplaincy in the Armed Forces should be extended to include a Buddhist, a Hindu, a Muslim and a Sikh. Each of these chaplains was expected to minister to members of their faith throughout the entire Armed Forces. And apart from the Muslim who was to be full-time, they were to be part-time appointments and all would be civilian, although it was suggested that when the initial three year appointment had been completed each might become a uniformed post.
Some members of the wider Buddhist community were very worried by the prospect of a Buddhist chaplain to the Armed Forces and protested that Buddhism and the military were incompatible but others felt that there would be some amongst the suffering humanity who are in the Army, the RAF and the Royal Navy who would benefit by hearing the Dhamma. It has been necessary however to make clear that Buddhism neither condones nor supports war or the threat of war.
The Ministry of Defence contacted Ron Maddox who had not long retired after a number of years as the General Secretary of the Buddhist Society in London and asked him to organise an Endorsing Authority (EA) which was defined as ‘a United Kingdom Faith Community which acknowledges and accepts specific responsibilities when any of its members or clergy are selected for military chaplaincy service in the Armed Forces.’ The MOD went on to explain that the EAs would have a role in identifying and selecting suitable chaplains, would accredit and endorse them and would retain religious responsibility for their chaplains who would in turn retain religious accountability to their EAs. And the EAs must offer faith specific advice to the MOD with a nominated official EA representative as a point of contact for the MOD.
Ron Maddox invited Dr Desmond Biddulph, Colin Ash and Ven. Ajahn Khemadhammo to join the Buddhist EA and in late 2004 the MOD set about advertising for a part time Buddhist chaplain to the Armed Forces. In March 2005, Colin Ash and Ajahn Khemadhammo represented the EA on the Board which interviewed and selected Dr Sunil Kariyakarawana who was duly appointed as the part time Buddhist Chaplain to the Armed Forces and took up his duties later that year.
In a letter to Ron Maddox in May 2005 the MOD stated that ‘the Endorsing Authorities should encompass as wide a range of traditions and views within their faith community as possible, in order to ensure a broad base of support within that community for the chaplain and his appointment.’ Consequently two more members were added to the Buddhist EA: Rev. Saido Kennaway and Dharmachari Sunanda. This meant that Theravada, Zen and the FWBO were each represented on the EA and it was intended that a Tibetan Buddhist would be added in due course.
On December 19th, 2005 at a meeting of the EA at the Buddhist Society a simple Constitution for the Buddhist Chaplaincy to the Armed Forces: Endorsing Authority was drawn up and adopted by its founding members present. An important principle enshrined in that constitution is that ‘all decisions will be by consensus of the membership present.’ Ron Maddox was duly elected Chairman, Dharmachari Sunanda was elected Secretary and Rev. Saido was elected Treasurer. And a bank account was opened in the name of the EA into which the MOD has ever since paid an annual grant of £2,000 to cover the EA’s expenses.
Over the following two years the EA met regularly every quarter, usually with Sunil Kariyakarawana, the Buddhist chaplain, joining for all or part of the meeting. And some headway was made with helping and supporting Sunil with the difficulties that he faced. For instance, it rapidly became obvious that there was more for him to do than had been anticipated and much more than he could possibly cope with in 15 hours a week. The EA took up the case for extending his number of hours and by September 2006 the appointment had become full time.
On the weekend of the 20th - 22nd of April a Buddhist Conference was organised by Sunil at Amport House, the Armed Forces Chaplaincy Centre in Hampshire and Ven. Ajahn Khemadhammo, Colin Ash, Rev. Saido and Dharmachari Sunanda all took part and gave of their time and expertise.
Although the EA’s Constitution made no mention of an Annual General Meeting it is usual for organisations like the EA to have one, to review the business of the previous year, develop a strategy for the year ahead, and elect or confirm the re-election of the officers. By the end of 2007 most members of the Buddhist EA felt it was high time for such a review. It was therefore decided at the meeting of the EA in September 2007 to hold an AGM on December 7th, 2007 and an agenda was duly prepared and circulated. The Agenda had only four items: Apologies; Any reports from Chair, Secretary, Treasurer; Re-election of Chair, Secretary, Treasurer; Any other business. The remainder of the afternoon was expected to be taken up with a regular meeting of the EA.
When on the afternoon of December 7th the members of the EA, with the exception of Dr Biddulph who as had often been the case was unable to be present, sat down to commence the meeting, Ron Maddox produced and distributed another agenda which he said that he as Chairman had decided would be followed that afternoon and there would be no AGM. The other members were shocked and surprised and protested but Ron Maddox would not back down and stated that he intended to remain the Chairman for the foreseeable future. Understandably this behaviour was not acceptable to the meeting and he was asked to leave the room while the situation was discussed. In his absence the other members of the EA present decided that in the circumstances the meeting could only go ahead with, for that meeting, someone else in the Chair and Ron was then invited back to continue the meeting with Colin Ash as Chairman. He flatly declined and stated that would not return unless he was the Chairman. The other members then continued with a regular meeting.
Mr Maddox was no doubt aware that his style of chairmanship had not been popular with other members of the EA and he may have acted as he did to preempt any decision to elect another member of the EA as chairman. But here it must be repeated that the Constitution states clearly that ‘all decisions will be by consensus of the membership present.’
It was decided that Ven. Ajahn Khemadhammo would email the contact at the MOD to explain what had happened and request a meeting. That was done and the reply was that it was not for the MOD to interfere in the internal affairs of a faith community.
By the end of the week following Ven. Ajahn Khemadhammo, Rev. Saido Kennaway, Dharmachari Sunanda and Colin Ash had each received a letter from Ron Maddox, typed on Buddhist Society headed notepaper and dated December 11th, 2007, dismissing them from the EA.
The Constitution does not give anyone the authority to dismiss anyone from the EA, and the letters were accordingly treated as invalid and of no effect by the recipients. For the same reasons, furthermore, the demand made in the letter to Rev. Saido, the Treasurer of the EA that he return the cheque book to the Buddhist Society was ignored.
Since then there have been attempts to effect a reconciliation with Ron Maddox and Desmond Biddulph (who was not present at the December meeting but who appears to have sided with Ron Maddox) but with no success. Requests for a meeting with the MOD have also been rebuffed and they have said that they are returning to what they refer to as the status quo which they say is Ron Maddox as their Buddhist Faith Adviser. When, how or by what authority he was ever appointed to this position is not clear.
In the meantime the EA continues. There have been two meetings, one in January and another in March and Ron Maddox and Dr Biddulph have been informed of these and invited but have not appeared. Since Ron Maddox has effectively ceased to act as Chairman it was decided at the March meeting to replace him with Ven. Ajahn Khemadhammo. At that meeting the representation was further extended and strengthened with the addition of two new members, Venerable Chueh Yann Shih (Abbess of the London Fo Guang Temple) and Lama Jampa Thaye (Director of the Dechen Community), making eight in all. And of course the EA continues to be there to support Sunil, the Buddhist Chaplain.
To avoid any split or conflict within the Buddhist community, if anyone reading this is or has been approached about possible membership of an alternative Endorsing Authority or participation in the forthcoming Buddhist conference for the Armed Forces in May this year, it would be helpful if you would kindly contact Ven. Ajahn Khemadhammo, Rev. Saido, Colin Ash or Dh. Sunanda.
Ven. Chao Khun Bhavanaviteht (Ajahn Khemadhammo) OBE
Abbot of the Forest Hermitage
lpkhem@foresthermitage.org.uk
tel: 01926 624385
Rev. Saido Kennaway
Order of Buddhist Contemplatives (OBC) European Adviser
saidotbp@googlemail.com
01952 615574
Dharmachari Sunanda
dhsunanda@gmail.com
0121 441 5088
Colin Ash
j.c.k.ash@reading.ac.uk
014946 71043
