The ‘quiet’ service of US veterans is lauded during first churchwide Veterans Day service

Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe (center) presides at the Eucharist during The Episcopal Church’s first churchwide Veterans Day service in the Chapel of Christ the Lord at the Episcopal Church Center in New York City Nov. 11. Assisting are the Rev. Ryan Parke, (left) who serves at the Raleigh-Durham VA; and Bishop Suffragan for Armed Forces and Federal Ministries Ann Ritonia. Photo: YouTube screenshot

[Episcopal News Service] Veterans Day is both personal and sacred, the Rt. Rev. Ann Ritonia told participants at The Episcopal Church’s first churchwide Veterans Day service Nov. 11.

During her sermon, Ritonia, bishop suffragan for The Episcopal Church’s Armed Forces and Federal Ministries, noted that she has served in the U.S. Marine Corps and has a family filled with veterans – her grandfather was awarded the Purple Heart for fighting in France in World War I, her father and two uncles served during the Korean War, and a cousin was in Vietnam.

She told those at the Chapel of Christ the Lord at the Episcopal Church Center in New York City and those watching by livestream that like her family, most veterans simply “did their duty, they cared for their families and … quietly carried on.” And it is their stories that are the important part of Veterans Day, she said, because they are real people “who carried burdens most of us will never fully see.”

While veterans have stood tall in uniform, she said “many have also knelt beside wounded friends. They’ve experienced camaraderie like no other, being part of something larger than themselves, and they’ve had to write or deliver letters home they hoped would never be read. And they’ve carried not just backpacks of gear, but they’ve carried grief.”

Ritonia oversees more than 100 Episcopal chaplains serving across the United States Armed Forces, at Veterans Administration medical centers and at federal correctional institutions.

Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe officiated at the service of Holy Eucharist, during which he asked participants to “especially give thanks for the ministry of Bishop Ann and the ministry that she leads, and for all of you who participate in it and serve those who serve our nation.”

The service included Old Testament and Epistle readings recorded by Episcopal veterans and the “commissioning for further service” of five Episcopal chaplains.

Pre-recorded music for the prelude, offertory and postlude was provided by military musicians at Washington National Cathedral, including the U.S. Army Brass Quintet. Following the service, they played a medley of the songs associated with each of the U.S. military branches, with those in attendance who served in the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force or Coast Guard standing as their branch’s song was played.

Veterans Day, which honors all who have served in America’s military, first was observed as a U.S. holiday on Nov. 11, 1954. Before that, the day was known as Armistice Day, in honor of the armistice signed on Nov. 11, 1918, that ended World War I. Armistice Day was designated to honor those who had died in military service. Those fallen service members are now remembered on Memorial Day in May.

Military chaplaincy within The Episcopal Church will mark its 250th anniversary next year. The Rev. John Hurt, an Episcopal minister, began serving as a chaplain in the Continental Army in 1776.

— Melodie Woerman is an Episcopal News Service freelance reporter based in Kansas.