Moron Air Base hosts 2019 National Prayer Luncheon

Photo By Sgt. Margaret Gale | U.S Air Force Capt. Eli Dowell, installation chaplain, left, presents Chad Cassidy, a guest speaker, with a chaplain coin during a National Prayer Luncheon aboard Moron Air Base, April 23, 2019. The event was held to discuss intersecting religious faith and workplace environment with the service members and personnel aboard the installation. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Margaret Gale)  

MORóN AIR BASE, SPAIN

04.23.2019

Story by Cpl. Margaret Gale 

U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Europe and Africa     

MORON AIR BASE, Spain – The Moron Air Base chapel hosted a bilingual and multinational National Prayer Luncheon on Moron Air Base, Spain, April 23, 2019. The event brought together U.S. Marines with Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Africa 19.2, Marine Forces Europe and Africa, and U.S. Airmen, as well as Spanish service members to discuss their spirituality while serving their nations.
The tradition of the National Prayer Luncheon was started by prayer groups within the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate in 1942. The luncheon is designed to recognize the National Day of Prayer, which was signed into law by President Harry Truman in 1952. The goal of the event encourage service members to look to their spirituality as a source of personal strength.
“Today, we had a couple different faith groups represented such as Catholic, Protestant, and Mormon,” said U.S Air Force Capt. Eli Dowell, the installation chaplain for Moron Air Base. “Many people are people of faith. There is always discussions of how can we be people of faith and still honor our beliefs, so that no one faith group has the opportunity to persecute another. An event like this allows people to come together and recognize our faith traditions and support one another.”
The luncheon welcomed a guest speaker who shared his life experiences about religious faith as a source of strength in fulfilling his professional responsibilities.
During the event, Chad Cassidy dove into how to service members can honor their faith in the work place. He used personal life stories and useful tips on how to intersect faith and the work environment. Cassidy opened up about dark moments he experienced throughout his life that led him to rely on his faith to persevere. He is now a successful business owner and now speaks to others on how he turned to faith to assist him with success in his life.
“The message of our guest speaker was all about service,” said Dowell. “Similar to the religious service, that’s one of the things that we do- service to our country. We’re all here to serve our country, and his message helped us understand how those two correlate,” Dowell said. “It was a great reminder that although we can get bogged down in training, tasks and urgencies, it comes back down to why we joined, and that is to serve.”

• Date Taken: 04.23.2019
• Date Posted: 05.11.2019 03:41
• Story ID: 320021
• Location: MORóN AIR BASE, ES