Photo By Chief Petty Officer Kyle Steckler | 200313-N-RG482-0091 NAPLES, Italy (March 13, 2020) The Naval Support Activity (NSA)...... read more read more
NSA Naples Chapel innovates amid COVID-19
By Naval Support Activity Naples Public Affairs
NAVAL SUPPORT ACTIVITY NAPLES, Italy - As Naval Support Activity (NSA) Naples, Italy, continues to adapt to the COVID-19 global crisis, its various teams and community members are finding new and innovative ways to help and support each other. The NSA Naples Chapel and religious services team is at the forefront of this effort, using social media to bring the community together.
The chapel is scheduled to be open on Sundays from 0800-1200 for individual prayer and an Ecumenical Divine Protestant service is scheduled to be posted on the NSA Naples Chapel Facebook page every weekend until normal services resume. Live streaming options will also be provided for Catholics.
“The chapel is here, first and foremost, to take care of the religious and spiritual needs of the NSA Naples Support Site, Capodichino and the general area,” said Cmdr. Gary Foshee, NSA Naples’ command chaplain. “We want to make sure we’re following not only the base regulations but also the Italian decrees out in town, so we have officially cancelled all divine and ley services until further notice. With that, we’ve closed all of our spaces to all other events and activities.”
Though in-person religious services are cancelled, base leadership understands the community’s need and desire for religious fellowship.
“The base is allowing us to keep the chapel open on Sunday for individual prayer, so we will open up from 0800 to 1200 for all faiths prayer,” said Foshee. “They can come in and find a place to pray, so that way, they can still find a way to connect with the divine.”
Foshee elaborated on why a physical location for worship was so important.
“The reason we’re opening up for those four hours on Sunday is because for a lot of people, finding refuge in the house of God is very important for them,” said Foshee. “There’s a passage in the Bible that says, ‘Let My house be a house of prayer,’ and so here is a place where they can come and find some solitude.”
Foshee said that not only will the chapel be open for prayer, some chaplain services will also be available.
“More than that, as well, we will have a chaplain standing by in accordance with scripture, which says, ‘Let the elders come together and anoint the sick with anointing oils,’ so we’ll be available for individual prayer and counseling,” said Foshee.
The chapel will provide Ecumenical Divine Protestant services online every weekend until normal Sunday services resume.
“We talked amongst ourselves and our regional chaplain, and we decided that since we were cancelling official divine services from the pulpit on Sundays, we still wanted to be able to give our community a service, and so after some discussion, we decided that the best way to do that would be to hold a 30-minute service on Facebook that we will pre-record,” said Foshee. “That way, we don’t miss a Sunday for people to be able to learn from the word of God and have their spiritual and religious needs met. We wanted to help solidify the idea that we don’t need to panic and that we will all get through this together.”
Videos will be available no later than Sunday morning.
“I hope that people will tune in on the NSA Naples Chapel Facebook page even if it’s to use it as an opportunity to see what we do on a normal Sunday,” said Lt. William Hall, a chaplain assigned to NSA Naples. “We also understand that we serve a God that is in charge of even disasters like this [COVID-19] and that we have every reason to be hopeful that things are going to go well for us.”
For more information on NSA Naples religious services and to view the video when posted, visit the NSA Naples Chapel Facebook page.
| Date Taken: | 03.13.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 03.14.2020 10:05 |
| Story ID: | 365236 |
| Location: | NAPLES, IT |
| Web Views: | 405 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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