{"id":16060,"date":"2025-02-03T08:16:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T13:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/?p=16060"},"modified":"2025-01-31T09:25:04","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T14:25:04","slug":"answering-the-call-rev-corey-macpherson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/2025\/02\/03\/answering-the-call-rev-corey-macpherson\/","title":{"rendered":"Answering the Call: Rev. Corey MacPherson"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Colgate University chaplain and Protestant campus minister has been sworn in as an Army reserve chaplain.<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

There have been more than 30,000 suicides among active military personnel and veterans since 2001 \u2014 compared with approximately 7,000 deaths in duty \u2014 according to a study by Brown University. When Rev. Corey MacPherson, University chaplain and Protestant campus minister, learned of this mental health crisis, he wondered how he might be able to help soldiers and veterans, even in small ways. \u201cThere\u2019s such a tremendous need, and I thought, if I can help, I\u2019m willing to help,\u201d MacPherson says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MacPherson took the Army Reserve oath in October 2023. After rigorous training at Fort Jackson in South Carolina this past summer, he was assigned to the 403rd Civil Affairs Battalion in Syracuse, N.Y., where he travels once a month for battle assemblies to continue training in preparation for the unlikely case that the unit should be deployed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The work of an Army Reserve chaplain:<\/strong> MacPherson summed it up in a sentence. \u201cThere\u2019s a common saying that we learned about Army chaplains: to nurture the living, care for the wounded, and honor the fallen.\u201d The main duties of chaplains are to offer support and counseling (both emotional and spiritual) to soldiers and their families. Chaplains are also the only confidential resource in the Army, which allows soldiers to share their thoughts without worry of damage to their careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colgate prepared him well for his new role:<\/strong> As a chaplain and minister at Colgate, MacPherson has learned which situations call for the pluralistic spiritual support of a chaplain versus the Christian perspective of a Protestant minister. In the training classrooms, MacPherson felt he contributed by helping newer chaplains understand the importance of separating their chaplaincy work in the Army \u2014 where they serve people of various religious traditions \u2014 from their personal religious practices.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Soldiers<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Chaplain training was more than he anticipated:<\/strong> When MacPherson arrived at Fort Jackson, he didn\u2019t expect a full Army training. He soon learned the importance of such physical preparation. \u201cChaplains are embedded with their units wherever they go,\u201d MacPherson says. \u201cSo I fully agree and [understand the need for] physical readiness because the last thing I\u2019d want to do is to slow a unit down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What keeps him motivated:<\/strong> MacPherson shared that he struggled during training. \u201cFour or five weeks in, I was truly miserable, like praying to God saying, \u2018I don\u2019t know why I\u2019m doing this, I just wanted to help. I shouldn\u2019t have to go through all this just to help,\u2019\u201d MacPherson remembers. His perspective changed when he was with a few hundred basic trainees one morning and reflected on their sacrifices. \u201cIt occurred to me that those kids are there so my kids don\u2019t have to be, and because those kids are there, Colgate students don\u2019t have to be,\u201d MacPherson says. \u201cSo in that moment, something in me shifted where I felt like I had a responsibility to finish my training and do all I can to help care for and support soldiers, veterans, and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Colgate University chaplain and Protestant campus minister is an Army reserve chaplain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":16623,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[2639,2641,2642,2635,2640,2634,2638,2637,2643,2636,968],"coauthors":[2633],"class_list":["post-16060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scene","tag-army-reserve-chaplain","tag-army-training","tag-battle-assemblies","tag-chaplain-duties","tag-colgate-university-chaplain","tag-mental-health-crisis","tag-military-support","tag-rev-corey-macpherson","tag-soldier-counseling","tag-spiritual-support","tag-veterans"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-4b2","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/02\/mag-scene-hero-army.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16060"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16655,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16060\/revisions\/16655"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16060"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=16060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}