Fort Leavenworth breaks ground on chapel

By JOHN MILBURN

FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. — Army officials and members of Congress broke ground Monday on a $15.5 million religious complex at Fort Leavenworth to replace a historic church that stood 112 years before burning in 2001.

The complex will have a chapel with a main sanctuary that can seat 600 and could be expanded to hold 1,200. It also will have classrooms and be connected to a smaller chapel.

Soldiers have used smaller chapels since the former St. Ignatius building burned.

Congress approved funding for the chapel several years ahead of schedule, pushed by Rep. Nancy Boyda, whose 2nd Congressional District includes the post. Boyda is a member of the House Armed Service Committee and was joined at Monday's event by chairman Ike Skelton of Missouri and Rep. Chet Edwards of Texas, both Democrats.

Boyda said the new chapel will provide soldiers and families with a place to worship and find spiritual comfort after several years of repeated deployments to war.

"It's not bricks and mortar; that's just what the money's going for," Boyda said.

Fort Leavenworth is the Army's oldest post west of the Mississippi River. Worship services began there in 1828.

St. Ignatius was built as a Roman Catholic church in 1889 and given to the Army in 1967. Parts of its foundation remain, and the site is now a park.

Lt. Gen. William Caldwell IV, commanding general of Fort Leavenworth and its Command and General Staff College, said officers need a place to collect their thoughts and reflect on their faith and place in the world.

"For those struggling mentally, this can be an important resource for them," said Caldwell, whose wife is an ordained minister.

He also said the chapel would serve officers of all faiths who come to study in Kansas. The bigger facility will fill a need for space for cultural awareness to better prepare officers for their future assignments.