Latter-day Saint Jenna Carson, who became the first member ever to serve as a chaplain in the federal prison system, was a student at Harvard Divinity School when, she said, God called her to become a military chaplain.
That was 2015. And although Carson did not yet know it, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints did not at that time grant women the all-important endorsement required by the Defense Department. Female Latter-day Saints could obtain endorsements to serve as chaplains in hospitals, education, hospice care and prisons — but not, it turned out, the military.
Nevertheless, the feeling persisted. And so did she. Setbacks followed, but, in 2021, she won Salt Lake City’s go-ahead.
(Courtesy of Jenna Carson) Jenna Carson, shown at the Old South Church in Boston, was the first Latter-day Saint chaplain in the federal prison system.
The next year, she was on her way to boot camp. Two years into being an Air Force chaplain, Carson has more than a little to say about what it’s like to be a female spiritual authority operating if not within the LDS Church, then with its approval.
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