Navy Region Hawaii N-Focus: Spotlight on Religious Ministry Department (N00R)
02 January 2025
From Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Tristan Kyle Labuguen, Navy Region Hawaii Public Affairs
JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii - The Religious Ministry Department (RMD) facilitates and fosters the spiritual readiness and resiliency of service members, their family members, and retirees. The RMD also oversees and supervises key leader engagements and acts as a liaison in the community, engaging with different faith groups, places of worship, congregations that support and work alongside churches, and charitable organizations.
The RMD (N00R) is one of more than 30 N codes at Commander, Navy Region Hawaii (CNRH).
N-codes are the operational backbone of a Navy command. Each N-code functions as department with a specific set of responsibilities and dedicated staff. Many N-codes have sub-codes that oversee specific programs. The N-code system was developed to provide a structure of the U.S. Navy for the chief of naval operations organization, which is typically illustrated in the command’s organizational chart.
Capt. Garry Thornton is the Navy Regional Chaplain and the religious team regional program director for CNRH.
The N00R office is located on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam (JBPHH), in Building 150 on the 3rd Deck, Office 303.
CNRH’s RMD has a team of 39 employees including chaplains, religious program specialists (RPs), contract religious ministry professionals (CRMPs), and musicians.
The CNRH RMD manages the manning, training, funding and inventory for the Regional Religious Ministry Program (RMP) serving Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam and Pacific Missile Range Facility Barking Sands (PMRF). The RMD also provides necessary administrative support for the RMP, which ensures the free practice of religion for community members and serves as a valuable intermediary between JBPHH and the religious community of Oahu and PMRF.
Thornton said all counseling sessions between chaplains and service members, as well as military family members, are considered privileged communications and chaplains cannot disclose the details of any conversation without written permission.
“The greatest and most important uniqueness of the Navy Region Hawaii Religious Ministry Department is 100% complete confidentiality when it comes to chaplain-pastoral care and counseling,” said Thornton. “I am most proud of the fact that we care for all -- religious and spiritual or not -- and consider every person to be a sacred being and spiritually significant.”
The Chaplains Religious Enrichment Development Operation (CREDO) is flagship enterprise within the RMP that helps Sailors and their families build healthy relationships, spiritual expression, positive moral thinking, and resiliency. Sponsored by the Navy Chief of Chaplains, CREDO offers marriage enrichment, personal resiliency and family enrichment retreats, workshops and seminars. In addition, pre-marital workshops and seminars are presented by the CREDO director and contract facilitators who are trained subject matter experts.
RMD staff members include Lt. Jonathan Elliff, a Reserve Chaplain at the Pearl Harbor Memorial Chapel who is also the senior pastor at Makakilo Bible Church, a thriving local congregation; Capt Brandon Fickling, an activated Air Force Reserve Chaplain who spent several years in the U.S. Coast Guard and operates a coffee roasting business on Oahu’s North Shore; and Lt. Ryan Mallek, who is the Rabbi of the Aloha Jewish Chapel, which is located next to the Branch Health Clinic Makalapa.
For more information on Chapel or Religious Ministry Programs visit https://jbchapel.info/.