Trauma tests faith, chaplain class is told
A longtime priest and chaplain was on call the night a city cop was killed.
By LINDA M. LINONIS
VINDICATOR RELIGION EDITOR
YOUNGSTOWN — The Rev. Edward Noga followed his own advice when he spoke to the class of 10 prospective police chaplains, including six women, on “The Impact of Trauma on Faith.”
He advised them, “He who speaks personally, speaks universally.”
Father Noga credited the advice to a Lutheran minister and said that speaking from the heart reaches people.
He shared personal experiences from his duty as a police chaplain, a role he has filled since the Youngstown Police Chaplaincy Corps was organized Dec. 19, 1988.
The chaplains are a sounding board for officers and a community resource for the public.
No stranger to the city, Father Noga grew up on the city’s West Side and graduated from Ursuline High School. He’s been a Catholic priest for 31 years and pastor at St. Patrick Church, 1420 Oak Hill Ave., since 1985.
One day about 12 years ago, Father Noga said, he read the daily Scripture passage from I Peter that referred to the “genuiness of faith” and how faith is “more precious than gold.” “It’s a wonderful passage,” Father Noga recalled, and said he had been uplifted.
That was in the morning.
“The day imploded. ... I was called to Northside Hospital ... and there I held a baby in my hand ... the baby was so small,” Father Noga said. Circumstances of the premature birth had left the family very upset and the situation was volatile.
“I remembered the passage I had read and it just didn’t make sense to the situation. Faith is shaken. With that infant in my hand, I wondered what is this all about,” he recalled.
Trauma affects faith
The prospective police chaplains may have focused on how they will deal with trauma affecting the faith of the victims and their families.
In some instances, he said, “You’ll see people live their faith.” And others, he said, will question their beliefs.
Father Noga told the group that trauma may touch their own faith when they are called to the scene of a murder, accident or other crisis situation.
“We just go, but you don’t know what to expect,” he said.
“We don’t have all the answers,” he added. “But, in our role, whether we like it or not, people expect a bit more from us.”
Father Noga said he happened to be on call when Youngstown Patrolman Michael Hartzell was killed April 29, 2003. He heard his pager go off then shortly afterward he heard pounding at his door. YPD officers knew he was on call (a list is posted at the station) and they sought him out.
“I think I was at the Hartzell family home about six hours ... we had two times of prayer. The other time was spent just being there,” Father Noga said, noting that family, neighbors and officers still comment to this day how he helped. “It’s the presence of being there and what you represent.”
In another instance, Father Noga was called to the scene of a murder on Meridian Road. “The first thing the family told me was that they hated Catholics,” he said. He immediately called a minister of another denomination. “You have to be thick-skinned at times. It’s often the tension of the situation. It’s not about you,” Father Noga said about being rebuffed. “You have to be sensitive to people’s faith traditions — Christian and non-Christian.”
Patience of police
He commented on the patience of police, and noted what they faced on a daily basis would be a test of his forbearance. “Once you get in that car [police cruiser], you wonder what you learned ... does any of it make sense,” he said. The chaplains’ own faith and counseling skills will be tested on these assignments.
Clergy aren’t immune to doubts, struggles and questions, Father Noga said. He said he’s found that when he’s shared those feelings with his congregation and other people, he’s gotten the most response.
“When you share a struggle, people relate to it,” he said. “We’re in this together ... it’s not a sign of weakness but strength that comes out of it.
“We’re part of the group we’re leading,” Father Noga said. “Sometimes you have to swallow hard ... people demand answers that we don’t have.
“We, as chaplains, can offer understanding ... that they’re not going it alone,” he said. “We’re the conduits,” he said, as people seek access to God.
linonis@vindy.com