Sailors and visitors joined Boatswains Mate 2nd Class Steven Valdez and his household for the baptism of Valdez’s first little one utilizing the ship’s bell.
Shipboard baptisms started tons of of years in the past with the British Royal Navy in overseas ports and at sea. Earlier than the ceremony, the ship’s bell is faraway from the headstock and positioned in a stand the other way up. In the course of the ceremony, the minister baptizes the infant contained in the bell and after the ceremony, the kid’s title is engraved contained in the bell.
The ceremony was carried out by retired Navy Chaplain Cmdr. Keith J. Shuley and was Boxer’s first baptism onboard in additional than two years.
“Being baptized on the ship is essential for a lot of causes,” mentioned Shuley. “It’s a Navy custom to have the ability to keep in mind the commemoration of a kid to God as folks perceive him. It goes again earlier than the U.S. Navy. They’ve been carried out all through historical past throughout the British Navy and have been a practice in medieval navies, as properly. It’s a terrific and essential second for the crew, for the ship, for the household and for the kid.”
Valdez famous how useful the ship’s two spiritual personnel specialists had been in arranging this ceremony.
“The RPs [religious personnel specialists] have been wonderful,” mentioned Valdez. “Via this complete course of they’ve had all of the solutions and made it really easy and stress-free for my household and me.”
The ship’s bell will stay onboard so long as the ship stays in service. After Boxer’s decommissioning, the bell can be preserved by the Naval Historical past and Heritage Command.
“It’s extraordinarily particular to me,” mentioned Valdez. “To have the ability to restart the custom of individuals getting baptized onboard once more. It means every little thing to my household, and we’re completely over the moon to have the ceremony carried out right here.”
Boxer is a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship commissioned February 11, 1995 and is the sixth ship to bear the title. Boxer’s crew is made up of roughly 1,200 officers and enlisted personnel and might accommodate as much as 1,800 Marines.
