595 W. Market Street
York, PA 17405
Mail to: P.O. Box 1865
York, PA 17405
Phone: 717-854-9504
Fax: 843-5295
YORK COUNTY FOUR CHAPLAINS PRAYER BREAKFAST:
THE PRAYER BREAKFAST
York County Four Chaplains Prayer Breakfast is held the second Wednesday in May. Previous speakers include: Rear Admiral Kathleen K. Paige; Fr. Daniel Coughlin, Chaplain, U.S. House of Representatives; Col. Henry Haynes, Chaplain, The Pentagon, and The Very Rev. Nathan D. Baxter, Dean Washington National Cathedral. A Legion of Honor recipient from York is named each year.
A BREIF HISTORY
The inaugural Four Chaplains Prayer Breakfast was held in February 1993 tocommemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of the Four Chaplains aboard
the troop ship Dorchester on February 3, 1943.
The ship was torpedoed by a German submarine. As the ship began to sink in
the icy waters of the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Greenland, it quickly
became apparent that there were not enough life jackets for all the men on
board. The four chaplains gave their own life jackets and gloves to the other
men, linked arms and disappeared from view as the ship sank beneath the
black waters.
One of the four chaplains was Rabbi Alexander D. Goode, who left his pulpit at
The breakfast truly is an ecumenical gathering of people of all faiths from York
Unity that is not conformity
Unity that strengthens within each of us every worthy loyalty of faith and
practice
Unity that transcends all our differences and makes us one in loyalty to our
country and our fellow men, and to you our God.
Grant us now your abiding presence and may we remain faithful to the spirit of
our Four Chaplains who, having learned to live and serve together, in death
were not divided.
York's Temple Beth Israel to enlist in the military. The other three chaplains
were: Fr. Johnny P. Washington, a Roman Catholic priest; Rev. George L. Fox,
has become an inspiration to a nation.
County who come together to participate in the patriotic spirit of the Four
Chaplains and the brotherhood they so nobly demonstrated.THE COLLECT:
God of our Fathers and our God, we thank you for the unity that Dorchester Chaplains, these four men of God, demonstrated in life and in death.