Tuesday, November 12,1985AThe Battalion/Page 3
State and Local
Minister says he enjoys his job
Chaplain works 15-hour day
By LORA BEST
Reporter
■ Being a college chaplain is not a 9
|a.n. to 5 p.m. job, it’s a 7 a.rn. to 10
pm. job, says Rev. Mark Wilburn,
one of 14 ministers in Bryan-College
nation working mainly with stu-
Btnts.
■ “1 enjoy what I'm doing,” he says.
H really do. II 1 didn’t, I'd need to
bet out of this business.”
■ Wilburn explains that as a college
■inister, he has three main duties at
St. Thomas Episcopal Church.
■ The first of the duties is being a
p iest, he says. He explains that he is
Ul priest in the sense that he is in
arge of some services at St. Luke’s
apel and at St. Thomas and he oc-
sionally assists at St. Francis in Col-
■ge Station and at St. Andrew’s in
Bivan.
"■Wilburn says his second duty is
■anaging the church’s student-re-
lf ffitwl organization. He helps coordi-
a S Ittuethe activities of the students and
tie church for meetings, retreats
ard services, he says.
HWilburn savs his duties also in-
J iBude aiding personal growth and
■ving premarital counseling. He
Hys these are the most time-con-
Mining duties he has.
I He says most priests must do per-
ponul growth counseling. This type
oi counseling involves anything
Horn boyfriend-girlfriend problems
ig t|) employment, he says,
o- § But Wilburn says the type of
o( jHtunseling he does most is premari-
y. counseling, which is required by
jj,jB)me Episcopal ministers before
iney will marry a couple.
t'M "College students are in the high-
rm percentage of those approaching
$e marriage,” he says.
W 1 He says that a lot of times, couples
fill be referred to him from other
ministers in other areas of the state.
I “Friends throughout the state will
Photo by GREG BAILEY
The Rev. Mark Wilburn sits in his office at St. Thomas Episco
pal Church.
contact me and say, ‘I have two Ags
who want to get married. They are
there. Will you do the counseling for
me?’ ” he says.
Wilburn has a varied background.
The Pennsylvania native attended a
military high school and Belhaven
College in Jackson, Miss, where he
received a degree in mathematics.
He then went to the Columbia Theo
logical Seminary and was ordained
by the Presbyterian Church in 1973.
In 1981 he oecame a deacon in the
Episcopal Church and in 1983, he
was ordained as an Episcopal priest,
he says.
Wilburn says he was offered many
types of jobs, such as commissions in
the Navy and the Marine Corps and
several high school teaching posi
tions. The reason he chose to be
come a minister was because he
knew about math but not about
_ working for the church, he explains.
“1 could be a lot of different
things,” he says, “but I wouldn’t be
as happy as I am now.”
As a college chaplain, Wilburn
says he has had the opportunity to
become quite familiar with students
— at Texas A&M.
He says he has learned several
things about A&M students from his
dealings with them.
Wilburn says the majority of A&M
students have an idea of what they
want to be. He says the University of
Texas has tw r o to three times as many
freshmen and sophomores in gen
eral studies than A&M. Although it
is good for students to know' what
they want to become, Wilburn says
students get so involved with their
curriculum that they forget other
things.
“They’re growing in an academic
situation, but because they jump in,
their religious, moral and philosoph
ical growth is minimal,” he says.
Second, Wilburn says, the military
environment at A&M gives students
a view on issues that triey wouldn’t
find on most campuses. He says
A&M is unique because the ideas of
war and peace take on whole new'
meanings because of the military in
fluence.
He says most Aggies, especially
those in the Corps of Cadets, are
concerned about issues such as nu
clear war and the proper use of mili
tary force, and they are not afraid to
discuss them.
“I think it’s not totally unhealthy,”
he says. “I’m a firm believer that if
Christians don’t enter military serv
ice, heaven help our military servi
ce.”
Next he says that A&M students
have an excellent chance to experi
ence other religions. He says there
are many denominational and inter
denominational churches in the
area, and students should investigate
them to find their own religious
niche.
He says it is important for people
to find the religion that suits them
not one that suits their parents or
friends.
“This is the time to say ‘Hey, this is
what I am,’ and claim it for your
self," he says.
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Thomas H. Dembinski, DOS
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Jack B. Walker, DDS
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YEARBOOK PHOTO:
MEETING
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VIDEO:
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Nov. 23
Prints accepted Nov 18-22 at MSC 1st floor
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Print size: 8x10 to 16x20
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U scientists working on “Stars Wars” weapon
Associated Press
AUSTIN — University of Texas
researchers are working on a “rail-
ftad into space” that could be used
i|shoot down Soviet nuclear missiles
oi hurl one-ton cargoes into orbit
around the Earth.
Military scientists say that huge
vlrsions of the electro-magnetic rail
gun, a three-foot-long black rectan
gle of machined steel, would be
mounted on satellite battle stations
as part of the Strategic Defense Ini-
ptive program commonly known as
Star Wars.
But the National Aeronautics
Space Administration says the same
technology can be used in building a
rail gun 1.2 miles long that would
hurl one-ton commercial cargoes
into orbit around the Earth.
“To do anything serious in space,
military, scientific or commercial,
you need a railroad into space,” said
William Weldon, director of the UT
Center for Electromechanics.
Weldon supervises development
of the weapon version of the rail gun
for the Department of Defense in a
new facility at the Balcones Research
Center in Austin.
Both the weapon and the the
cargo launcher would be powered by
a unique high energy “compact ho-
mopolar” electrical generator devel
oped by Weldon and other UT engi
neers.
In the current weapon test model,
the black steel casing surrounds two
copper rails about a half-inch apart.
Brief bursts of 2,500 megawatts of
electricity have accelerated plastic
cubes between the rails to velocities
of 2.79 miles per second.
That velocity is more than twice as
fast as the fastest bullet from a con
ventional gun.
The challenge, Weldon says, is to
achieve velocities of more than 5
miles per second without disintegra
tion of the cubes, which weigh less
than a penny.
The Star Wars program envisions
putting rail guns „„ long as 25 feet
into low Earth orbit.
Weldon said the rail gun could
launch a ton of cargo into orbit for
65' cents a pound compared with
about $4,500 a pound.
"From the picket tower, Ferguson Unit," 1967-69
DANNY LYON
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Monday through Friday 8:G0 a.m. —5:00 p.m.
Sunday (plenty of parking) 10:00 a.m. — 5:00 p.m.
Exhibition sponsored by the College of Architecture and University Art Exhibits
MSC Career Development
Presents
MBA/Law Day
November 13,1985
Talk one-on-one with prominent
attorneys, business professionals
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8:00 -12:00
1:30 - 4:00
225 MSC $3. 00 at the door
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