War Story With a Difference

USAF Chaplain in Kyrgyzstan and New Jersey photographer and stained glass enthusiast work together on a visual presentation aimed at brightening up the forces Christmas services at US bases.

Verona, NJ (PRWEB) November 10, 2004 -- On Christmas eve, all around the combat zones, services will be held for US and Allied troops, airmen and their support personnel. These services are usually held in large buildings, without character, which have to serve as briefing rooms, hangers, movie theatres and, sometimes, places of worship. They are almost invariably spartan and lack any of the decor usually found in a place of worship.

This year things will be different, thanks to the efforts of a US Air Force chaplain based in Kyrgyzstan and a New Jersey-based photographer and stained glass enthusiast. Though they have never met and are living thousands of miles apart, these two are working together to create a slide-show which will be used at Christmas services not only at the Manas USAF base in Kyrgyzstan but potentially at every base in Iraq and neighbouring countries, in Afghanistan and even onboard US Navy ships around the world.

It was Fr Tim Butler who came up with the idea of projecting appropriate images onto the base?s 30-foot screen in order to give more meaning to the usually bare space which they would be using for Christmas worship. He contacted Neil Ralley whose website (http://www.stainedglassphotography.com) has literally hundreds of images of stained glass windows, many depicting Advent themes, and Mr Ralley immediately agreed not only to give free use of his images but also to donate his time to create the slide-show for them both to distribute.

About Fr Timothy Butler:
Fr. Butler has been an active duty chaplain in the Air Force for over 10 years and a priest ordained for the Archdiocese of Boston for 15 years. He is currently performing a 4-month tour of duty at Manas base in Kyrgyzstan.

About Neil Ralley:
Ralley created and launched the website Stained Glass Photography (http://www.stainedglassphotography.com) in 2002 to provide free access to his photographs of vintage stained glass. The site became a Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) ?Pick of the Day? barely a month after it was launched and has attracted a significant following. Ralley strongly believes that stained glass represents an important part of America?s artistic heritage which is at risk and that it should be properly documented as well as being preserved for future generations.

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