RFI was pleased to plan and co-host the 35th annual International Military Chiefs of Chaplains Conference (IMCCC) in Stuttgart, Germany, working with the National Guard Bureau (Washington, D.C.) and the Command Chaplain’s Office of U.S. European Command (Stuttgart, Germany).

The IMCCC is an annual meeting of the top chaplains from various countries. This year the focus was on linking the “partnership” programs of particular states in the U.S. more deeply with European countries such as Ukraine, Poland, Latvia, and elsewhere. Since RFI President Eric Patterson recently retired from the Air National Guard, he was uniquely able to speak to many of these issues.

RFI speakers addressed the value of religious freedom, challenges of ethno-religious violence (e.g., in India and China), and the decline of religious freedom and associated human rights in places such as Nigeria, Russia, and China. RFI Senior Fellow Todd Huizinga served as a facilitator in a country planning process, as chaplains worked on bilateral multi-year strategic plans. RFI’s Eric Patterson gave a lecture on religious trends in national security.

British Member of Parliament Rehman Chishti, a former RFI senior fellow and past UK Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief, gave a keynote address on religious freedom, highlighting his work in difficult arenas such as Pakistan and the Middle East.

The RFI team, including Chaplain (Major) Graham B. Glover, U.S. Army Reserve (who also serves as RFI’s Military Chaplain Fellow) held numerous private meetings with the chaplains of various countries in order to prepare for future training sessions. Some of which include the more than 30 short-courses outlined in RFI’s Diplomat’s Toolkit that RFI staff have provided to diplomats, warriors, and humanitarians.