Underwater Parish

Brown-haired, blue-eyed John Laboon is a tall man for a submarine--6 ft. 5 1/2 in. But the subs are what he picked when he graduated from Annapolis in 1943, and he fought the war in a slightly stooped position on board the Peto, was awarded a Silver Star for "gallantry and intrepidity in action" off Japan when he swam through the shelling of shore batteries to rescue a downed airman.

The Peto was decommissioned in 1946, and Pittsburgh-born Lieut. Laboon turned to the career he had decided on in his cramped bunk under the Pacific: the priesthood (one of his brothers is a priest; three of his sisters are nuns). He began his studies at the Jesuits' St. Isaac Jogues Novitiate in Wernersville, Pa., went on to Woodstock College in Maryland, was ordained in June 1956. After two more years of theological study, his superiors asked Father John Francis Laboon Jr., S.J., if he had any preference in assignment. Said he: "I'd like to get back into submarines."

Last week the Navy announced the appointment of the first chaplain to be assigned to active duty aboard submarines on patrol: the Rev. John Laboon Jr., lieutenant. His watery parish will consist mostly of nuclear-powered subs carrying ballistic missiles. "I hope to have a large parish before long," says Father Laboon. "At sea I'll care for the men; on the base I'll look out for their families."

Says Father Laboon, who is soon to be joined by a Protestant chaplain: "The 60-day patrol of the atomic sub Seawolf," he explains, "indicated a need for religious coverage. We have crews away from port for extended periods, weeks on end of living with an atomic reactor, and soon, ballistic missiles as well. These patrols are almost the equivalent of war, in the minds of all who are involved in them, and morale must be kept high."

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