Active Duty USAF Chaplain Becomes Bishop of Fairbanks, Alaska

[hwriggles4]

Dear Friends of the Military:

It’s a small world. I happen to have met this U.S.A.F. Chaplain years ago in 2006 when Fr. (then CAPT, CHC,USAFR) he was the vocations director for the USAF, heaquarted out of Randolph AFB. I was very impressed with his devotion to his vocation, and his orthodoxy.

Fr. Chad Zielinski (now MAJ, CHC, USAFR), has been selected as the Bishop of the Fairbanks (Alaska) diocese. Fr. Zielinski’s current assignment is Eielson AFB in Alaska, where he serves on active duty as the Catholic Chaplain at this remote AFB.

Bishop-elect Zielinski has been serving on active duty since 2002, and had four years prior active United States Air Force service as an enlisted man prior to entering seminary. The article doesn’t say, but I know Fr. Zielinski also had three and a half years of reserve service while in seminary. I can’t remember what Fr. Zielinski’s role was as an enlisted airmen (he must have been at least an E-4, due to his time), but many Air Force personnel will often respect a Chaplain who has logged time in their boots.

Within weeks after 9-11-2001, Fr. Zielinski asked the Bishop of his home diocese (Gaylord, Michigan) if he could return to the Air Force, and his bishop gave him permission. Not long after that, Fr. Zielinski was commissioned at the rank of Captain (O-3, Major is O-4, and most Chaplains come is as O-3) in the Air Force Reserve.

I don’t know if Bishop-Elect Zielinski will continue as a Reservist (I would think he would, since he is not too far from making 20 years in the Air Force with combined time spent on active duty and the reserves, and the Bishop of Oakland is still a Navy Reserve Chaplain, so it sounds doable), but I was pleased to hear this announcement.

More about Bishop-Elect Zielinski can be found here from the press release from the Archdiocese for the Military Services.

milarch.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=dwJXKgOUJiIaG&b=8958801&ct=14334947

 

[Path_Finder]

Best regards to the new Bishop. Interesting story, good luck to him. Quite a step up, these are great human-interest stories.

There’s a factoid to remember from the link:

The Diocese of Fairbanks is the geographically largest territorial diocese in the United States, covering 409,849 square miles in northern Alaska. It has a total population of 164,355, of which 11,008, or 7 percent, are Catholic.

 

[hwriggles4]

By the way, here are a few things about Catholic chaplains in the military. I feel like I need to post this because the Archdiocese for the Military Services is not all that well known, and my goal is to help educate a little about the Armed Forces.

The Archdiocese for the Military Services USA is headquartered out of Washington, D.C. It does not per se have their own priests, since their priests come from other dioceses and religious orders, with permission from their local bishop or their religious superior.

Catholic chaplains are given Reserve commissions, not regular commissions. Catholic chaplains often return to their home dioceses (or their religious order, a few Jesuit priests are in the Armed Forces) after completing military service. This is a major difference for a Catholic priest in the Armed Forces versus say, a Baptist or Methodist chaplain.

The Navy and Air Force require that a Chaplain must already be a U.S. Citizen. The Army has made a few exceptions to this requirement.

The bishop of a Catholic chaplains home diocese (or religious superior) must approve him to serve in the military, even as a Reservist or in the National Guard.

A Catholic chaplain must be already ordained (unless he is a seminarian and given the distinction as “chaplain candidate”) and serve three years in a parish prior to being released. This is one reason that many Catholic chaplains are a few years older than their Protestant bretheren in the military.

Military chaplains (regardless of denomination) must meet the same physical standards as the other officers, based on age, weight, etc.

Since the average age of the military is between 18 and 30, the cutoff age for a Chaplain to begin serving is 42 years old. This is also because the mandatory retirement age for the Armed Forces is 62, and entering at 42 would allow a chaplain to receive a military pension after 20 years.

Many chaplains (but not all, and through most denominations) have had prior military service in another capacity before becoming a Chaplain. While this is not a pre-requisite, it is very helpful. Especially as a Catholic chaplain, where age can be a factor, if a priest has “logged time” either as enlisted or as an officer prior to being ordained a priest, that time spent can be applied towards the 20 year retirement.

The Marine Corps and Coast Guard do not have their own Chaplains. Navy chaplains serve the Marines and the Coast Guard. Army and Air Force have their own chaplains.

Military chaplains do go on deployments. Quite a few Navy chaplains serve on aircraft carriers (Fr. Mode is currently on the USS George Washington) and several Army and Air Force Chaplains (such as Fr. Martin Fitzgerald, Fr. Francis Foley, and Fr. Eric Albertson) have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Many Catholic chaplains in the Armed Forces say their priesthood is a “vocation within a vocation.”

Currently, there is a shortage of Catholic priests in the Armed Forces. I believe the Coast Guard only has enough that can be counted on two hands. However, there are quite a few religious men in the Armed Forces. It’s true - there are no atheists in foxholes.