Archdiocese for the Military Services - Helpful Information

[hwriggles4]

Fellow Catholics:

This week, many dioceses (including mine) are taking collections for the Archdiocese for the Military Services. 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.

• First, the Archdiocese for the Military Services receives** NO GOVERNMENT FUNDING.**
• Second, 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 (and women) in the Armed Forces. It’s true - there are no atheists in foxholes.
• 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 and other Religious Order priestsare 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 priest in this situation who has not been called to Active Duty will likely be a parish priest who will spend one weekend a month at a base, and his two weeks a year (or sometimes longer, depending on orders) at a base.
• 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. However, chaplains are commissioned as O-3, which is Captain in the Army and Air Force, and Lieutenant in the Navy.
• ]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, preference is given to priests who are under 42 years old. This is 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. Joseph Coffey 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. Fr. Foley is now a Captain and serving at the Naval Academy, and Fr. Albertson is now a Colonel serving close to Japan and Korea.
• Many Catholic chaplains in the Armed Forces say their priesthood is a “vocation within a vocation.”

For more information, please visit the website:

milarch.org/site/c.dwJXKgOUJiIaG/b.6287817/k.290A/Archdiocese_for_the_Military_USA.htm

Thanks for listening. For those who have served in the military - thank you.

 

[Brendan]

Thanks for posting this.

A good family friend is a Naval Chaplain. He did two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, ministering to the military there.

 

[bitterhope]

Army priests have done so much for my family over the years. Many of the Army priests are immigrants from Poland and African countries, and occassionally others countries as well. I have a very good friend who is an immigrant from Nigeria who became an Air Force priest after he gained his US citizenship. Every deployment my husband has gone on a priest was with him. And the priests stateside have been there to support our families left behind. The shortage is real and often priests from surrounding communities step up to fill in for military priests. Thank you for posting this. Praying for all these brave men.

 

[IrishAm]

Thank you for posting this. I am a “military mom” and assure all that the priests who offer spiritual assistance and the sacraments to our military men and women and their families are a blessing beyond description.