How Do You Become A Priest In The Military?

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ATeutonicKnight

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I feel called to the Priesthood and occasionally a slight calling to the Military as well. How does one go about this? Would you go to Seminary first? And after all of that, what does a Priest in the Military do? Is it mainly to help the soldiers and help them to be God-minded? Do Priests ever get to see any action? I feel it would be a waste if I never got to help the soldiers on the battle-lines as well.
 
Military chaplains are deployed with their service. If you’re an Army chaplain, you very well may be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan or wherever else our future engagements take us. If you’re a Navy chaplain, you will definitely be on a ship for at least half of your career. If you’re an Air Force chaplain, you’d probably stay mostly on base (which could be here or abroad). The Marine Corps doesn’t have chaplains (or doctors, for that matter); they use the Navy’s, so another possibility for Navy chaplains is to go into the field with Marines. So you very well may be able to go rambo, if that’s your thing (sort of).

As a chaplain, you are in a unique position. You are legally a non-combatant. So you don’t fight. In that regard, you will never “see action.” I don’t know if you ever might be issued a weapon, just for purely self-defense purposes. I don’t know if the no-conscientious-objectors policy applies to chaplains. However, as an Army or Marine-serving Navy chaplain, I am confident that you will go in to war zones, and you will hear weapons going off, and you may see people die, and you will wear body armor. Even as an Air Force chaplain, you can be deployed to a Middle-Eastern AFB and you will hear bombs/artillery going off. When you’re stateside or abroad and your main post is a military chapel, I’m almost certain you will be sharing it with other denominations. So be expectant of that. Architecture will not be very traditional, and you will have basically zero say in how and if the church will be/can be changed. That’s not to say military chapels are ugly. Some are very bare-bones, but some are very ornate. Depends on the base. You will otherwise probably be furnished with a maze of offices and hallways just like any other military member, complete with copy machines and other office accessories. You will fit in to the bureaucratic rank structure just like anyone else (which I think is quite beautiful). Yes, you will have someone who legally commands you. However, that will (probably) not get in the way of the liturgy/faith side of things, and will mostly apply to administrative stuff. Eventually you can be the “regimental chaplain” or “wing chaplain” and everyone in the chaplaincy department of the base will be under your command. That is, if you get promoted to that level (O-6) and are afforded that job.

Anyways, you’re employed by the military. You’re an officer, starting as a captain or lieutenant (O-3), and you will make a pretty chunk of change from the start. I’ve known several Air Force chaplains, and they say it’s hard to maintain a balance of priestly humbleness and officer-esque aloofness. I was very surprised when I learned that a certain Fr. X/AF colonel made upwards of $9000 a month. I’d probably make a terrible chaplain, trying to juggle all that.

It will definitely be a really interesting career path, and in many ways difficult. As long as your civilian bishop will release you to do this, the military will take you. They’re practically begging for chaplains right now, especially priests. In fact, the only officers that the Navy is accepting right now through OCS are chaplains. Of course, you have to meet physical fitness requirements and medical requirements just like everyone else. So if you have a debilitating health problem, you probably won’t be allowed to join, and if you can’t pass a PT test, you’d probably better start working out now. You will commission (become an officer) through OTS/OCS (depending on service), and you will do PT. Past OTS/OCS, you will go to chaplain school, and then enter active service. I’m pretty sure the reserve components of the military also have chaplains, so if active isn’t your thing, you can look at that, although I guarantee you WILL deploy even as a reservist.

On the bright side, it should be very easy for you to further your career quickly, if you’re into that kind of stuff.

You should know, however, that if you are in a war zone (very good chance of it), you do have a possibility of being killed. Just wanted to let you know. 🙂

Yes, I had a lot of fun writing this post.
 
YoungTradCath said:
Military chaplains are deployed with their service. If you’re an Army chaplain, you very well may be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan or wherever else our future engagements take us. If you’re a Navy chaplain, you will definitely be on a ship for at least half of your career. If you’re an Air Force chaplain, you’d probably stay mostly on base (which could be here or abroad). The Marine Corps doesn’t have chaplains (or doctors, for that matter); they use the Navy’s, so another possibility for Navy chaplains is to go into the field with Marines. So you very well may be able to go rambo, if that’s your thing (sort of).

As a chaplain, you are in a unique position. You are legally a non-combatant. So you don’t fight. In that regard, you will never “see action.” I don’t know if you ever might be issued a weapon, just for purely self-defense purposes. I don’t know if the no-conscientious-objectors policy applies to chaplains. However, as an Army or Marine-serving Navy chaplain, I am confident that you will go in to war zones, and you will hear weapons going off, and you may see people die, and you will wear body armor. Even as an Air Force chaplain, you can be deployed to a Middle-Eastern AFB and you will hear bombs/artillery going off. When you’re stateside or abroad and your main post is a military chapel, I’m almost certain you will be sharing it with other denominations. So be expectant of that. Architecture will not be very traditional, and you will have basically zero say in how and if the church will be/can be changed. That’s not to say military chapels are ugly. Some are very bare-bones, but some are very ornate. Depends on the base. You will otherwise probably be furnished with a maze of offices and hallways just like any other military member, complete with copy machines and other office accessories. You will fit in to the bureaucratic rank structure just like anyone else (which I think is quite beautiful). Yes, you will have someone who legally commands you. However, that will (probably) not get in the way of the liturgy/faith side of things, and will mostly apply to administrative stuff. Eventually you can be the “regimental chaplain” or “wing chaplain” and everyone in the chaplaincy department of the base will be under your command. That is, if you get promoted to that level (O-6) and are afforded that job.

Anyways, you’re employed by the military. You’re an officer, starting as a captain or lieutenant (O-3), and you will make a pretty chunk of change from the start. I’ve known several Air Force chaplains, and they say it’s hard to maintain a balance of priestly humbleness and officer-esque aloofness. I was very surprised when I learned that a certain Fr. X/AF colonel made upwards of $9000 a month. I’d probably make a terrible chaplain, trying to juggle all that.

It will definitely be a really interesting career path, and in many ways difficult. As long as your civilian bishop will release you to do this, the military will take you. They’re practically begging for chaplains right now, especially priests. In fact, the only officers that the Navy is accepting right now through OCS are chaplains. Of course, you have to meet physical fitness requirements and medical requirements just like everyone else. So if you have a debilitating health problem, you probably won’t be allowed to join, and if you can’t pass a PT test, you’d probably better start working out now. You will commission (become an officer) through OTS/OCS (depending on service), and you will do PT. Past OTS/OCS, you will go to chaplain school, and then enter active service. I’m pretty sure the reserve components of the military also have chaplains, so if active isn’t your thing, you can look at that, although I guarantee you WILL deploy even as a reservist.

On the bright side, it should be very easy for you to further your career quickly, if you’re into that kind of stuff.

You should know, however, that if you are in a war zone (very good chance of it), you do have a possibility of being killed. Just wanted to let you know. 🙂

Yes, I had a lot of fun writing this post.
Click to expand...
Ha! Thanks for the great post. I had fun reading it. Maybe not as much fun as you had writing it though. 😛
 
To become a military chaplain/Priest, you first must go to a seminary and be an ordained priest. Then you apply to join the military. You will go through the same basic training that any officer candidate does.

A military chaplain is a commissioned officer. A military chaplain has to jump through the same military hoops in regards to going up in rank. He will not be allowed to sit at the rank of second lieutenant forever; in the military it is “up or out” as far as rank. My Catholic Chaplain was an Army officer with the rank of Captain. He did not make Major when he first “tested” for that rank, and he was greatly disappointed, just as any officer would be.

His duties were many. While he was our chaplain, he was the only Catholic chaplain for a huge territory in West Germany. He had to drive fifty miles over a mountain range just to get between both Army depots that he was responsible for on Sundays. He had all the same duties as a parish priest: he said Mass, heard our confessions, married us, baptized our babies (including mine), prepared the children for First Communion and Confirmation.

Had we been at war at that time, he would have been in the field of combat with his troops, tending to their needs. During the fight, he might have been killed, as some padres have, while giving the Last Sacrament and Rites to the wounded, dying, and dead. When the battle is over, he has many chores, as he sees to the needs of the troops, listening to confessions, giving advice, saying Mass, ministering to soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen of other faiths, or no faith at all.

The chaplain NEVER carries a weapon of any type. It is not allowed under the Geneva Conventions. He is the ultimate non-combatant. He is not allowed to carry a weapon, even to defend himself. He has a “chaplain’s assistant” assigned to him. That person (male or female) is the person who carries a weapon and is prepared to defend the chaplain in battle situations. My sister was a chaplain’s assistant in the USAF.

The military chaplain of any faith has a hard, many times thankless job. Usually he has to work alone, since there are so few priests willing or able to serve in the military. I thank God above for all the good, really good, men who serve as chaplains, even the ones who aren’t Catholic. They were there for me when I needed them. I pray to God that He send more to serve the needs of my sons and daughters who are in the military right now.
 
Just to clarify the above poster’s remarks, military chaplains are never second lieutenants. They start out as captains or lieutenants (the Navy calls its O-3s “lieutenants”). Military officers do not “test” for rank. They are evaluated by boards. In many cases it can be boiled down to being a “good old boys’ club,” if you get what I’m saying. Your evaluations must be stellar (these evaluations will be conducted by your superior officer, and are the opinion of him or her) and so must be your performance not only in your priestly duties, but in your military duties as well. Two different things. You can be a great priest but if you’re not at least somewhat of a politician and self-advocate, you will not advance very far. Enlisted members of the military have it different; they test, and if they pass, they are promoted so long as a slot is available. Officers have to be scared all the time because they just don’t know who they might tick off, and if that happens, bye-bye promotion. That’s not good, because bye-bye promotion means bye-bye career. And bye-bye career means you can’t serve as a priest to people in some of the most dangerous places in the world anymore. That’s why I said very clearly that it’s hard to manage humbleness that inherently comes along with being a priest and the aloofness and meticulousness that is required to be an officer. The two attitudes kind of defeat one another. It’s kind of funny, really, because as a priest you’re bound to uphold your priestly ministry, but at the same time, you swear allegiance to your nation in the oath of office. Ultimately, you’re a priest, but your government will expect otherwise when it comes down to the basics.

That said, I’m not trying to dissuade you. I think what you want to do is absolutely great. I (not as a priest, though) might see you one day. Hint. I’m just saying, you will be very confused at times. It will be hard. It will be hard to be the parish priest that everyone wants to go confess to, and at the same time, the “bottom-lines-are-what-matter” military officer. You have to be both, because without the latter, your career ends, and so does your service to your parishioners. The military sees you as a number. A somewhat special number, no doubt. But that personnelist sitting at, say, Randolph Air Force Base, sees you as a number to fill a slot, and nothing more. The military is a bureaucracy. It WILL conflict with you being a priest. And only you can rectify these two forces that, at times, might seem to be pulling you apart.

To God and your Church, you are a priest first. To your government and your employer, you are an officer first, albeit one who can’t be switched into a different career field, but an officer no less. You will be treated differently, but not too differently.
 
youtube.com/watch?v=LCP5V1vaSRU

A link (I hope!) to EWTN’s The World Over. About 26 min into the program is a piece w/ 2 military chaplains. I believe one of them explains the process.

(if the link is wrong, search for Fr. Paul Halladay on you tube)
 
YoungTradCath said:
Just to clarify the above poster’s remarks, military chaplains are never second lieutenants. They start out as captains or lieutenants (the Navy calls its O-3s “lieutenants”). Military officers do not “test” for rank. They are evaluated by boards. In many cases it can be boiled down to being a “good old boys’ club,” if you get what I’m saying. Your evaluations must be stellar (these evaluations will be conducted by your superior officer, and are the opinion of him or her) and so must be your performance not only in your priestly duties, but in your military duties as well. Two different things. You can be a great priest but if you’re not at least somewhat of a politician and self-advocate, you will not advance very far. Enlisted members of the military have it different; they test, and if they pass, they are promoted so long as a slot is available. Officers have to be scared all the time because they just don’t know who they might tick off, and if that happens, bye-bye promotion. That’s not good, because bye-bye promotion means bye-bye career. And bye-bye career means you can’t serve as a priest to people in some of the most dangerous places in the world anymore. That’s why I said very clearly that it’s hard to manage humbleness that inherently comes along with being a priest and the aloofness and meticulousness that is required to be an officer. The two attitudes kind of defeat one another. It’s kind of funny, really, because as a priest you’re bound to uphold your priestly ministry, but at the same time, you swear allegiance to your nation in the oath of office. Ultimately, you’re a priest, but your government will expect otherwise when it comes down to the basics.

That said, I’m not trying to dissuade you. I think what you want to do is absolutely great. I (not as a priest, though) might see you one day. Hint. I’m just saying, you will be very confused at times. It will be hard. It will be hard to be the parish priest that everyone wants to go confess to, and at the same time, the “bottom-lines-are-what-matter” military officer. You have to be both, because without the latter, your career ends, and so does your service to your parishioners. The military sees you as a number. A somewhat special number, no doubt. But that personnelist sitting at, say, Randolph Air Force Base, sees you as a number to fill a slot, and nothing more. The military is a bureaucracy. It WILL conflict with you being a priest. And only you can rectify these two forces that, at times, might seem to be pulling you apart.

To God and your Church, you are a priest first. To your government and your employer, you are an officer first, albeit one who can’t be switched into a different career field, but an officer no less. You will be treated differently, but not too differently.
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I stand corrected about the chaplains starting out as O-1. I am speaking from the less-imformed position of an enlisted USAF veteran of 30 years ago. The rest of what you say is spot on.
Thanks for the clarification.🙂
 
Remember that, God willing, there is not always a war going on somewhere. (We do pray for peace.) Even when there is combat, many troops are not stationed where the action is. My point is that the majority of what chaplains do does not take place on a battlefield or aboard ship. Much of it is at bases around the world, in hum-drum, everyday circumstances, doing the Lord’s work.
 
Thank you all for the great responses and for the great link. You’ve helped me a lot.
 
Its true to be a priest in the military you must first be ordained but then you will need the approval of your bishop or religious superior before you can being a chaplain.
 
ByzCath said:
Its true to be a priest in the military you must first be ordained but then you will need the approval of your bishop or religious superior before you can being a chaplain.
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That is true.

You must be ordained/endorsed by your religion’s leader at whatever level required by your religion, in this case the bishop/superior.

So a Catholic man would go to seminary, be ordained, request a release from his bishop or superior while concurrently going through the military accessions route. The military side would consist of several steps. First, speaking to your local recruiter would help immensely, especially if you’re not familiar with the military. If the recruiter is confident in you, he will encourage you to apply for Officer Commissioning/Candidate/Training School. You do so on your own or with the help of the recruiter, but you’re responsible for the application, which must be immaculate. You have to meet the same physical, medical, drug, and legal qualifications as every other applicant. If your application is accepted by the board, you get a ship date. You pay for your own uniforms, supplies, etc. Then off you go.

Chaplains generally are grouped with other chaplains, doctors, nurses and lawyers during their training. They learn drill, military history, customs and courtesies, how to be an officer and act like an officer, how to wear every uniform, they will be inspected often, amongst other things. After this is over, the trainee is commissioned an O-3, and he goes to chaplain school. There, he learns how to do the administrative side of his job as a chaplain. When this is over, he gets an assignment and moves wherever he is ordered to go.

As you can imagine, the road to becoming a Catholic military chaplain is very long and hard.
 
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