Military Chaplain Question

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Lost_Lamb

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I don’t know where else to ask this, but this seems like a good place. If it isn’t, I’m sorry, Mods!

I am just wondering if, when we go to the Catholic mass on base, the chaplain is actually an ordained priest? Has he gone through what every priest goes through, or do they receive less training, schooling or anything? I suppose, to sum it all up, I’m wondering if they’d be qualified to be a priest in a Catholic church out in town. Thanks for any responses. 🙂
 
You have to be an ordained priest to be a Catholic chaplain in the military.

milarch.org/ - is the website for the Archdiocese that covers US military bases at home/abroad - in the requirements to become a chaplain, it calls out that you need to be ordained as a priest and have permission from your religious order/diocese. That would indicate that they would be validly ordained priests serving Mass/administering sacraments. I can imagine that there would have been a pretty big kerfluffle if they had non-priests doing things they weren’t allowed to do.
 
A Military Chaplain is a minister of whatever denomination he belongs to. In the case of a Catholic one, he is a Priest first, then a military man. IOW, he went to Seminary and did all the training and classes needed to become a Priest and then he received the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

So to answer your question, yes, your Priest/Chaplain is indeed a validly ordained Priest and if given permission by the Ordinary (Bishop) of the diocese he is currently living in, he can say a Mass off Base/Post, if he says Mass on Base/Post then the Ordinary is the Bishop of the Diocese of the Military.

I hope that wasn’t too confusing.

Brenda V.
 
Thank you so much! That helps tremendously. Especially since there are no Catholic churches in town here!
 
Lost_Lamb said:
I don’t know where else to ask this, but this seems like a good place. If it isn’t, I’m sorry, Mods!

I am just wondering if, when we go to the Catholic mass on base, the chaplain is actually an ordained priest? Has he gone through what every priest goes through, or do they receive less training, schooling or anything? I suppose, to sum it all up, I’m wondering if they’d be qualified to be a priest in a Catholic church out in town. Thanks for any responses. 🙂
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To the best of my knowledge yes, all Catholic chaps are ordained priests in the Catholic faith. They fall under the Archdiocese for the Millitary Services (USA). I’m a Marine, so all my chaplins are in the Navy, the lowest ranking chap i’ve seen was a Navy LT (a Captain in any other branch, i.e. two silver bars; O-3) so i would think that they have to go through extensive schooling and/or training. The Mass i attend on base is for the most part identical to the Mass i attend out in town, so i dont see why they would not be qualified to be a priest out in town.

Hope this helped! 👍
 
For the United States military all Catholic Chaplains are fully ordained Catholic Priests.

Each Catholic Chaplain, whether in military service or the VA, serves because his Bishop gave his permission for the priest to leave his diocese to serve. The work of the Archdiocese for the Military Services would not be possible without the continued sacrifices that the various archdioceses and dioceses make.

All military Catholic Chaplains in the US Armed Forces:
  1. Are ordained priests and have the ecclesiastical endorsement of their bishop to serve. A Deacon can not serve as a Military Chaplain in the United States Armed Forces. A Deacon can be a military chaplain in the Canadian and Australion armed forces.
  2. Have graduated from seminary. This means they possess a graduate degree in theology. ,
  3. Have served a minimum of two years of full-time ordained ministry in their diocese before even being considered for military service as a chaplain.
So, military chaplains are the real deal. In my military experience everyone that I have encountered were great Priests.👍
 
SavedbyHisBlood said:
I’m a Marine, so all my chaplins are in the Navy, the lowest ranking chap i’ve seen was a Navy LT (a Captain in any other branch, i.e. two silver bars; O-3) so i would think that they have to go through extensive schooling and/or training. The Mass i attend on base is for the most part identical to the Mass i attend out in town, so i dont see why they would not be qualified to be a priest out in town.

Hope this helped! 👍
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My husband is a Marine as well. 🙂 My dad is retired Navy, but we always went out in town, so I had never thought about this before. Someone told me once that they weren’t. However, like you said, Mass is basically the same.
 
OldRedleg said:
For the United States military all Catholic Chaplains are fully ordained Catholic Priests.

Each Catholic Chaplain, whether in military service or the VA, serves because his Bishop gave his permission for the priest to leave his diocese to serve. The work of the Archdiocese for the Military Services would not be possible without the continued sacrifices that the various archdioceses and dioceses make.

All military Catholic Chaplains in the US Armed Forces:
  1. Are ordained priests and have the ecclesiastical endorsement of their bishop to serve. A Deacon can not serve as a Military Chaplain in the United States Armed Forces. A Deacon can be a military chaplain in the Canadian and Australion armed forces.
  2. Have graduated from seminary. This means they possess a graduate degree in theology. ,
  3. Have served a minimum of two years of full-time ordained ministry in their diocese before even being considered for military service as a chaplain.
So, military chaplains are the real deal. In my military experience everyone that I have encountered were great Priests.👍
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Thank you for the information! I hadn’t thought of a Deacon. I also like the minimum of two years in the diocese. That is very comforting.
 
Where did you get the idea that a Catholic military chaplain would NOT be an ordained priest OR would have received less schooling?

Did you think the Church would allow some kind of sub-priest so celebrate mass, or the military would have a Protestant minister or rabbi or lately an imam dress up to do it?
 
I think there was a statement from the Vatican a year or so ago reserving the title of Chaplain to ordained clergy in all circumstances. Unfortunately it isn’t always observed.
 
OldRedleg said:
For the United States military all Catholic Chaplains are fully ordained Catholic Priests.

Each Catholic Chaplain, whether in military service or the VA, serves because his Bishop gave his permission for the priest to leave his diocese to serve. The work of the Archdiocese for the Military Services would not be possible without the continued sacrifices that the various archdioceses and dioceses make.

All military Catholic Chaplains in the US Armed Forces:
  1. Are ordained priests and have the ecclesiastical endorsement of their bishop to serve. A Deacon can not serve as a Military Chaplain in the United States Armed Forces. A Deacon can be a military chaplain in the Canadian and Australion armed forces.
  2. Have graduated from seminary. This means they possess a graduate degree in theology. ,
  3. Have served a minimum of two years of full-time ordained ministry in their diocese before even being considered for military service as a chaplain.
So, military chaplains are the real deal. In my military experience everyone that I have encountered were great Priests.👍
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Not all priests serving are from dioceses. There are some from religious orders and they serve with the approval of their superior (who is their ordinary).
 
Joe_Kelley said:
I think there was a statement from the Vatican a year or so ago reserving the title of Chaplain to ordained clergy in all circumstances. Unfortunately it isn’t always observed.
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It’s in "Ecclesiae de mysterio – On certain questions regarding the collaboration of the non-ordained faithful in the Sacred ministry of the priest - by eight dicasteries of the Holy See – August 15, 1997

wf-f.org/non-ordained.html

That said, the Canadian military does have Catholic “Lay Chaplains”, and has had them for about 20 years. A few are women, one was on course with me a few years ago. Obviously, if the Base has a lay chaplain you won’t have a Mass, you will have a Liturgy of the Word or Liturgy of the Hours.
 
Sometimes a Catholic chaplain may not be available in specific circumstances, however, but one of another religion will be. In those cases they obviously don’t perform Catholic sacraments, but they can do many of the other jobs that chaplains are required for. In general, chaplain are very sensitive in helping those of another denomination or religion.
 
Bluegoat said:
Sometimes a Catholic chaplain may not be available in specific circumstances, however, but one of another religion will be. In those cases they obviously don’t perform Catholic sacraments, but they can do many of the other jobs that chaplains are required for. In general, chaplain are very sensitive in helping those of another denomination or religion.
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True enough. The local military base doesn’t have a Catholic Chaplain, just a Protestant one. For sacraments the Catholics come to us. For everything else they see the Protestant Padre (who’s really a Baptist ‘Madre’)
 
And, just as a side note, there are a couple of US military chaplains for whom canonization is a very real possibility! Some of our military priests have been true heroes.
 
Phemie said:
It’s in "Ecclesiae de mysterio – On certain questions regarding the collaboration of the non-ordained faithful in the Sacred ministry of the priest - by eight dicasteries of the Holy See – August 15, 1997

wf-f.org/non-ordained.html

That said, the Canadian military does have Catholic “Lay Chaplains”, and has had them for about 20 years. A few are women, one was on course with me a few years ago. Obviously, if the Base has a lay chaplain you won’t have a Mass, you will have a Liturgy of the Word or Liturgy of the Hours.
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Thanks - Joe.
 
according to my former pastor, who was a military chaplain for a while, they also have to go through the same basic training as officer candidates.
 
puzzleannie said:
according to my former pastor, who was a military chaplain for a while, they also have to go through the same basic training as officer candidates.
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Well…not quite the same. Most of the professional officer corps in the services – Lawyers, doctors, nurses, chaplains – have a form of basic training, but it is typically an abbreviated version of the line officer commissioning programs, sometimes as short as 2 weeks. The courses are often referred to as “Officer Charm School,” where they learn to wear a uniform and receive some elementary instruction in military culture, protocol, and procedure.
 
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