Sacraments and Soldiers

[lovelavender]

Thinking about the war in Iraq made me wonder, do Catholic soldiers have access to the sacraments of holy Eucharist and Confession? They are over there for months and months in a seriously stressful situation. If I were over there I don’t know how I could survive without those sacraments.

 

[mjdonnelly]

It would depend, I know priests are in the reserves also and have been mobilized to go there. They have to pack up their vestments and everything to be able to do mass, etc.

Just depends on how close the soldiers are to them. I’m pretty sure each base there would have either a mass or a prayer service on Sunday. We had a prayer service each Sunday on the submarines I was on. (no room for a priest on a sub, or much of anything)

 

[_veritas]

There are many, many Catholic priests who serve as chaplains in the armed forces; within reason, no average military member is denied the sacraments while on active duty. All bases, barracks, etc should have at least one priest available for the faithful.

In some situations, temporarily, it is possible that a priest-chaplain would be unavailable, however the Church acknowledges this possibily and excuses the soldier, the same way the Church excuses anyone who is truly unable to participate in the sacraments (perfect contrition until confession, spiritual communion instead of Mass, etc).

For example, if the person is on a special ops mission or something where it is a small group of individuals and/or secrecy is required, then unfortunately it may not be possible for a priest to be available to them until the mission is over.

Our Archdiocese is sorrowfully praying for one of our own priests, the only priest-chaplain who has been critically injured in Iraq. Fr. Tim Vakoc is currently at the VA hospital here in the Twin Cities, and my pastor is close friends with him. At the moment, he is basically comatose, and near death. The doctors have been predicting his death daily for the last week, he has held on this long, but death is truly imminent for him. Please please keep him and his family in your prayers!! :crying:

+veritas+

 

[lovelavender]

I had no idea that priests were in the reserves! As pastors you mean? God bless our priests who serve us at home and abroad. And God bless Fr. Vacok. I will thank my priest nest sunday.:clapping:

 

[auroraj42]

Not every military base has a Catholic Chaplain, the last base we were at did not, they relied upon the Catholic community off base to provide the sacraments for any Catholics on base.
The Base we are currently at, does have a priest. The military does its best to provide access to each faith that a military member may follow.
The military also has its own Archdiocese, that is not bound by geographical area. There are also a few other differences that I have learned about.

Jamie

 

[Almeria]

A college friend is now a deacon, and serves as a chaplain. I know he was deployed in Afghanistan, but I’m not sure if he’s back in the states now or is in Iraq. While he is obviously not a priest and can’t do priestly functions, his presence comforts many over there.

 

[Paul_W]

Typically, a diocese is a specific geographic area.
However, the Archdiocese for the Military Services includes US soldiers wherever they are, around the world.

You’ll find a lot of information on their website.

milarch.org/