Catholic Military Life

With 24 years under his belt as a Catholic U.S. Air Force Chaplain, Father Joseph Deichert, Ch Col USAF, has ministered to a full generation of Catholic Airmen and their families. In this edition of Catholic Military Life, the official podcast of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, Father Deichert, a priest of the Diocese of Bismarck, N.D., talks about his many experiences "Serving Tho...

In this edition of Catholic Military Life, the official podcast of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, Father Eric Albertson, CH (COL), USA, shares how he earned the Purple Heart during frontline combat in Iraq, serving those who serve. Father Albertson carries forward a rich legacy of distinguished military service above and beyond the call of duty on the part of Catholic priests. Sin...

Like all Catholic dioceses, the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA (AMS), staffs a Tribunal to adjudicate marriage annulment petitions and other matters of canon law. But unlike any other U.S. diocese, the AMS encompasses the entire world, serving those who serve in the U.S. Military wherever they are stationed or deployed. With a population of 1.8 million Catholics, the AMS has enormous r...

Father Hermes Losbañes, CH (MAJ), USA, has his work cut out for him. He is a chaplain recruiter for the U.S. Army. Specifically, Father Losbañes recruits Catholic priests to serve on active duty. The Army is suffering a desperate shortage of Catholic chaplains. Right now, only 89 are serving some 115,000 Catholic active-duty soldiers. That's one priest for every 1,300 Catholic soldiers spread arou...

Priests endorsed by the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA (AMS), to serve as military chaplains are ""on loan," both to the Military Archdiocese and to the military itself. They come from home dioceses all over the country, and many of them undergo formation and are ordained through the "Co-Sponsored Seminarian Program," a vocations partnership between the AMS and their home dioceses or r...

Father Larry Smith, S.J., entertains with stories from his twelve years on active duty as a U.S. Navy chaplain. He tells of counseling U.S. Marines as they headed into combat for Desert Storm, and what it was like aboard the first U.S. Navy warship to enter the Black Sea after the fall of the iron curtain. Father Smith, a gifted story-teller, now serves at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling.

Living out a commitment to marriage while on active duty has its unique rewards and challenges. In order to support married Catholics in the U.S. Military, the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA (AMS), will hold its first-ever Catholic Marriage Enrichment Retreat in February 2018. AMS Vice Chancellor of Evangelization Dr. Mark Moitoza shares how the AMS hopes to make the retreat a twice-ye...

Today, Catholics of all ages find themselves in a new era: a time of constant change and growing cultural diversity. In his Apostolic Exhortation the Joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis tells us that we are to be a Church that “goes forth.” For this reason, the Bishops of United States are launching the initiative the V Encuentro of Hispanic/Latino Ministry under the theme “Missionary Disciples: Witne...

In this special edition of Catholic Military Life, the only official podcast of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA (AMS), Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson of the Knights of Columbus joins us by telephone from his office at Supreme Headquarters in New Haven, Connecticut. Mr. Anderson is a 2017 recipient of the Medal of the Archdiocese, the AMS's highest award, in recognition of the outst...

With tensions between the U.S. and North Korea at their highest point in decades, Father Brian Klingele, Ch, Capt, USAF, shares his experiences serving as a chaplain at Kunsan Air Base in South Korea. How do the faithful in the U.S. Air Force deal spiritually with the possibility of another hot war on the Korean Peninsula? How does the believer in uniform stay focused and keep peace of mind while...

Seminarian and prospective U.S. Navy Chaplain Peter St. George talks about his experience of the Lord's call to be a priest and chaplain in service to those who serve. Peter walks us through the process of his own discernment, shaing some of his most personal struggles. How does a young man commit himself to a life of celibacy? How does he deal with loneliness and the prospect of a life without a...

At 72, Father John (Frank) O'Grady, CH (LTC), USA, is one of the oldest chaplains--if not THE oldest--serving in the U.S. Military. During his long, productive military career, Father O'Grady, a native of Sligo, Ireland, has served everywhere from Korea to Germany. His exemplary ministry at the Pentagon in the days after the 9/11 attack earned him an Army Commendation Medal for his “leadership, de...

Reverend Mr. Jay Horning, a prospective U.S. Army chaplain and transitional deacon from the Diocese of Fort Wayne, IN, shares his story of how he converted to Catholicism and entered Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg, MD, to become a priest. Rev. Mr. Horning is scheduled to be ordained a priest in June.

Now that it's back-to-school season, Father Aidan Logan, O.C.S.O., talks about a huge increase in the number of young men entering the seminary to become Catholic priests and military chaplains. Among the several hundred prospective priests entering American seminaries for the first time this fall, at least seven plan, after ordination, to go on active duty as chaplains. Additionally, another four...

Sept. 4 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Vietnam War hero and U.S. Navy Chaplain Father Vincent R. Capodanno, MM, Servant of God. Ever faithful to his vocation, Father Capodanno, a Maryknoll priest from Staten Island, N.Y., died in 1967 at the age of 38 while rushing to administer the sacraments to Marines under enemy ambush in Vietnam’s Quế Sơn Valley. Father Capodanno received the Meda...

What is it like bringing the sacraments and the good news of Jesus Christ to men and women on the front lines of combat? Father Lieutenant Colonel Brian Kane, a U.S. Army chaplain in the Nebraska National Guard, shares his war experiences from Iraq's Anbar Province in 2005. And he recalls how things had changed in the war-torn country when he returned to Iraq for a second deployment in 2010. Fathe...

In this latest edition of Catholic Military Life--a podcast of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA--Father Tom Hoar, S.S.E., talks about his vocation as a contract priest serving Catholic submariners at the U.S. Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Conn. Enduring long stretches underwater in close quarters without an active duty chaplain to celebrate MasS, Catholic submariners fac...

Bishop Buckon, Archbishop Timothy Broglio's Episcopal Vicar for Military Installations in the Western United States, holds forth on a wide range of issues, from his experiences as a U.S. Army Chaplain in Iraq to the state of religious freedom in the Military.

In this latest edition of Catholic Military Life--a podcast of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA--Retired U.S. Air Force Chaplin Father (Col.) Robert Bruno, OFM, tells how he worked with the Air Force from 2009 to 2014 to preserve the free exercise of religion at the Air Force Academy as secularists waged an all-out campaign to suppress religious freedom and eliminate the phrase "so h...

In the latest edition of "Catholic Military Life"--a podcast of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA--Pat Hayes tells the fascinating story of a Redemptorist Catholic priest who served on the confederate side during the American Civil War. Father James Sheeran, C.Ss. R., was chaplain to the 14th Louisiana Regiment of the Confederacy. With historic confederate monuments now coming down in...

From jumping out of airplanes to witnessing a resurgence of Catholic faith in Europe, Auxiliary Bishop F. Richard Spencer shares his experiences as both a former U.S. Army Chaplain and the Episcopal Vicar of Europe and Asia. Bishop Spencer describes his sense of closeness to heaven while in midair free fall, his encounters with roadside bombs in Iraq, and contrary to reports of Europeans abandonin...

His Excellency, the Most Reverend Timothy P. Broglio, J.C.D., Archbishop for the Military Services, USA, chats about a wide range of issues confronting Catholics in the Military, including their freedom to exercise their faith, religious education, the priest shortage, and his reflections on nine (9) years at the helm of the only Catholic archdiocese responsible for the pastoral care of those who...