Catholic Military Life

Since 2004, the Knights of Columbus have funded publication of "Armed with the Faith," a Catholic prayerbook specifically for Catholics in the U.S. Military. The pocket-size, water-resistant prayerbook (shown on the desk in the photo) is designed for use anywhere those who serve may find themselves, whether in the relative safety of a home base or port, or in the field or high seas of battle. "Armed with the Faith" has proven to be so popular all available copies have been distributed and the prayerbook is currently out of stock. In this edition of Catholic Military Life, the only official podcast of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA (AMS), Father Daniel R. Sweeney, S.J., a U.S. Air Force chaplain colonel and the prayerbook's editor, reveals a new edition will soon go to press and shares when "Armed with the Faith" will once again be available to Catholics in uniform.

While in High School, the Reverend Mr. Jason Allan thought he would become an engineer, but God had other plans. In May of 2021, he will be ordained a priest of the Diocese of Fort Worth, TX, with plans of eventually becoming an active-duty U.S. Navy Chaplain. In this edition of Catholic Military Life, the only official podcast of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, the Rev. Mr. Allan traces his journey through priestly formation and shares how he hopes to relieve a chronic shortage of Catholic chaplains on active duty.

With active-duty chaplains in short supply, the U.S. Navy has recruited a reservist to serve as 3rd Battalion chaplain at the U.S. Naval Academy. Father Paul Kostka, CHC, LT, USN, came to Annapolis from Denver, CO, in October 2020 to begin a one-year assignment. Before his tour at the Naval Academy, Father Kostka served in support of the 3rd Marine Expedition at the Navy Reserve Center in Denver, where he was also a chaplain at the University of Denver. In this edition of Catholic Military Life, the only official podcast of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, Father Kostka, a member of the religious congregation, Servants of Christ Jesus, shares his experiences providing pastoral care to the midshipmen.

New York Times bestselling author Joe Drape is out with a new book called The Saint Makers. It explores how the Holy See's Congregation for the Causes of Saints goes about deciding who gets to be a saint, focusing heavily on the current case of Korean War hero, U.S. Army Chaplain, and Medal of Honor recipient Father Emil Kaupan (1916-1951). The rich and unique narrative leads from the plains of Kansas where Father Kapaun was born and raised to the opulent halls of the Vatican, through brutal Korean War prison camps, and into the stories of two individuals, Avery Gerleman and Chase Kear, whose lives were threatened by illness and injury and whose family and friends prayed to Father Kapaun, sparking miraculous recoveries in the heart of America. In this edition of Catholic Military Life, the only official podcast of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, Mr. Drape shares some of what he found while researching Father Kapaun's life story and all that's required in the Catholic Church to become a saint.

Two weeks after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the National Guard was called in to keep order during the inauguration of President Joseph Biden. Father Michael Zimmer, Ch, Capt, USAF, a chaplain in the Nebraska Air National Guard, was among those deployed to the Nation's Capital. In this edition of Catholic Military Life, the only official podcast of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, Father Zimmer joins us by phone from Lincoln, where he is stationed with the 155th Air Refueling Wing. He shares how he celebrated Mass on a makeshift altar in the Capitol building while providing pastoral care for Guard members on a tense but ultimately successful mission to keep the peace in a turbulent time on Capitol Hill.

Father Alejandro De Jesus is the new president of the National Conference of Veterans Affairs Catholic Chaplains (NCVACC). He works full time at the San Antonio VA Medical Center and succeeds Father R. Peter Francis as NCVACC president. In this edition of Catholic Military Life, the only official podcast of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, Father De Jesus joins us by telephone from San Antonio to share how the NCVACC supports pastoral care for Catholics receiving treatment from the VA. And he explains how a recent change in the federal employment classification of VA chaplains is meant to raise the standard of ministry but could also make it harder for Catholic priests to become VA chaplains at a time when some medical centers are suffering a shortage of Catholic chaplains.

In Nigeria on Dec. 27, 2020, thugs wielding semi-automatic rifles kidnapped Auxiliary Bishop Moses Chikwe of Owerri and his driver, Mr. Ndubuisi Robert. Bishop Chikwe is a former chaplain at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in San Diego, CA. In this edition of Catholic Military Life, the only official podcast of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, Bishop Chikwe shares how their abductors held them for five days in the Nigerian wilderness, at one point attacking Mr. Robert with a machete, only to receive His Excellency's forgiveness and blessings upon their release, but not the ransom they had sought.

Seminarian Patrick DiLoreto discovered his military calling before he did his priestly vocation. Through the ROTC program at the University of Northern Colorado, he joined the Colorado National Guard at the end of his freshman year in 2012, inspired in part by the influence of an older brother who served in the U.S. Army and deployed to Afghanistan while Mr. DiLoreto was still in high school. But it was not until he made a spiritual retreat his junior year in college that he discerned a call to priesthood and military chaplaincy. Now, Mr. DiLoreto is on track to be ordained a priest for the Diocese of Colorado Springs in 2023 with plans to go on active duty as an Army chaplain. In this edition of Catholic Military Life, the only official podcast of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, Mr. DiLoreto reflects on his priestly calling and how he hopes to make a difference serving those who serve.

Meet Father Joseph M. Fleury, CH (COL), USA. At 69, he is the oldest active-duty chaplain in the U.S. Military. In this edition of Catholic Military Life, the only official podcast of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, Father Fleury traces his extraordinary 32-year career in the Army, recapping tours in Korea, Panama and elsewhere, and he shares how his 2005 deployment to war-torn Afghanistan has so far been the most meaningful of his long period of service to those who serve, which, by the way, has just been extended another two years.

Father Mark Bristol, CHC LT, USN, is one of four U.S. Navy chaplains assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Theordore Roosevelt (CVN-71), and the only Catholic priest. Father Bristol was on board in late March when an outbreak of COVID-19 sidelined the Roosevelt at Guam for more than two months during a deployment to the Western Pacific. Ultimately, more than 1,200 sailors were infected--about 25% of the carrier's crew, and one died. For the first time Father Bristol gives a complete first-hand account in this, the Nov. 23 edition of Catholic Military Life, the only official podcast of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA.

Mr. Armando Herrera majored in pre-medicine while going through the ROTC program at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), hoping one day to become a doctor in the U.S. Army. While finishing up his degree, though, Mr. Herrera began to explore life's deeper meaning. He discerned God's call to the priesthood and military chaplaincy. Now, Mr. Herrera, 27, is immersed in priestly formation at Theological College in Washington, D.C., where he is on track to be ordained a priest in 2022. Mr. Herrera plans eventually to go on active duty as an Army chaplain following a period of pastoral service in his home Diocese of Richmond, VA. In this edition of Catholic Military Life, the only official podcast of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, Mr. Herrera shares how his vocational ambitions evolved from "doctor of the body" to "doctor of the soul."

Mr. Liam O'Shea-Creal, 25, grew up in Lincoln, NE, just two blocks from his Catholic parish. Although he went to a Catholic school and was active as an altar server, he had no intention of becoming a priest. Not until after he went to college at the University of Nebraska. There, as a student majoring first in business and then psychology, he began to discern a vocation. Now, Mr. O'Shea-Creal is in nearing the final stages of priestly formation at Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Emmittsburg, MD. In this edition of Catholic Military Life, the only official podcast of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA (AMS), the seminarian shares how he realized God was calling him to be both a priest and a chaplain in the U.S. Navy with AMS endorsement and faculties.

Jesus Christ tells us in John 15:13 that "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends." In World War Two, Father Joseph Verbis Lafleur (1912-1944) of Ville Platte, LA, a chaplain lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Corps, lived out the meaning of that message. He died on a Japanese prisoner-of-war transport ship mistakenly torpedoed by a U.S. submarine off the coast of the Philippines, ignoring his own safety to aid wounded fellow American POWs, give absolution to the dying, and help those he could escape through an open hatch to freedom, even as their captors opened fire. On Sept. 5, 2020, Bishop J. Douglas Deshotel of Lafayette officially opened Father Lafleur's Cause for Canonization. In this edition of Catholic Military Life, the only official podcast of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, Father Mark Ledoux, the Episcopal Delegate for the Cause, shares the chaplain hero's remarkable story and how Father Lafleur, who posthumously received a Purple Heart, a Bronze St

The Annual Pilgrimage for the Sea Services will be celebrated on Oct. 4, 2020, at 3:30 p.m. EDT at the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, 339 South Seton Avenue, in Emmitsburg, MD. The principal celebrant and homilist will be the Most Reverend Joseph L. Coffey, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA. Bishop Coffey is a retired U.S. Navy chaplain. Because of social distancing restrictions imposed by state and local officials over the COVID-19 pandemic, on-site participation will be limited to no more than two-hundred. However, the 3:30 p.m. Mass will be live-streamed to the public on the Seton Shrine’s website at https://setonshrine.org/annual-sea-services-pilgrimage/. A recorded edition will be accessible on the site after the event. In this edition of Catholic Military Life, the only official podcast of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, Retired Admiral William J. Fallon, Chairman of the Sponsoring Committee, talks about the unusual plans for this year's pilg

When he finished law school at Pepperdine University and passed the bar exam, Bradley D. Easterbrooks embarked on a career in the U.S. Navy as a lawyer in the Judge Advocate General's (JAG) Corps. But God had other plans for the active-duty lieutenant. When Bradley discerned a priestly vocation, he put his military legal career on hold and entered seminary. He is now completing formation at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. Upon ordination, Bradley, 35, plans to go back on active duty as a U.S. Navy chaplain. He has his work cut out for him. Due to a nationwide shortage of priests, the Navy currently has only 48 active-duty Catholic chaplains, serving more than 135,000 Catholics not only in the Navy but also the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard, and their families. In this edition of Catholic Military Life, the only official podcast of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, Bradley retraces his journey to priesthood and shares how he hopes to help relieve the Catholic chaplain shortage and

Korean War hero and U.S. Army Chaplain Father Emil Kapaun died on May 23, 1951, in a North Korean Prisoner of War (POW) camp. He had spent the previous six months risking his life to sustain and save the lives of fellow prisoners with no concern for his own health and safety. In 2013, then-President Obama postumously awarded Father Kaupan the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military decoration. The Holy See's Congregation for the Causes of Saints is now considering Father Kaupan's Cause for Canonization. Father John Hotze, a priest of Father Kapaun's home Dioecese of Wichita, Kansas, is the Episcopal Delgate for the Cause. In this edition of Catholic Military Life, the only official podcast of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, Father Hotze joins us by telephone from Mulvane, Kansas, to bring us up to date on the progress of Father Kaupan's Cause.

On July 16, 2020, Father Mark Rutherford, J.C.L., a priest of the Diocese of Lansing, MI, took office as Judicial Vicar of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA (AMS). In that role, Father Rutherford will oversee the archdiocesan Tribunal, which, among other judicial functions, rules on the validity or nonvalidty of marriages based on canon law. In this edition of Catholic Military Life, the only official podcast of the AMS, Father Rutherford shares thoughts on his new role and how he hopes to serve those who serve, and he he notes in passing two of the most common signs of a troubled Catholic marriage.

Like nearly all U.S. educators, Catholic catechists in the U.S. Military have had to unleash creativity this year in their ministry of teaching the Catholic faith to children and young people from grades Pre-K through 12. Taking advantage of shelter-in-place orders due to COVID-19, Mr. Jose Amaya, Director of Faith Formation for the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA (AMS), is holding a series of webinars for clergy and lay catechetical leaders. Each webinar in the series, called "Be My Witnesses Mission 2020," deals with an aspect of the AMS vision for catechesis as outlined in the AMS Forming Disciples for the New Evangelization: Archdiocesan Religion Curriculum Guide and supported by the AMS Family Faith Assessment, catechist training and certification, and leadership development. In this edition of Catholic Military Life, the only official podcast of the AMS, Mr. Amaya is joined by AMS catechetical leaders Jennifer Koepl at Fort Gordon, Roger Olaes at Travis Air Force Base, and Patti Ramos at Fort

Father Piotr Koziolkiewicz, CH (CPT), USA, finds balance between the physical and the spiritual. While not hearing confessions, administering other sacraments, or celebrating Mass for Catholics of the 589th Brigade Support Battalion at Grafenwöhr, Germany, he runs and bikes incredible distances. He stays active not only to stay in shape but also to serve as an example to the soldiers and their families in his flock. Recently, upon turning 40, Father Koziolkiewicz took a couple of long bike rides across Germany, each in excess of 300 miles. In this edition of Catholic Military Life, the only official podcast of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, Father Koziolkiewicz joins us by phone from Grafenwöhr to share his adventures on two wheels, and how they relate to his priestly calling serving those who serve.

In the Apostolic Exhortation Christus Vivit, Pope Francis calls on the Church to consider refreshing the ways she can accompany young people. Accordingly, the Evangelization Office of the Archdiocese for the Military Services will hold a Young Adult Ministry Symposium Aug. 6-9 in Silver Spring, MD, just outside the nation's capital. In this edition of Catholic Military Life, the only official podcast of the Archdiocese, organizers Katie Taylor and Casey Bustamante Lee share plans for the symposium, and how Catholic young adults between the ages of 18 and 29 who serve in the U.S. Military can make plans to participate.