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April 23,
2007
VOL.
45, NO. 8Oakland,
CA
Catholic military
chaplains provide
spiritual support to nation’s soldiers
 |
| Father Maciej Napieralski (left) and Father David
A. Kenehan set up for a morning Mass at the U.S. Army Chaplain Center
and School at Fort Jackson, S.C. Father Napieralski completed the
Chaplain Basic Officer Leadership Course April 5 and will serve initially
at Fort Wainwright, Alaska. Father Kenehan, a colonel, is the deputy
commandant of the chaplain’s school. CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING |
FORT JACKSON,
S.C. (CNS) --
Catholic priests are a minority in the ranks of Army chaplains, even though
it is estimated that one in four soldiers in the Army is Catholic, said
Oblate Father David A. Kenehan, an Army colonel who serves as deputy commandant
at the U.S. Army Chaplain Center and School at Fort Jackson, near Columbia.
Their lives include daily and weekly Mass, prayer and other elements of
a civilian priest’s life. But they dress in regulation camouflage
battle-dress uniforms. They study military regulations and procedures,
wake up early to go on five-mile marches, learn how to put on a gas mask
in less than nine seconds, and rappel off a 60-foot wooden structure known
as Victory Tower.
This training is essential because many of these priests and their fellow
chaplains will be deployed to combat areas during their careers. It also
bonds them with those they serve.
The shortage of Catholic priests in the Army resembles in many ways the
shortage of priests in the civilian world. With an increasing shortage
of priests in the United States, more dioceses are relying on missionary
priests from overseas.
Of the nine priests in training at the chaplain school, all but one are
foreign-born. They came from the Philippines, India, Poland, Kenya and
Nigeria.
“The pressing need for priests in the Army prompted me to do this,”
said Father John Baptist Gabriel, a priest of the Diocese of Neyyattinkara,
India. “The kids who are facing combat really need support from
priests at this time in their lives.”
As chaplains, they minister to soldiers from all denominations, not just
Catholics.
Often, the priests say, they are called on to do much more than their
regular chaplain duties. They might log hundreds of miles in the air flying
from base to base in Iraq, for instance, to offer Mass for Catholic soldiers.
“You’re used a lot over there -- at one point when I was over,
there were only two Catholic priests who covered the whole of Baghdad,”
said Father Christopher Opara, a Nigerian-born chaplain in the C-4 program
who completed a deployment to Iraq in November.
Priests who want to serve as chaplains must first receive approval from
their bishops, and can be recalled at almost any time if a serious need
arises in their home diocese. This rarely happens when they are deployed
on active duty in a combat zone, like Iraq, Father Kenehan said, but it
is a possibility they face when serving in other areas.
Priests who have already completed one or two tours in combat areas in
the Middle East say the issues soldiers face these days are daunting,
especially strained marriages and family ties because of long, multiple
deployments. Add this to the daily stress of combat, homesickness and
the pain of losing friends and fellow soldiers, and the work of the Catholic
priest as chaplain becomes even more vital, they say.
“Being in combat helps you to know more the value of life,”
said Father Isaac Opara, a Nigerian who was deployed to Kandahar in Afghanistan.
“What gave me joy over there was knowing I was living the mission
of bringing the Gospel to everyone,” he added. “The work I
did showed me how important the priest is in the combat context. Catholic
soldiers especially need their priests because it takes a priest to make
sure they get the spiritual attention they need.”
Newly ordained Catholic priests, unlike most other new clergy who become
chaplains, must serve in a parish for three years before they can become
full-time chaplains.
This requirement is not a problem for most of the chaplain candidates
at Fort Jackson. Father Fausto Kaverenge, born in Kenya, has been a priest
for 16 years. Father Maciej Napieralski, a native of Poland and first
lieutenant in the U.S. Army, was ordained in 1983 and spent the past seven
years serving the Diocese of Fairbanks, Alaska.
