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Well we have you on because of your Navy service but 27 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:05,960 also because of your particular insights as a Navy chaplain. You are a Catholic 28 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:11,640 priest. You were born in Wyandotte, Michigan and did your preliminary 29 00:03:11,640 --> 00:03:16,760 education and preparation for the priesthood here in Metro Detroit area. 30 00:03:16,760 --> 00:03:24,720 And somewhere along the way you talk somebody into letting you join the Navy. 31 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:32,440 Not the normal path for any Catholic priest. Tell us a little bit about a 32 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:35,920 why a kid from Wyandotte, Michigan and for those of you not familiar with 33 00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:41,000 Michigan around the world or Wyandotte in particular it sits on the water so I'm 34 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:45,800 sure you saw those big freighters go up and down but why did a kid from Wyandotte 35 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:52,520 want to end up in the Navy? Well that's that's a big part of it. Those ships just 36 00:03:52,520 --> 00:04:01,160 were those were a fascination. There was a mystery about them. Where were 37 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:11,160 they? Where are they going? That sort of thing but the Navy is all my aunt's fault 38 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:19,120 actually. She worked at the Grossiol Naval Air Station long since 39 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:28,120 disbanded but she used to bring back these glossy recruiting magazines with 40 00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:34,520 just all these pictures of sailors doing what they do in far off places and I 41 00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:42,520 was I was hooked. I had forgotten that there was a naval station down there on 42 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:46,440 Grossiol. That ties that together. I didn't know that. That's interesting. 43 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:54,640 Oh yeah, it's still there is a civilian airfield but that's where it started. 44 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:59,000 And I guess you got a little extra boost on boy this would be an interesting 45 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:02,960 career if I can figure out how to do it when you were studying in Rome. Tell us 46 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:11,360 a little bit about that. Well that was my aunt's fault too. I wasn't studying 47 00:05:11,360 --> 00:05:20,120 there at that time. She sent me there on a vacation as a ordination gift. So it 48 00:05:20,120 --> 00:05:27,680 essentially said go to Rome send me the bill. Well I because I you know I'd done 49 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:36,240 some research and read books and stuff about the Navy. I knew the US Navy's 50 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:44,040 sixth fleet anchorage was down in Naples just a one-hour train ride from Rome. 51 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:51,600 So I hopped the train went down there and this is where the lights really went 52 00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:57,520 on. I just there was no doubt in my mind that this is what God wanted me to 53 00:05:57,520 --> 00:06:05,080 do. I find my way to the the anchorage and just out in the harbor in all her 54 00:06:05,080 --> 00:06:13,080 glory is sitting the USS forest all. Big old aircraft carrier airplanes hanging 55 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:23,040 out all over the place like get down the pier as close as I can get and I run in 56 00:06:23,040 --> 00:06:32,680 houses for Providence. Don't I meet up with the ship's Catholic chaplain? What 57 00:06:32,680 --> 00:06:39,760 are the odds? Yeah I mean that's no accident in my mind. There was stuff 58 00:06:39,760 --> 00:06:48,440 going on there. He took me out to the ship. Showed me around the place and I 59 00:06:48,440 --> 00:06:58,240 was I was really hooked. I come back to Detroit went straight to the Cardinal 60 00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:07,840 Deirdre's office and says you gotta let me do this. He was a kind man. Very 61 00:07:07,840 --> 00:07:15,520 understanding sympathetic because you're just ordained John calm down. You got to 62 00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:20,200 do this is apparently I didn't know at the time it's an arrangement with a 63 00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:25,680 priest through the Catholic Conference of the United States. You've got to do 64 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:33,840 seven years as a priest in a pair in parish work in your diocese before your 65 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:43,520 ordinary will or can let you go to the military. So that was a deal. He said 66 00:07:43,520 --> 00:07:53,600 you do two assignments seven years here and I'll let you go and that's pretty 67 00:07:53,600 --> 00:08:00,840 well how it happened except that he he up and died in the midst of that and I 68 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:11,520 had to have the same conversation with Cardinal Schoca. But 1982 off I went. So 69 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:19,080 you joined you joined up in 1982 to the U.S. Navy and off to the Chaplain 70 00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:27,480 School. For those who don't know the the Army Chaplain Corps is one of the oldest 71 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:32,360 and smallest branches of the Army. That Chaplain Corps actually dates itself 72 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:38,280 back to July of 1775 when the Continental Congress authorized one 73 00:08:38,280 --> 00:08:42,520 Chaplain for each regiment of the Continental Army. So really the Chaplain 74 00:08:42,520 --> 00:08:48,760 Corps is older than the country itself. Oh indeed. Well let's start with your 75 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:53,480 history with the Chaplain Corps. So you go to school first. What's the what's the 76 00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:57,080 process here to get some duty assignments and tell us about those 77 00:08:57,080 --> 00:09:05,520 assignments. Okay it's Chaplain School was was not arduous duty. We were out in 78 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:18,520 Newport Rhode Island in August of 82. A bunch of Chaplain candidates and also 79 00:09:18,520 --> 00:09:29,160 medics doctors and corpsmen they put all in the same school trying to teach us 80 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:35,360 how to march and who to salute and how you get your uniforms and how you 81 00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:45,400 wear them and all that stuff. And then I got my my first orders were to the 82 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:53,480 Portsmouth Naval Hospital in Virginia just outside of Norfolk. It's the 83 00:09:53,480 --> 00:10:00,560 big Navy base on the East Coast and that was the medical facility that served 84 00:10:00,560 --> 00:10:09,560 the sailors. I was there for two years with an awesome Irish priest Dennis Casey. 85 00:10:09,560 --> 00:10:19,240 Foreign-born Irishman was just a wonderful model for me trying to figure 86 00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:27,080 out what ministry in this new vineyard was like. And did you have the only 87 00:10:27,080 --> 00:10:32,680 there for two years? That's what I was going to ask you. Do you have sort of the typical military rotation or they 88 00:10:32,680 --> 00:10:41,760 move you every few years? Three years is normal. It seems that hospital ministry 89 00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:49,160 and military is very stressful stuff. So they try to move you a little 90 00:10:49,160 --> 00:11:00,480 sooner and two years is more the norm for hospital work. And that's what they did 91 00:11:00,480 --> 00:11:08,040 with me. They also want to give new chaplains a variety of experiences and 92 00:11:08,040 --> 00:11:17,000 kind of show them the many different sorts of ministry that the Navy has to 93 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:22,400 offer so that you can and should get more senior you might become more 94 00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:29,520 specialized in one or the other. A lot of people don't know that we supply 95 00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:38,760 chaplains to the Coast Guard and also the Marine Corps gets its chaplain corps 96 00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:46,480 as well as doctors and corpsmen from the Navy. All the Marines are trigger 97 00:11:46,480 --> 00:11:53,640 pullers. All their support. They don't like to be reminded of that. 98 00:11:53,640 --> 00:11:59,400 It comes from the Navy. Well you guys are just taxi drivers. You just drive from places on those big ships. 99 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:03,800 But let me move you from Norfolk. Walk us through your next couple of 100 00:12:03,800 --> 00:12:13,400 duty assignments over this 26-year history. Okay. From the hospital I went to 101 00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:21,320 Okinawa with the Marine Corps for just a year and was supposed to stay longer 102 00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:29,480 than that. The detailer, the guy who makes assignments, wanted me to get into 103 00:12:29,480 --> 00:12:36,640 this exchange program with the Brits and the Royal Navy. So they pulled me out of 104 00:12:36,640 --> 00:12:46,840 that and I lived in Portsmouth, England for two years. The exchange program is 105 00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:57,520 something like 50 or so Navy people of all descriptions. Ship drivers, plane 106 00:12:57,520 --> 00:13:05,680 drivers, mechanics, doctors, chaplains, medics, all of that. Just trade trade jobs 107 00:13:05,680 --> 00:13:13,360 with their counterparts in the Royal Navy. So I lived over there for two years at 108 00:13:13,360 --> 00:13:26,400 a hospital. That was terrific. Went from there back home to Groton, Connecticut and 109 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:35,520 a submarine group. This is kind of neat for the Catholic side of the house. 110 00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:45,520 There's an admiral there who insisted on having a Catholic priest on his staff. 111 00:13:45,520 --> 00:13:52,000 Normally we didn't put priests, it's junior is me. I'm just a lieutenant 112 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:59,680 commander now. Normally it's all captains on an admiral's staff. But he wanted a 113 00:13:59,680 --> 00:14:06,160 priest and I was available coming off the exchange program. So they put me on his 114 00:14:06,160 --> 00:14:13,280 staff in Groton. I was there two and a half years. Admiral Hoolie was a serious 115 00:14:13,280 --> 00:14:21,480 Catholic. Daily mass goer along with his wife, Judy, wonderful people. 116 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:31,000 So there's that kind of demand for Catholic priests among the 117 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:38,800 hierarchies. Just very, very heartwarming uplifting. Went from there to my first 118 00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:45,840 aircraft carrier, the John F. Kennedy. And we immediately went off to Desert Shield, 119 00:14:45,840 --> 00:15:00,960 Desert Storm in 1991. A wonderful place for a priest to be. Again some very 120 00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:12,280 important Catholic believing officers on that ship. Eight out of the ten squadron 121 00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:25,360 commanders on the ship and its 70 aircraft were engaged churchgoing Catholic 122 00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:35,760 people. That kind of leadership along with the captain who was Eastern 123 00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:43,680 Orthodox. You can't beat that kind of leadership to reinforce your ministry. 124 00:15:43,680 --> 00:15:52,640 Well in something like 25% of the military designate is or identify as 125 00:15:52,640 --> 00:15:58,840 Catholic but certainly it's the Chaplain Corps and the military itself has all 126 00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:05,120 kinds of folks including those who are non-dominational or atheists but the 127 00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:11,520 Chaplain Corps has Protestants and Jewish rabbis and Muslim islams and Buddhists. 128 00:16:11,520 --> 00:16:18,360 So I suspect over time in in these various assignments you've got to 129 00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:30,600 interact with all types of different chaplains. Oh my goodness. Yeah. We live 130 00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:45,000 in ecumenical ministry all the time. It's real. It's authentic. We enjoy each 131 00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:53,960 other's company. We eat meals together. Our beliefs may be different one to 132 00:16:53,960 --> 00:17:02,240 another and our religious practices as well but we appreciate each other's 133 00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:11,960 ministry and our service and if you cannot live that way you don't last 134 00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:19,760 long in the service. You're found out pretty quick and you don't make rank 135 00:17:19,760 --> 00:17:27,720 and you go home to find some other vineyard to minister in. You've got to 136 00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:34,920 be open-minded and tolerant and accepting and willing to learn about each 137 00:17:34,920 --> 00:17:44,360 other's beliefs and practices and I don't know an institution on the planet 138 00:17:44,360 --> 00:17:51,080 that does that better than the United States military. Because and I guess I 139 00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:56,440 want to make sure that folks understand that when you're a chaplain you 140 00:17:56,440 --> 00:18:02,400 minister to everybody who's there right. Good point. Could you elaborate on sort 141 00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:08,000 of and I saw a quote that I'll come back to you on but it says you're quoted as 142 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:12,200 saying quote in the military a priest goes to where the people are close quote 143 00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:19,160 but but talk about who you minister to and the type of ministry. Well you're 144 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:28,040 right it's essentially the ministry the missionary model. We go out we don't have 145 00:18:28,040 --> 00:18:34,120 office well we do have an office but we don't wait for them to come to us we 146 00:18:34,120 --> 00:18:43,480 are out and about with everybody living the Navy life and that that goes a long 147 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:50,800 way especially with the Marines. You're out living in the mud with them and 148 00:18:50,800 --> 00:19:01,280 running with your pack with them you are you become one of the pack as they say 149 00:19:01,280 --> 00:19:14,000 we've had a given an example of the the bombing of the USS Cole. They don't 150 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:21,520 destroyer like that doesn't normally have a chaplain assigned to it but they 151 00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:27,400 were operating in the seventh fleet area and one of the we call them circuit 152 00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:32,640 riders who just goes around from ship to ship. It spent a couple of weeks with the 153 00:19:32,640 --> 00:19:43,000 Cole and gotten off just before the bomb went off and went off to do something 154 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:52,880 else. Well the Admiralty in seventh fleet tried to send them a couple 155 00:19:52,880 --> 00:20:01,040 chaplains from the Admiral staff. The Cole wouldn't let them on the ship they 156 00:20:01,040 --> 00:20:06,160 wanted nothing to do with them. They didn't know these people they weren't 157 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:12,120 about to come aboard and get deep down and personal with them. You got to be 158 00:20:12,120 --> 00:20:18,800 part of the pack. They wanted that guy who would 159 00:20:18,800 --> 00:20:27,800 Protestant chaplain who had spent two weeks with them at sea. He was up in 160 00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:34,080 the Mediterranean at the time but the Navy jumped through all kinds of hoops to 161 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:39,880 get him down there because he was the only chaplain they were willing to set 162 00:20:39,880 --> 00:20:47,400 foot on the ship. Get that kind of relationship with the people you're 163 00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:58,440 ministering to. It just pays dividends over and over and over again. So you 164 00:20:58,440 --> 00:21:05,480 spent I think it's 26 years in the service and and at some point in this 165 00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:10,480 process and we've just sort of outlined maybe about eight or ten years or more 166 00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:17,720 of that service. You have to be asking yourself or others are asking you why 167 00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:24,280 are you staying and in what was going on in your mind there's every career 168 00:21:24,280 --> 00:21:28,880 man or woman hits that point where they got to say it's time to time to stay or 169 00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:32,640 time to go. There are things on the outside world I maybe got to go do. What 170 00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:37,640 what were you thinking about as you were making that this is I'm staying for the 171 00:21:37,640 --> 00:21:45,800 career decision. That's difficult. I really there was never a point that I 172 00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:56,040 could identify where I decided I'm gonna just go to the end. I kept I kept getting 173 00:21:56,040 --> 00:22:03,960 promoted. I kept getting more senior. I'm getting more 174 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:11,560 interesting fascinating jobs where I've got some authority and I can do some 175 00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:20,520 things. I can mentor some people. I can teach the chaplains coming up behind me 176 00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:30,360 and I enjoyed that very much. I know you really enjoyed your time with the Marines. 177 00:22:30,360 --> 00:22:36,600 Now I've had a chance to have some meals with Father Callen and while he's a Navy 178 00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:42,640 chaplain he's always defending the honor of the the Marines and I think maybe 179 00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:48,200 did you close out did you close out your career at Camp Lejeune before retirement? 180 00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:55,760 Was that the last duty assignment? Almost did. I had two assignments there on 181 00:22:55,760 --> 00:23:04,480 two different general staffs the second division and then the second Marine 182 00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:12,400 Expeditionary Force. Again I got the first job as that other one I mentioned 183 00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:24,120 because Admiral Buck Emile Bedard a French Catholic demanded a Catholic 184 00:23:24,120 --> 00:23:35,400 priest on his staff and I happen to be if I make a short story long I was at 185 00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:43,360 Bethesda Naval Hospital at the time the day my name showed up on the captain's 186 00:23:43,360 --> 00:23:49,960 promotion list. Father Fred Elkin that afternoon he was the 187 00:23:49,960 --> 00:24:00,200 Detailer calls me and says John how fast can you get the Camp Lejeune? This 188 00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:04,840 general was jumping up and down and throwing things about why he didn't 189 00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:14,920 have his Catholic priest yet. So as soon as I got senior enough to qualify for 190 00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:23,440 the job they sent me off there and two months later I'm in the desert of 191 00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:33,040 Turkey with a battalion of the second Marine Division. It was sensational. 192 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:37,160 Well that's how you have to look at these opportunities that just sort of 193 00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:45,880 arise is go well I wasn't expecting this but isn't this interesting. Well I 194 00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:50,920 want to cover a couple of more things we could obviously talk the whole time 195 00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:54,520 just on these interesting career opportunities in the in the chaplain 196 00:24:54,520 --> 00:25:01,120 corps but let me speed forward a little bit you you retire from active duty in 197 00:25:01,120 --> 00:25:09,480 2008 you stay on as a civilian contractor priest until 2011 and then you 198 00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:22,080 spend a number of years on the staff of the Archbishop who's in charge of the 199 00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:28,240 Archdiocese for the military services and ultimately by about 2017 you said 200 00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:34,960 okay I've done my service here I'm heading back to the Metro Detroit area. 201 00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:39,520 What I want to I sped that up because I want you to talk about and I don't think 202 00:25:39,520 --> 00:25:48,040 today many people realize that the the chaplain corps isn't as robustly staffed 203 00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:53,440 as may be needed with all the deployments and in the up tempo and the use of 204 00:25:53,440 --> 00:26:00,680 contract chaplains can you talk to us a little bit about that aspect. Sure when I 205 00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:16,320 joined the Navy in 1982 the Navy had 220 priests today this morning we have 39 206 00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:25,200 in the course of that time you know like like every other diocese the Navy has 207 00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:38,280 taken its hits in terms of the dearth of priests so what the Navy did with that I 208 00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:44,320 mean they have a constitutional obligation to provide for the free 209 00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:51,280 exercise of religion for their people so this is something they've they have got 210 00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:58,040 to take care of this address it somehow so they started offering civilian 211 00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:06,720 contracts to retired priests well not necessarily retired priests but those 212 00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:11,320 were the only ones we could get or who though you know the Archbishop the 213 00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:21,960 respective bishops would let go to cover the bases in the United States so that 214 00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:30,400 the priests that we have could be sent to the Marine Corps to the ships at sea 215 00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:39,400 and to bases overseas and that's where our all our active duty priests are today 216 00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:44,920 there are none in the continental United States and that's again that's sort of 217 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:49,320 one of those things I think is a little shocking not only the drop that the Navy 218 00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:53,240 seen which I guess you can say well that's normal because of just the lack of 219 00:27:53,240 --> 00:27:57,720 priests in general but this idea that if you're a Navy chaplain you're deployed 220 00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:02,960 you're not sitting you're not sitting somewhere you're deployed so that makes 221 00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:09,920 it even maybe more difficult for somebody to make the commitment to be active 222 00:28:09,920 --> 00:28:16,280 duty or be a reserve chaplain and be committed to that mission and as you 223 00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:23,120 say the vineyards which are overseas or on ships well that's and this you know 224 00:28:23,120 --> 00:28:28,560 current situation is what makes those deployments even more difficult there 225 00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:35,080 sir there used to be a planned ebb and flow to these things you could you could 226 00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:44,440 go deploy like I did on the Kennedy for two years I was on the ship but I came 227 00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:51,320 back and was pastor of the Norfolk parish for a two year for two years so 228 00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:59,480 you you were at sea you come home you go with the Marines you come home there's 229 00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:08,200 that coming going sort of thing that now is impossible you're deployed you're 230 00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:13,800 deployed you're deployed you go to the Marines you go to a ship you go to a base 231 00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:23,840 overseas usually Europe there's there's no going home except for leave time it's 232 00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:30,920 so we're we're like like many diocese now we're burning out the priests that we've 233 00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:39,440 got turn to these civilian contractors and to fill the gap and then part of the 234 00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:44,520 reason father call on our talking because the Navy recently stepped in it and 235 00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:48,240 made national news and I said hey captain you got to come on and put this 236 00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:54,640 into context because in the beginning of September 2020 the Navy canceled the 237 00:29:54,640 --> 00:30:00,040 Catholic masses at San Diego bases continuing other services on base but 238 00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:05,600 essentially saying hey go out into the community go on to the local economy and 239 00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:11,000 find your religious services out there somewhat so so explain this controversy 240 00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:18,400 and the outcome of it as it it brood for about a month yeah well it wasn't 241 00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:28,760 fortunately it wasn't the Navy big Navy that decided to do this it was then just 242 00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:36,760 the region of the Navy Southwest it encompasses most of the California bases 243 00:30:36,760 --> 00:30:43,200 and certainly San Diego a very very large naval base with a huge Catholic 244 00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:51,360 population and a large Catholic congregation that at I think three 245 00:30:51,360 --> 00:31:01,360 different chapels all served by a contract priest who now was just gonna be 246 00:31:01,360 --> 00:31:10,240 let go this was a decision of an admiral who in my opinion out there got way 247 00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:17,680 ahead of his headlights he didn't seem to think big Navy would be interested or 248 00:31:17,680 --> 00:31:27,960 the Department of Defense wouldn't come down on top of him bad bad idea not 249 00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:37,160 thought out not staffed and he ended up having to back off of it and this all 250 00:31:37,160 --> 00:31:43,000 played out in the you know military times and national papers and this is not 251 00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:46,540 good you know anybody who's served knows if you're on the front page of the 252 00:31:46,540 --> 00:31:50,640 paper it's not good for your career so we'll just leave that a leave that hang 253 00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:55,720 in there but I well let me let me ask you to comment about a who I believe is a 254 00:31:55,720 --> 00:31:59,520 friend of yours and that's the Archbishop of the Archdiocese for the 255 00:31:59,520 --> 00:32:03,960 military services and and this will sort of bring us to an end but I think it's 256 00:32:03,960 --> 00:32:09,160 important for you to with your unique experience because you were on his staff 257 00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:13,960 for a number of years talk about the Archbishop and talk about this particular 258 00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:26,640 Archdiocese Archbishop Timothy Brolyo like like the priests that he shepherds 259 00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:37,480 is is borrowed from someplace else he was from he was a priest a bishop from 260 00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:47,520 Cleveland who spent most of his time doing diplomatic work with for the 261 00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:55,840 Secretary of State office in the Vatican he speaks he speaks five languages 262 00:32:55,840 --> 00:33:05,000 fluently and I suppose they thought with all the traveling involved in you 263 00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:10,840 know keeping up with the troops that he does that language skill would certainly 264 00:33:10,840 --> 00:33:20,960 be of use and I've served now for I believe four different military arch 265 00:33:20,960 --> 00:33:32,400 bishops and there is none who has been more on the road than he has usually it 266 00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:40,320 not usually without fail Christmas and Easter Thanksgiving times you can find 267 00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:47,080 him where the conflicts are he's in Kuwait he's in Afghanistan he's in 268 00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:57,160 Iraq and stops other places well getting to and from there the office has a 269 00:33:57,160 --> 00:34:03,040 heck of a time keep a track of him his poor secretary he has literally gone 270 00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:10,040 two-thirds of the time he's just not in the office well again from a military 271 00:34:10,040 --> 00:34:13,520 perspective you want your general you want your commander out with the troops 272 00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:18,400 and it's clear that he's taking that message to heart hasn't he exactly he 273 00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:26,480 models the military ministry as well as anybody without any military experience 274 00:34:26,480 --> 00:34:33,960 himself and that originally concerned us when he when he came aboard but right 275 00:34:33,960 --> 00:34:40,880 away he was smart enough to surround himself on the staff with a priest from 276 00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:47,760 the Air Force a priest from the Navy a priest from the Army who could keep him 277 00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:58,560 on from from making huge mistakes it's there's another parallel I want to draw 278 00:34:58,560 --> 00:35:03,000 which is you know the the service military services have troubles at time 279 00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:11,400 recruiting certainly recruiting different a diverse population and we have a 280 00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:17,720 lot of talk about the great opportunities the service can provide to certain 281 00:35:17,720 --> 00:35:21,520 citizens of the United States if they get in there and sees them and I wonder 282 00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:25,520 you know they're always working at what different recruiting approaches in 283 00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:31,520 different communities and I wonder how does how do you solve the chaplain 284 00:35:31,520 --> 00:35:35,480 problem from a recruiting end in light of what's going on in different 285 00:35:35,480 --> 00:35:43,240 communities is there an answer to the to the Catholic priest shortage in 286 00:35:43,240 --> 00:35:48,880 the military in the Navy in particular with those shocking numbers we depend 287 00:35:48,880 --> 00:35:54,440 we don't have a seminary we don't make our own priests the military we borrow 288 00:35:54,440 --> 00:36:02,800 everybody else's we depend on the good-hearted generosity of Archbishop's 289 00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:11,880 and bishops in the United States to loan us their priests most of them are very 290 00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:22,000 happy to do that there are others who are just strictly against the military and 291 00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:30,200 don't even want to hear about it so we leave them alone but we have a vocations 292 00:36:30,200 --> 00:36:42,440 director on the Archbishop staff who is constantly in touch with the clergy 293 00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:51,040 offices of the diocese and encouraging young people to think about the military 294 00:36:51,040 --> 00:37:02,880 as at least part of their priestly service they they don't need to think of it 295 00:37:02,880 --> 00:37:11,280 as a career necessarily you can go in for three years six years come home and 296 00:37:11,280 --> 00:37:20,760 that way the Archbishop is not concerned about losing you entirely for the rest 297 00:37:20,760 --> 00:37:26,400 of your priestly career and retiring on from active duty and he never sees you 298 00:37:26,400 --> 00:37:36,520 again that is one of their principal concerns in loaning priests of the 299 00:37:36,520 --> 00:37:43,760 military archdiocese so we are totally dependent on their goodwill and with the 300 00:37:43,760 --> 00:37:54,600 command for priests being what it is in the diocese it's very difficult for 301 00:37:54,600 --> 00:38:00,680 them to just offer up another one when they have priests we have parishes with 302 00:38:00,680 --> 00:38:09,160 no priests yeah no this is a wider shortage of religious men and women 303 00:38:09,160 --> 00:38:14,360 well I kept in call I appreciate you taking I kept you longer than I said I 304 00:38:14,360 --> 00:38:18,920 would we didn't cover all the ground I hoped we had but you know it's an 305 00:38:18,920 --> 00:38:22,400 interesting perspective and I think one that will hopefully help others 306 00:38:22,400 --> 00:38:28,440 understand what it is chaplains do and what it is Catholic priests do the kind 307 00:38:28,440 --> 00:38:32,200 of careers that they might have in the military and the importance in the value 308 00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:38,240 of it you pointed out it's a sort of a it not only is down to the soldier sailor 309 00:38:38,240 --> 00:38:43,640 marine level that it one-on-one but this larger constitutional issue to make 310 00:38:43,640 --> 00:38:47,720 sure that they can exercise their free right to religion as well when in 311 00:38:47,720 --> 00:38:54,320 service and so I think it's something we should all think about to make sure 312 00:38:54,320 --> 00:38:59,400 that we're we have the military that we want to have one that's can be grounded 313 00:38:59,400 --> 00:39:04,360 in God and country and ethics and get counseling and get help when it's 314 00:39:04,360 --> 00:39:09,480 needed and all of those things are part of what you deliver as a chaplain over 315 00:39:09,480 --> 00:39:14,960 the 26 career 26 year career so thank you for your service captain and thank 316 00:39:14,960 --> 00:39:18,640 you for spending some time with veterans radio today thanks very much 317 00:39:18,640 --> 00:39:23,560 Jim I enjoyed it and I want to thank everybody for listening to veterans 318 00:39:23,560 --> 00:39:28,880 radio today I am Jim Fawson it's been a pleasure to be your host I'm a veteran's 319 00:39:28,880 --> 00:39:33,600 disability lawyer at legal help for veterans and you can reach us at 800 320 00:39:33,600 --> 00:39:41,840 69348 00 or legal help for veterans calm on the web you can follow veterans radio 321 00:39:41,840 --> 00:39:47,160 on Facebook and listen to its 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