As the US Army approaches the 250th anniversary of its Chaplain Corps on 29 July, Catholic military chaplains are in critically short supply.
Father Peter Pomposello, senior garrison chaplain at Fort Bragg (formerly Fort Liberty), said the Army needs 350 active-duty Catholic chaplains to meet spiritual needs—but has fewer than 80.
Catholics make up about 25 per cent of the US military, yet Catholic priests account for just 8 per cent of the 3,000 chaplains serving across all branches.
The Archdiocese for the Military Services, based in Washington, is responsible for pastoral care to 1.8 million Catholics worldwide—spanning 220 installations in 29 countries.
Father Pomposello, 56, a graduate of St Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, New York, holds the rank of major and has been a chaplain since 2014.
“A lot of people don’t realise how vital the chaplain’s role is in a military organisation,” said Father Paul Hurley, a priest of the Boston Archdiocese.
As a priest in the Army, Fr Pomposello has jumped out of airplanes in Alaska, been deployed to the Middle East to minister to soldiers in harm’s way and had the joy of celebrating many Masses, weddings and baptisms for the soldiers and families of the US Army.
A former chaplain recruiter for the Army, he said his recruiting efforts were “an eye-opener of how difficult it was to get a priest into the Army.”
The main obstacle, he said, “comes down to the generosity of the bishops we’re asking to let them go. It’s a very big ask! It’s torture! It’s very hard.”
He’s found young men who “want to do it, but they fear asking their bishop.”
At Fort Bragg, he’s assisted by Father Mike Metz, who holds the rank of captain. One of the largest Army bases in the world, it has about 61,000 military personnel plus 14,000 civilian employees. Thinking of it as a parish, Father Pomposello estimates he has about 12,500 parishioners.
For Father Paul Hurley, the discussion about recruiting is not at all new.
Now the pastor of St Bonaventure Parish in Plymouth, Massachusetts, he was the 24th chief of chaplains of the US Army (with the rank of major general), serving in the post from 2015 until his retirement from the military in 2019.