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Catholic ecclesiastical jurisdiction From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Archdiocese for the Military Services, U.S.A., officially the Military Ordinariate of United States of America,[1] is a Latin Church jurisdiction of the Catholic Church for men and women serving in the United States Armed Forces and their dependents.
Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA Ordinariatus Militaris Civitatum Fœderatarum Americae Septentrionalis | |
|---|---|
| |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| Ecclesiastical province | Immediately subject to the Holy See |
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C. |
| Coordinates | 38.9354°N 76.9921°W |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Catholic Church |
| Sui iuris church | Latin Church Eastern Catholic Church |
| Rite | Multiple Rites (primarily the Roman Rite) |
| Established | July 21, 1986 |
| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Francis |
| Archbishop | Timothy Broglio |
| Auxiliary Bishops | F. Richard Spencer Neal Buckon Joseph L. Coffey William Muhm |
| Bishops emeritus | Richard Higgins |
| Website | |
| www.milarch.org | |
The archdiocese provides services to Catholics serving in military installations in the United States and overseas, to Catholic staff and patients at Veterans Heath Administration facilities,[2] and to Catholics at other federal services located overseas. The archdiocese does not have a cathedral, nor does it have jurisdiction over any territory; the headquarters are in Washington, D.C.
The archdiocese is considered a military ordinariate, headed by an archbishop. As of 2023, the archbishop is Timothy P. Broglio.
The Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, was originally established as a military vicariate, with the Archbishop of New York serving as the military vicar. It was reorganized as an archdiocese, with its own archbishop. Its headquarters was relocated from New York City to Washington by Pope John Paul II in 1986.
While the Archdiocese of the Military Services is a Latin Church jurisdiction, clergy from the Eastern Catholic Churches may receive endorsement by the archdiocese. However, the Eastern Catholic priests must maintain bi-ritual faculties and be able to celebrate the sacraments in the ordinary form of the Roman Rite.[3]
The archbishop is assisted by several auxiliary bishops. Together, they oversee Catholic priests serving as chaplains throughout the world. Each chaplain remains incardinated into the diocese or religious institute for which he was ordained. In the United States, military chaplains have an officer's rank based on their years of service and promotion selection from among their peers. Chaplains wear the uniform of their respective branch of service, and normally wear clerical attire only during the performance of a religious service. The position of rank and chaplain faith group insignia varies in each military department and may vary significantly from one type of uniform to another within a military department.
Catholic (priest) chaplains are organized in the following active duty branches:
Catholic Chaplains also serve in reserve components of the US Army, Navy, and Air Force and are subject to the AMS when deployed and when in training status:
Additionally, Catholic chaplains are also found among the ranks of State Defense Forces in twenty states in ground, air and naval divisions.
The jurisdiction of the archdiocese extends to Catholics on all United States government property in the United States and abroad, including U.S. military installations, embassies, consulates and other diplomatic missions.[1]
During the 19th century, individual Catholic priests ministered to American soldiers and sailors during wartime without any central organizational structure. When the United States entered World War I in 1917, it had 25 Catholic military chaplains. By the end of the war, there were over 1,000. To prevent confusion among these priests over jurisdiction, Pope Benedict XV in November 1917 erected a military diocese of the US armed forces.[4] The pope appointed Auxiliary Bishop Patrick Hayes of the Archdiocese of New York as bishop of this new diocese.[5] Hayes was chosen because New York was the primary port of embarkation for U.S. troops leaving for France and was therefore a convenient contact point for Catholic chaplains serving with them. Hayes established four vicariates within the United States and one for troops overseas.[6]
After Hayes was named archbishop of New York in 1918, he remained in control of the military vicariate. When the war ended in 1919, Hayes dissolved the overseas vicariate, but Hayes kept the four American vicariates. Hayes died in 1938. In 1939, Pope Pius XII named Archbishop Francis Spellman of New York to head the military diocese. During World War II and later, Spellman spent many Christmases with American troops in Japan, South Korea and Europe.[7] Spellman died in 1967. In 1968, a month after being named archbishop of New York by Pope Paul VI, Terence Cooke also became the next head of the military diocese.[8] To assist Cooke with the military diocese, the pope in 1975 appointed Bishop Joseph T. Ryan from the Archdiocese of Anchorage as a coadjutor bishop.[9]Pope John Paul II in 1979 named a retired military chaplain, Rear Admiral John O'Connor as auxiliary bishop for the military diocese.[10] In 1985, O'Connor became archbishop of New York.
On July 21, 1986, John Paul II decided to take responsibility for the military services away from the archbishop of New York. He instead erected a separate Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA.[11] Ryan became its first archbishop. Ryan retired in 1991.[9] The second archbishop of the Military Services was Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Dimino, a veteran of the US Navy Chaplain Corps. He was appointed by John Paul II in 1991.[12] In 1993, Dimino expressed his opposition to allowing LBGTQ+ persons to serve in the military to President Bill Clinton, saying that admitting gay men would have "disastrous consequences for all concerned."[13] While archbishop, Dimino added his support to a campaign started by John Paul II to eliminate the use of land mines.[14]
John Paul II named Auxiliary Bishop Edwin O'Brien of New York, a veteran of the US Army Chaplain Corps, as a coadjutor archbishop in 1997 to assist Dimino. When Dimino retired later in 1997 due to poor health, O'Brien automatically succeeded him as archbishop.[15] During his 10 years as archbishop of the Military Services, O'Brien divided his time between visiting American troops and working with the Pontifical North American College. In 1993, he initiated the cause of canonization for Emil Kapaun, a US Army chaplain killed during the Korean War.[16]
In 2006, O'Brien noted that declining public support for the Iraq War was leading to a decrease in morale among the troops, adding, "The news only shows cars being blown up, but the soldiers see hospitals being built and schools opening."[17] By 2007, he believed that the status of US operations in Iraq "compels an assessment of our current circumstances and the continuing obligation of the Church to provide a moral framework for public discussion."[18] In 2007, O'Brien became archbishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
Pope Benedict XVI named Archbishop Timothy Broglio as head of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA in 2007.[19] During his tenure, Broglio has voiced opposition to the Affordable Care Act's contraceptive mandate and the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, and showed support for the Trump administration's ban on transgender individuals serving in the United States military.[20]
In 2012, Catholic Extension approved a $56,000 two year grant to the Archdiocese for the Military Services to support faith formation programs for Catholics in the United States military.[21] As of April 2013, about 25% of the U.S. armed forces were Catholic.[22]
As of 2017, the Archdiocese had 208 priests on active duty serving approximately 1.8 million people.[23]
The diocesan chancery is located in the Brookland neighborhood of Washington, D.C., at 1025 Michigan Avenue Northeast.[24] The Archdiocese for the Military Services is the only U.S. diocese without a cathedral, but celebrates its major functions at the nearby Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, several blocks to the west.
The Geneva Conventions state (Protocol I, June 8, 1977, Art 43.2) that chaplains are noncombatants: they do not have the right to participate directly in hostilities. Captured chaplains are not considered prisoners of war (Third Convention, August 12, 1949, Chapter IV Art 33) and must be returned to their home nation unless retained to minister to prisoners of war.
In 1985, Reverend Alvin L. Campbell from the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois plead guilty to sexual abuse of minor. A former military chaplain, Campbell had been reprimanded by the Army for committing "indecent homosexual acts with a child". After leaving the Army, he was allowed to transfer to the Diocese of Springfield, where he committed his charged crimes. Sentenced to 14 years in prison, Campbell served seven years and was removed from public ministry by the archdiocese.[25][26]
In 2000, Reverend Mark Matson, an Army chaplain, was convicted of molesting a 13-year-old boy while serving at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu. Matson received 20 years in prison.[27][25]
In 2005, Reverend Gregory Arflack was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting three US Marines in Qatar.[28]
In 1991, Reverend Thomas Chleboski, an Air Force chaplain, pled guilty to five counts of molesting a 13-year-old boy in 1989 and received a 20-year prison sentence.[29][30] He was accused of luring his victim with tours of Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.[31]
Reverend Barry Ryan, a chaplain who served two years in prison for separate acts of sex abuse he committed in 2003, was removed from the archdiocese in 1995 after allegations surfaced that he committed acts of sex abuse against a minor in 1994.[25][32]
In April 2019, Colonel Arthur Perrault, an Air Force chaplain, was convicted of sexually abusing an altar boy. The attacks took place at Kirtland Air Force Base, at an amusement park and a veterans' cemetery in New Mexico in the early 1990s.[30][33] Perrault was serving in the Air National Guard when the abuse took place.[25] To avoid accusations of child abuse, Perrault disappeared in 1992. He was located in Morocco in 2018 and was extradited to the United States. In September 2019, Perrault was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison.[30][34]
Reverend Neal Destefano with the US Navy Chaplain Corps was convicted in 1994 of sexually molesting two unconscious Marines after plying them with alcohol. He was dismissed from the service and sentenced to five years in federal prison.[35]
In 2007, Reverend John Thomas Lee with the Navy pleaded guilty to forcible sodomy and other charges. While serving at the US Naval Academy at Quantico in 2004, he forced a midshipman to engage in oral sex. Court martialled in 2007, Lee was sentenced to two years in prison.[36]
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