Meet Catholics Seeking Christ Catholics Seeking Christ is a peer-to-peer ministry for young enlisted military personnel wanting to understand the richness of our Catholic tradition and study Scripture in small groups to build a relationship with Jesus Christ. To learn more, contact: Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, Office of Young Adult Ministries, Attn: Pavel Reid, P.O. Box 4469, Washington, DC 20017-0469; or visit: http://www.cscmilarch.org/index.htm

 CD: What kind of guy becomes a military chaplain?

O’BRIEN: A priest looking for a more exciting way of ministering, who likes young people, who likes travel, who is comfortable in non-Catholic surroundings. I have met very few chaplains who regret. Once they step in, they want to stay in. Catholic chaplains have a great track record and reputation for being straightforward and truthful. They don’t play games or reflect negatively on other denominations. Every commander wants one of his two chaplains to be a Catholic. They tell me this outright.

Every chaplain ministers to every soldier regardless of faith. Every chaplain has to know the limit where the question is about the specific details of that faith. You refer the question to the appropriate chaplain. It can be very damaging to go into territory that is reserved for that individual’s chaplain of faith. One of our psychological counselors recently told me that Catholic priests are very helpful because they listen first. Some evangelical chaplains, and I certainly do not want to disparage anyone or imply that all of them would do so because it really is a small number, but some don’t do that. Priests have to be good listeners first. Every chaplain must have at least three years in a parish to develop those pastoral skills. A chaplain has to know when to bring in that faith element for Catholics and when to suggest a Protestant chaplain or some other appropriate chaplain if the individual is not Catholic.

 CD: There’s been some media attention indicating that fundamentalist chaplains are pressuring Catholics to convert. Is it true?

O’BRIEN: We’re short of Catholic chaplains and sometimes the only chaplain available to a Catholic is a Protestant chaplain. It can be that a (fundamentalist) message resonates with a Catholic who is not schooled in the faith. We have to hope, in that case, that God will be bringing something good out of that. To be a mature Christian, you need Baptism, Faith, Sacraments. You need all of those. Eight percent of the chaplains are Catholic and 26 to 27 percent of the military is Catholic. So you can see there is a gap there. We just have to leave the rest to God. If an evangelical chaplain does get out of hand, I can assure you that it is addressed. It’s rare. But it does happen.

 CD: What is your first priority as the spiritual shepherd of 1.5 million Catholics?

O’BRIEN: We have about one-quarter of a million young adult Catholics age18 to 29 in our military. One day I’m going to meet my Maker and I’ll be asked: “How many young people went through (the ranks) under your supervision and were better Catholics than when they came in.” Right now, I can’t say that’s true for each one. Evangelization is the charism of the laity. We need your help there. Our young Catholics’ faith still has to find its strength wherever they are, and it will if they stay close to the Church, get to know Jesus, and live their faith.  CD

Kathleen Stauffer is is President and Publisher of the Bayard Magazine Group.

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