VA TRAVELS BY BISHOP JOSEPH COFFEY
O
ne of the great joys of being the Vicar for Veterans Affairs for the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, is the opportunity to make pastoral visits to the wonderful Catholic priests who work as chaplains in our Nation’s VAMC’s (Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers). On a recent trip, I visited our priests in San Diego and San Francisco, CA; Albuquerque, NM; St. Cloud and Minneapolis,
MN; and Tomah, WI. At the VA Medical Center in San Francisco, I celebrated Mass with Father Paulinus Iwuji and Father Alejandro De Jesus, the Chief Chaplain for that Medical Center. He is also the president of the National Conference of Veterans Affairs Catholic Chaplains, which the VA priest-chaplains are happy to join. The members help each other take the necessary steps to continued on page 22
ABOVE: CATHOLIC VOLUNTEERS AT THE MINNEAPOLIS VA HEALTHCARE SYSTEM (L-R): JEANNE ZELLMER, MARY FOLTA, BROTHER JOHN MARY KASPARI F.B.P., BISHOP JOSEPH COFFEY, BROTHER JAMES VOELLER, F.B.P., FATHER DAMIEN SCHILL, CHERYL HEINZ, AND DR. PAUL DICKINSON.
Fall 2021
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