catholic coverage on military installations BY ARCHBISHOP TIMOTHY P. BROGLIO
R
ecent meetings with the Chiefs of Chaplains of the Army, Navy, and Air Force have led me to address anew the question of pastoral care of Catholics. All three chaplain corps address the issue in different ways and the reflections below probably respond primarily to the approach used most recently in the U.S. Navy. The military desires measurable data to make determinations: number of people at a chapel service, registered counseling sessions, numbers who frequent a ministry center or chapel sponsored activity, and so forth. The metrics are important, but do they tell the whole story? Conversations with those who analyze data frequently center around the chapel and who is present for services on Sunday and during the week. Certainly, chapel use is an important category and the presence of chapels, medical facilities, physical fitness centers, theaters, commercial enterprises, golf courses, and gas stations probably all date to a time when many military members
4
lived or were obliged to live on the installation to which they were assigned. Changing that principle is probably necessary and should be global, i.e., if chapels are going to be closed, then perhaps all of those other facilities should be re-examined, as well. [Of course, it is not really about closing chapels but eliminating on-base Catholic communities.] However, should that mean that a Catholic soldier, sailor, airman, Marine, Coast Guardsman, or Space Force guardian, spouse, or dependent only sees a priest if he or she goes off post? Are we communicating that other religions can have ministers (if they are chaplains), but there will be no Catholic ministerial presence on an installation? Is there a danger of creating a separate but equal system for meeting the needs of Catholic members of the Armed Forces? I have heard proposals about organizing transportation to the local Catholic parish for Mass, but
