Serving Those Who Serve

Co-sponsored seminarians of the Archdiocese of the Military Services, USA, Bradley Easterbrooks '22 (San Diego) and Peter Ludwig '22 (Lansing), pose for a photo after Rev. Mr. Madison Hayes '21 (Anchorage) and Rev. Mr. Patrick Costello '21 (Green Bay) were ordained to the diaconate at St. Peter's Basilica.

MICHAEL NUGENT ’23, DIOCESE OF ARLINGTON

In 2010, I graduated from college and moved to New York City to begin a career on Wall Street. I believed I was on the path to lasting happiness: a great job, a vibrant city to explore, and the promise of more and more disposable income. Quickly, however, the bright fantasy collided with drab reality: number-crunching late into the night; pretending to understand the term “collateralized debt obligation” in front of clients; sweating over the annual bonus rankings; and developing conceited opinions about neckties. I was underwhelmed: was this it? Is the objective of life just to serve myself?

In the search for something deeper, I turned to my Catholic faith. Working across the street from St. Patrick’s

Cathedral in Manhattan, I found refuge in daily Mass and the Rosary.

With guidance from many holy priests, including two who had served as Navy chaplains, I slowly began to listen to

God’s voice. I started reading more about the spiritual life and the examples of the saints. As I began to seriously discern a priestly vocation, one book in particular captured my attention.

The Grunt Padre details the heroic life of Servant of God and U.S.

Navy chaplain Vincent Capodanno, a Maryknoll priest killed in action in Vietnam while ministering to wounded Marines. Father Capodanno posthumously received the Congressional Medal of Honor. Here was a man who, in humble imitation of

Christ, had truly lived for others.

The Most Rev. William Muhm, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of the Military Services, USA, gives a presentation to first year seminarians about the work of the Archdiocese and military chaplaincy.

After moving back to my home state of Virginia and discerning more deeply for a few years, I felt an abiding call to both the diocesan priesthood and the military chaplaincy. I have a deep affinity for our military men and women and their families: my father served in the Navy for over thirty years, and I grew up in military communities across the country. Three of my family members currently serve in the military and several more are veterans.

It is a great privilege to be a co-sponsored seminarian with the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA (AMS) and the Diocese of Arlington. The AMS is entrusted with the pastoral care of 1.8 million Catholics worldwide, including men and women serving in the U.S. military and their families, patients in Veterans Affairs Medical Centers, and government employees working overseas. With a co-sponsorship agreement, the AMS and a geographic diocese share the cost of a seminarian’s formation. After the man is ordained for three years, he enters active duty as an officer and chaplain in the Navy, Army, or Air Force for a time, ensuring that those who defend our freedoms do not have to go without the sacraments.

Here at the College, we are blessed to have five men in formation who are co-sponsored with the AMS and their home diocese: Madison Hayes of Anchorage-Juneau, Patrick Costello of Green Bay, Brad Easterbrooks of San Diego, and Peter Ludwig of Lansing. The world of Wall Street told me that being selfish would make me happy. That world was wrong. Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, was right: “man cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself.” n