DUIN: Priest serves military

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By Julia Duin

I first heard of Archbishop Timothy Broglio, the new head of the Catholic Archdiocese for Military Services, through all the letters he was sending me.

Well, not to me personally, but to me as a name on a Catholic mailing list. The letters talked about financial needs to counteract the severe shortage of priest-chaplains.

There are only 300 full-time clerics for 1.5 million Catholics in the armed services and their families in 29 countries.

Compare that with the Archdiocese of Detroit, which has 1.46 million Catholics served by 694 priests. And unlike other U.S. Catholic dioceses, the military archdiocese does not have endowments or funding from income-generating parishes for its annual $4 million budget.

The government does not chip in, and because of church/state regulations, chaplains can only solicit funds during Sunday services four times a year.

I next met the archbishop at a pre-papal-visit press conference, as he was one of the dignitaries welcoming Pope Benedict XVI on April 15 at Andrews Air Force Base.

We hit it off because 1) we both speak decent French and 2) he was ordained to the priesthood 31 years ago on May 19, my birthday.

I recently dropped by his headquarters near Catholic University, where he admitted he has never fought in the armed forces and he opposes the war in Iraq.

"I think it was a mistake," he said. "I agreed with Pope John Paul II's position that we should wait. But now it's my role to minister to the people now fighting."

The job - which includes confirmations, ministry to chaplains, recruitment and fundraising - requires being overseas for 60 percent of the time.