Efforts to recruit Catholic priests pay off

Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Fred Hays assists Air Force Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Michael Weber into his vestments before the Catholic daily mass July 23 at Camp Eggers in Kabul, Afghanistan. During the recruiting cycle ending in October, 11 Catholic priests signed up for active duty and six joined the Air Force Reserve.


Efforts to recruit Catholic priests pay off
By Patrick Winn - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Oct 28, 2007 10:03:22 EDT

Catholic chaplains — among the Air Force’s most difficult recruits — are flocking to the service in record numbers.

Though more than one-fourth of Americans and airmen are Catholic, chaplain priests have only dribbled into the Air Force in recent years; just one joined in 2005. But during the 2007 recruiting cycle that ended Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, 11 Catholics signed up for active duty, and six joined the Air Force Reserve.

That would be quite a haul even for a nonmilitary Roman Catholic Church diocese.

Air Force recruiting leaders credit this banner year to the patient courtship of priests, already in short supply within the Roman Catholic Church. Persuading priests to join the service and securing the blessing of their diocese can require years of negotiation.

Of the Air Force’s current corps of 591 chaplains, two are Muslim, five are Christian Orthodox, eight are Jewish and 84 are Catholic. The overwhelming majority, 492 chaplains, are Protestant, as are 52 percent of Americans, according to the CIA World Fact Book.

As with all faiths, a potential Protestant chaplain recruit’s credentials must be validated by a Defense Department specialist. But Catholic priests, obedient to a vast church hierarchy, must also receive clearance from their local bishop.

Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2007/10/airforce_catholic_priests_071028w/

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throughout the service.