# Roman Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA

The Archdiocese for the Military Services, U.S.A., officially the Military Ordinariate of United States of America, is a Latin Church jurisdiction of the Catholic Church for men and women serving in the United States Armed Forces and their dependents.
The archdiocese provides services to Catholics serving in military installations in the United States and overseas, to Catholic staff and patients at Veterans Heath Administration facilities, and to Catholics at other federal services located overseas. The archdiocese does not have a cathedral, nor does it have jurisdiction over any territory; the headquarters are in Washington, D.C.
The archdiocese is considered a military ordinariate, headed by an archbishop. As of 2025, the archbishop is Timothy P. Broglio.

## Description

The Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, was originally established as a military vicariate, with the Archbishop of New York serving as the military vicar. It was reorganized as an archdiocese, with its own archbishop. Its headquarters was relocated from New York City to Washington by Pope John Paul II in 1986.
While the Archdiocese of the Military Services is a Latin Church jurisdiction, clergy from the Eastern Catholic Churches may receive endorsement by the archdiocese. However, the Eastern Catholic priests must maintain bi-ritual faculties and be able to celebrate the sacraments in the ordinary form of the Roman Rite.
The archbishop is assisted by several auxiliary bishops. Together, they oversee Catholic priests serving as chaplains throughout the world. Each chaplain remains incardinated into the diocese or religious institute for which he was ordained. In the United States, military chaplains have an officer's rank based on their years of service and promotion selection from among their peers. Chaplains wear the uniform of their respective branch of service, and normally wear clerical attire only during the performance of a religious service. The position of rank and chaplain faith group insignia varies in each military department and may vary significantly from one type of uniform to another within a military department.
Catholic (priest) chaplains are organized in the following active duty branches:
* United States Army Chaplain Corps (USACC)
* United States Navy Chaplain Corps – for the US Navy, the US Marine Corps and the US Coast Guard
* United States Air Force Chaplain Corps
Catholic chaplains also serve in reserve components of the US Army, Navy, and Air Force and are subject to the AMS when deployed and when in training status:
* Army National Guard
* Air National Guard
* Army Reserve Command
* US Navy Reserve
Additionally, Catholic chaplains are also found among the ranks of State Defense Forces in twenty states in ground, air and naval divisions.
The jurisdiction of the archdiocese extends to Catholics on all United States government property in the United States and abroad, including U.S. military installations, embassies, consulates and other diplomatic missions.

## History

During the 19th century, individual Catholic priests ministered to American soldiers and sailors during wartime without any central organizational structure. When the United States entered World War I in 1917, it had 25 Catholic military chaplains. By the end of the war, there were over 1,000. To prevent confusion among these priests over jurisdiction, Pope Benedict XV in November 1917 erected a military diocese of the US armed forces. The pope appointed Auxiliary Bishop Patrick Hayes of the Archdiocese of New York as bishop of this new diocese. Hayes was chosen because New York was the primary port of embarkation for U.S. troops leaving for France and was therefore a convenient contact point for Catholic chaplains serving with them. Hayes established four vicariates within the United States and one for troops overseas.
After Hayes was named archbishop of New York in 1918, he remained in control of the military vicariate. When the war ended in 1919, Hayes dissolved the overseas vicariate, but Hayes kept the four American vicariates. Hayes died in 1938. In 1939, Pope Pius XII named Archbishop Francis Spellman of New York to head the military diocese. During World War II and later, Spellman spent many Christmases with American troops in Japan, South Korea and Europe. Spellman died in 1967.
In 1968, a month after being named archbishop of New York by Pope Paul VI, Terence Cooke also became the next head of the military diocese. To assist Cooke with the military diocese, the pope in 1975 appointed Bishop Joseph T. Ryan from the Archdiocese of Anchorage as a coadjutor bishop.Pope John Paul II in 1979 named a retired military chaplain, Rear Admiral John O'Connor as auxiliary bishop for the military diocese. In 1985, O'Connor became archbishop of New York.
On July 21, 1986, John Paul II decided to take responsibility for the military services away from the archbishop of New York. He instead erected a separate Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA. Ryan became its first archbishop. Ryan retired in 1991. The second archbishop of the Military Services was Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Dimino, a veteran of the US Navy Chaplain Corps. He was appointed by John Paul II in 1991.
In 1993, Dimino expressed his opposition to allowing LBGTQ+ persons to serve in the military to President Bill Clinton, saying that admitting gay men would have "disastrous consequences for all concerned." While archbishop, Dimino added his support to a campaign started by John Paul II to eliminate the use of land mines.
John Paul II named Auxiliary Bishop Edwin O'Brien of New York, a veteran of the US Army Chaplain Corps, as a coadjutor archbishop in 1997 to assist Dimino. When Dimino retired later in 1997 due to poor health, O'Brien automatically succeeded him as archbishop. During his 10 years as archbishop of the Military Services, O'Brien divided his time between visiting American troops and working with the Pontifical North American College. In 1993, he initiated the cause of canonization for Emil Kapaun, a US Army chaplain killed during the Korean War.
In 2006, O'Brien noted that declining public support for the Iraq War was leading to a decrease in morale among the troops, adding, "The news only shows cars being blown up, but the soldiers see hospitals being built and schools opening." By 2007, he believed that the status of US operations in Iraq "compels an assessment of our current circumstances and the continuing obligation of the Church to provide a moral framework for public discussion." In 2007, O'Brien became archbishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
Pope Benedict XVI named Archbishop Timothy Broglio as head of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA in 2007. During his tenure, Broglio voiced opposition to the Affordable Care Act's contraceptive mandate and the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell. He also showed support for the Trump administration's 2019 ban on transgender individuals serving in the United States military.
In 2012, Catholic Extension approved a $56,000 two-year grant to the Archdiocese for the Military Services to support faith formation programs for Catholics in the United States military. As of April 2013, about 25% of the U.S. armed forces were Catholic.
As of 2017, the archdiocese had 208 priests on active duty serving approximately 1.8 million people.

## Bishops
### Apostolic Vicar of the United States Armed Forces

* Cardinal Patrick Joseph Hayes (1917-1938), concurrently served as Auxiliary Bishop of New York and later Archbishop of New York
* Cardinal Francis Joseph Spellman (1939-1967), concurrently served as Archbishop of New York
* Cardinal Terence James Cooke (1968-1983), concurrently served as Archbishop of New York

### Apostolic Delegate for the United States Armed Forces

* John Francis O'Hara (1939-1945), appointed Bishop of Buffalo and later Archbishop of Philadelphia (elevated to Cardinal in 1958)
* William Richard Arnold (1945-1965)

### Archbishop for the Military Services, USA

* John Joseph Thomas Ryan (1985-1991)
* Joseph Thomas Dimino (1991-1997)
* Edwin Frederick O'Brien (1997-2007), appointed Archbishop of Baltimore and later Pro-Grand Master and Grand Master of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre (elevated to Cardinal in 2012)
* Timothy P. Broglio (2008–present)

### Coadjutor Archbishops

* John Joseph Thomas Ryan (1975-1985)
* Edwin Frederick O'Brien (1997)

### Auxiliary Bishops

* William Tibertus McCarty (1943–1947), appointed Bishop of Rapid City
* James Henry Ambrose Griffiths (1949–1955), concurrently served as Auxiliary Bishop of New York
* Philip Joseph Furlong (1955–1971)
* William Joseph Moran (1965–1981)
* James Jerome Killeen (1975–1978)
* John Joseph O'Connor (1979–1983), appointed Bishop of Scranton and later Archbishop of New York (elevated to Cardinal in 1985)
* Lawrence Joyce Kenney (1983–1990)
* Angelo Thomas Acerra (1983–1990)
* Joseph Thomas Dimino (1983–1991), appointed Archbishop for the Military Services, USA
* Francis Xavier Roque (1983–2004)
* John Gavin Nolan (1987–1997)
* John Joseph Glynn (1991–2002)
* José de Jesús Madera Uribe (1991–2004)
* John Joseph Kaising (2000–2007)
* Joseph W. Estabrook (2004–2012)
* Richard Brendan Higgins (2004–2020)
* F. Richard Spencer (2010–present)
* Neal James Buckon (2011–present)
* Robert J. Coyle (2013–2018), appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Rockville Centre
* Joseph L. Coffey (2019–present)
* William Muhm (2019–present)
* Gregg M. Caggianelli (Elect, 2025)

## Seat

The diocesan chancery is located in the Brookland neighborhood of Washington, D.C., at 1025 Michigan Avenue Northeast. The Archdiocese for the Military Services is the only U.S. diocese without a cathedral, but celebrates its major functions at the nearby Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, several blocks to the west.

## Noncombatant status

The Geneva Conventions state (Protocol I, June 8, 1977, Art 43.2) that chaplains are noncombatants: they do not have the right to participate directly in hostilities. Captured chaplains are not considered prisoners of war (Third Convention, August 12, 1949, Chapter IV Art 33) and must be returned to their home nation unless retained to minister to prisoners of war.

## Reports of sexual abuse
### Army

In 1985, Reverend Alvin L. Campbell from the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois plead guilty to sexual abuse of minor. A former military chaplain, Campbell had been reprimanded by the Army for committing "indecent homosexual acts with a child". After leaving the Army, he was allowed to transfer to the Diocese of Springfield, where he committed his charged crimes. Sentenced to 14 years in prison, Campbell served seven years and was removed from public ministry by the archdiocese.
In 2000, Reverend Mark Matson, an Army chaplain, was convicted of molesting a 13-year-old boy while serving at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu. Matson received 20 years in prison.
In 2005, Reverend Gregory Arflack was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting three US Marines in Qatar.

### Air Force

In 1991, Reverend Thomas Chleboski, an Air Force chaplain, pled guilty to five counts of molesting a 13-year-old boy in 1989 and received a 20-year prison sentence. He was accused of luring his victim with tours of Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.
Reverend Barry Ryan, a chaplain who served two years in prison for separate acts of sex abuse he committed in 2003, was removed from the archdiocese in 1995 after allegations surfaced that he committed acts of sex abuse against a minor in 1994.
In April 2019, Colonel Arthur Perrault, an Air Force chaplain, was convicted of sexually abusing an altar boy. The attacks took place at Kirtland Air Force Base, at an amusement park and a veterans' cemetery in New Mexico in the early 1990s. Perrault was serving in the Air National Guard when the abuse took place. To avoid accusations of child abuse, Perrault disappeared in 1992. He was located in Morocco in 2018 and was extradited to the United States. In September 2019, Perrault was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

### Navy

Reverend Neal Destefano with the US Navy Chaplain Corps was convicted in 1994 of sexually molesting two unconscious Marines after plying them with alcohol. He was dismissed from the service and sentenced to five years in federal prison.
In 2007, Reverend John Thomas Lee with the Navy pleaded guilty to forcible sodomy and other charges. While serving at the US Naval Academy at Quantico in 2004, he forced a midshipman to engage in oral sex. Court martialled in 2007, Lee was sentenced to two years in prison.

## Notable chaplains by conflict
### Mexican-American War

* Reverend John McElroy – One of the first two Catholic chaplains in the Army, later founder of Boston College.
* Reverend Anthony Rey – One of the first two Catholic chaplains in the Army, vice president of Georgetown College (1845). First Catholic chaplain killed in service.

### American Civil War

* Reverend William Corby – Served with the 88th New York Infantry of the Union Army. Famous for giving a general absolution to the Irish Brigade before the Battle of Gettysburg.
* Reverend John Ireland – Served with the 5th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment of the Union Army, later became archbishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul
* Reverend Bernard McQuaid – Served with the New Jersey Brigade of the Union Army at the Battle of Fredericksburg. Later became bishop of Rochester and then Archbishop of Chicago

### Spanish-American War

* Reverend John P. Chidwick – Served with the Navy on USS Maine when it was destroyed in 1898 in Havana harbor. He helped coordinate the burial of sailors and their later reburials at Arlington National Cemetery

### World War I

* Reverend John B. DeValles – Served with the Army 26th Infantry Division in France, made numerous trips between battle lines to rescue wounded soldiers. Was awarded the Croix de Guerre, the Legion of Honor and the Distinguished Service Cross.
* Reverend Francis P. Duffy – Served with the Army 69th Infantry Regiment in France. Helped rescue numerous wounded soldiers under enemy fire. Was awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal, the Conspicuous Service Cross, the Légion d'Honneur and the Croix de Guerre. Most decorated chaplain in Army history.
* Reverend John Joseph Mitty – Served at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point
* Reverend Colman O'Flaherty – Served with the Army 1st Infantry Division in France, was killed in action. Was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

### World War II

* Reverend William R. Arnold – Served as Army chief of chaplains 1937 to 1945, first Catholic to hold that post. Later served as Apostolic Vicar for the U.S. Armed Forces
* Reverend Thomas J. Barrett – Served with the Army in Burma, died in service.
* Reverend Frederic P. Gehring – Served with the Navy during the Battle of Guadalcanal, participated in dangerous mission to evacuate missionaries. Awarded Legion of Merit, Navy and Marine Corps Medal, and the US Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation
* Reverend Joseph Gilmore – Served with the Army 88th Infantry Division in Italy, killed in action
* Reverend William Guilfoyle
* Reverend Philip M. Hannan – Served with the Army 82nd Airborne Division in the Ardennes Offensive in Belgium. Later appointed archbishop of the Archdiocese of New Orleans
* Reverend William A. Irwin – Served with the Army in England, died in service
* Reverend Alfred W. Johnson – Served with the Army in England, died in service
* Reverend Francis J. McManus – Served with the Navy on the USS Canopus (AS-9) in the Philippines. Died while prisoner of war or lost at sea.
* Reverend Joseph T. O'Callahan – Served with the Navy on the USS Franklin (CV-13) in the Pacific. Performed heroic actions during Japanese bombing of the ship. Was awarded the Medal of Honor.
* Reverend James Hugh O'Neill – Served with General George Patton and the Army 3rd Division in Europe, wrote the famous weather prayer during the Ardennes Offensive. Later served as deputy chief of chaplains of the United States Army
* Reverend John A. Ryan - Served with the Army in Japan. Was allegedly murdered there by another soldier.
* Reverend Joseph T. Ryan – Served with Navy at the Battle of Okinawa in the Pacific, was decorated for bravery. Appointed as the first archbishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA.
* Reverend Aloysius H. Schmitt – Served with Navy on USS Oklahoma during the Pearl Harbor attack. Exhibiting heroism in helping multiple sailors escape a flooding compartment. Was first US chaplain to die in World War II. Awarded Silver Star and other commendations.
* Reverend William J. Walsh - Air Force Catholic chaplain. Celebrated the first mass since the fifteenth century in Greenland in 1942.
* Reverend John P. Washington – Served with the Army, exhibited heroism in the sinking of the troop transport ship SS Dorchester in the Atlantic Ocean. Known as one of the Four Chaplains on that ship.
* Reverend Joseph Verbis Lafleur – Served with Army in Battle of Corregidor in the Philippines, refused evacuation so that he could care for wounded, died in ship sinking. Recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart.

### Korean conflict

* Reverend Herman G. Felhoelter – Served with the Army 24th Infantry Division in Korea. Executed by North Korean troops while ministering to wounded soldiers. Was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.
* Reverend Emil J. Kapaun – Served with the Army 1st Cavalry Division in Korea, captured by People's Liberation Army at the Battle of Unsan. Continued his ministry among American prisoners of war, died in captivity in 1951; posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in 2013. Declared a Servant of God by the Vatican in 1993.
* Reverend Dennis Murphy
* Reverend John J. O'Connor – Served with the Navy. Later served as Navy chief of chaplains from 1975 to 1979, was auxiliary bishop of the Military Vicariate, 1979 to 1983, and archbishop of New York.

### Cold War (pre-Vietnam)

* Reverend Terence P. Finnegan – Served as Air Force chief of chaplains from 1958 to 1962, first Catholic to hold that position
* Reverend Patrick J. Ryan – Served as Army chief of chaplains from 1954 to 1958

### Vietnam War

* Reverend Robert R. Brett – Served with the Marine Corps 2nd Battalion 26th Marine Regiment during the battle of Khe Sanh South Vietnam, killed during Tet offensive after declining his seat on a departing helicopter
* Reverend Vincent R. Capodanno – Served with the Navy, killed in action in South Vietnam while tending to wounded and dying. Awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously.
* Reverend Edwin R. Chess – Served as Air Force chief of chaplains from 1966 to 1970
* Reverend John F. Laboon Jr. – Served with the Navy in South Vietnam, decorated for bravery in combat
* Reverend Charles Liteky - Served with the Army 199th Infantry Brigade in South Vietnam. Exhibiting heroism in rescuing 20 wounded while under enemy fire. Was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor
* Reverend Francis L. Sampson – Served as the Army chief of chaplains from 1967 to 1971
* Reverend Charles J. Watters – Served with the Army in South Vietnam, killed in action during the Battle of Dak To. Awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously for heroic actions saving the wounded.

### Cold War (post-Vietnam)

* Reverend John A. Collins – Served as the Air Force chief of chaplains from 1982 to 1985
* Reverend William Joseph Dendinger – Served as the Air Force chief of chaplains from 1997 to 2001.
* Reverend Patrick J. Hessian – Served as the Army chief of chaplains from 1982 to 1986
* Reverend John P. McDonough – Served as the Air Force chief of chaplains from 1988 to 1991
* Reverend Henry J. Meade – Served as the Air Force chief of chaplains from 1974 to 1978
* Reverend Donald W. Shea – Served as the Army chief of chaplains from 1994 to 1999
* Reverend Arthur S. Thomas – Served as the Air Force chief of chaplains from 1995 to 1997

### Iraq War/War on Terror

* Reverend Donald L. Rutherford – Served as the Army chief of chaplains from 2011 to 2015
* Reverend H. Timothy Vakoc – Served with the Army 2nd Infantry Division in Iraq. Was only American chaplain to die from wounds received during the Iraq War.

## Fiction and literature portraying Catholic military chaplains

* The Fighting 69th
* The Longest Day (book)
* The Longest Day (film)
* MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors
* MASH (film)
* M*A*S*H (TV series)