At the end of May, Father David Reinhart bade farewell to his duties as a pastor and school president in northwest Ohio to begin training as an active duty chaplain in the United States Air Force.

One lesson the priest from the Diocese of Toledo has quickly learned is that boot camp at age 41 is a very different experience from boot camp at age 19.

Father David Reinhart, who is training to become an active duty chaplain in the United States Air Force, works through an obstacle course during Commissioned Officer Training at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama. (Photo courtesy of Fr. David Reinhart)

“While I went through boot camp with the Army 22 years ago, I can say without reservation that this has been more challenging,” Fr. Reinhart wrote in a recent exchange with the Catholic Chronicle through the social networking site Facebook. “They are throwing a lot of information and expectations at us. That being said, it is rewarding.”

The priest was at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama from May 24-June 25 for Commissioned Officer Training, designed to help ease candidates in the religious, health care and legal professions into military life. There he worked closely with a group of 15 peers known as his “flight.” A typical day begins with wake up at 4:30 a.m., followed by physical training at 5 a.m., according to Fr. Reinhart. Meals are taken in silence, while sitting at attention, and the days are filled with classes, flight and squadron meetings and study.

“In the silent meals and while marching I find good time for prayer,” the priest said.

Fr. Reinhart is headed next to the chaplaincy school at Ft. Jackson, S.C., for six more weeks of specialized training. He is then to be stationed at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, where he will serve as pastor of the parish on base and chaplain to some of the units located there. His term is for three years.

Chaplaincy is a ministry that has long appealed to Fr. Reinhart, who was ordained in 1998 and most recently served as president of Kateri Catholic School System and pastor of Bono Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. He spent six years in the Army Reserve before he entered seminary, and “being from a family that has a military tradition, I always considered returning as a chaplain,” he said. “I look forward to serving.”

The priest joins a pool of just 75 active duty U.S. Air Force chaplains endorsed by the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, the sole endorser of Roman Catholic chaplains to the U.S. military and Veterans Administration hospitals.

“We have a major league shortage,” said Deacon Michael Yakir, chancellor of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, in a telephone interview with the Chronicle. “Between all the branches of service, we have about 1,000 slots that we could fill with priests, and we actually have a little less than 300 active duty chaplains.”

Deacon Yakir is a permanent deacon of the Diocese of Toledo who relocated to Washington, D.C., last October to work for the Military Archdiocese. Ordained in 1984, he previously served at Lexington Resurrection, Lima St. Charles, and in Toledo at Regina Coeli and St. Pius X.

The deacon has several personal connections to the military: he is a Vietnam veteran with a son, Patrick, and daughter-in-law serving in the U.S. Army. Both were recently deployed to Afghanistan, so Deacon Yakir and his wife, Susan, are now caring for their 8-month-old granddaughter in her parents’ stead.

As chancellor, one of Deacon Yakir’s primary responsibilities is to screen and evaluate new chaplain candidates. He also helps in the effort to recruit chaplains.

Unlike other dioceses, the Archdiocese for the Military Services does not train or incardinate its own priests; rather, the chaplains serve on loan from their home dioceses or religious orders and are released for a term of military service.

“We are totally dependent on the benevolence of the other bishops,” said Deacon Yakir. “The problem with the other dioceses is, they have their own shortages, so for them to give up a priest to come here, it puts a big burden on them, also.”

Touching lives of young and old
Fr. Reinhart is one of two priests from the Diocese of Toledo who are now serving as active duty chaplains. The other is Father David Kirk, a U.S. Army major who is assigned to the clinical pastoral division at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center (LRMC) in Germany.

LRMC, the largest American hospital outside of the U.S., is the evacuation and treatment center for all injured U.S. service members and contractors as well as members of 44 coalition forces serving in Afghanistan, Iraq and many other countries around the world. The hospital also cares for more than 245,000 U.S. military personnel and their families within the European Command.

One of Fr. Kirk’s many duties as a chaplain is to greet the wounded warriors as soon as they arrive.

“We get between 8,000 and 12,000 a year through here,” says Fr. Kirk, who estimated he has personally greeted between 900 and 1,000 wounded soldiers in the past year.

“We meet them when they come in on the ambulance buses,” he explained in a telephone interview with the Chronicle. Addressing the wounded warrior by name and rank, Fr. Kirk introduces himself and welcomes the individual, “reminding them they’re in a safe location now.

“We generally say a short prayer with them, and we let them know that they have a special mission here now, and that’s to heal,” he added.

Fr. Kirk works alongside chaplains of many different faith backgrounds to serve the patients and staff of LRMC.

“We have our own particular faith group that we belong to, however, we are called on to minister to individuals of up to 216 recognized Department of Defense religions … plus individuals who have no faith at all,” he said.

Ordained in 1983 at his home parish, Toledo Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Fr. Kirk has served as an Army chaplain for nearly 15 years. During that time he has been stationed at military installations and hospitals around the United States and also served abroad in Korea, the Sinai Peninsula, Jordan and Iraq.

“I always thank the bishop for giving me the opportunity to do this, because it is out of his graciousness,” said Fr. Kirk.

He has ministered at the LRMC for nearly a year, and said it has been a great way to touch the lives of many, from the little babies born there to the elderly patients, as well as many young adults.

“The average age of a military person is about 24,” said Fr. Kirk. “We see a lot between 20 and 24 who are still forming their faith values and their life values, and we have a good opportunity to be a positive influence to them during what would be considered a traumatic time for them, being here.

“We also find with a lot of service members, a lot of them come to a renewed sense of their faith, through some of the experiences they go through,” he added.

The Army currently has 125 active duty Catholic chaplains. While they comprise about 6 percent of all Army chaplains, Fr. Kirk said, between 22 and 28 percent of service members are estimated to be Catholic. “We are approximately the largest single denomination,” he noted.

Serving worldwide
Chaplains receive their assignments directly from the U.S. military and serve worldwide. Altogether, the Military Archdiocese provides pastoral care to more than 1.5 million Catholics at more than 220 installations in 29 countries, the U.S. Military Academies and 153 VA hospitals. Chaplains minister to U.S. service members and their families, as well as federal employees serving overseas.

“Archbishop [Timothy P. Broglio] likes to say that the sun never sets on our diocese,” said Deacon Yakir. “Literally, we cover the entire world.”

In recent years, many chaplains have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Though they do not carry weapons, those priests are serving “in the deep of it,” said Deacon Yakir.

“You cannot tell them from a regular Soldier or Marine or Airman, except for the cross on the collar,” he added. “They’re there doing everything that a priest does, with the sacraments and everything, but their life is just as much at risk as every other person in the military.”

Fr. Kirk said he had to do quite a bit of traveling while he was stationed in Iraq at the beginning of the war, from 2003-2004.

“When I went to war with the division I went to, there were approximately 70 or 75 chaplains in the division, for over 20,000 service members. I was the only priest, at first,” he said. “I spent a number of days a week on the road, going from place to place, saying Masses, doing counseling in a Catholic nature, hearing confessions, doing some anointings, actually doing some teaching, too.”

He recalled how he worked on sacramental preparation with one soldier who was able to receive his first Communion in Iraq and confirmation upon his return to Ft. Hood, Texas.

“That was neat to see his faith development through that whole year,” said Fr. Kirk. “He really wanted to complete his sacraments, and it was a joy to work with him.”