Roman Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA

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The Roman Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services, also called the Military Ordinariate of the United States, provides the Roman Catholic Church's pastoral and spiritual services to those serving in the United States armed forces or other federal services overseas. This military ordinariate is a special diocese canonically erected by Pope Pius XII in 1939 for members and others employed by the United States Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, Navy, the Veterans Health Administration and its patients, and for Americans in government service overseas. The Archdiocese for the Military Services was created by Pope John Paul II in 1985 and incorporated under the laws of the State of Maryland that same year.

Its Ordinary is the Archbishop for the Military Services; the Archbishop is Timothy P. Broglio, a Cleveland native. According to the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (http://www.usccb.org), Archbishop Broglio was formerly the Apostolic Nuncio to the Dominican Republic and thus also the Apostolic Delegate to Puerto Rico. The Archbishop is assisted by several auxiliary bishops which oversee chaplain priests serving throughout the world. The Archdiocese maintains its offices in Washington, DC but has no territorial boundaries or "seat". The Archdiocese has no cathedral or bishop's church. Rather, the Archdiocese has jurisdiction wherever American men and women in uniform serve. The jurisdiction of the Archdiocese extends to any United States government property both in the continental United States and abroad, including all military installations and U.S. embassies, consulates and other diplomatic missions.

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[edit] History

Before its elevation to an independent archdiocese in 1985, the Military Ordinariate came under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of New York. Prior to the creation of the Military Ordinariate and then the Archdiocese for the Military Services, the armed forces of the United States was served by an informal corps of volunteer priests. Their work dates back to the colonial era of American history, through the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, American Civil War, World War I and World War II. What would later become the apostolic vicariate of the military, popes began choosing bishops to oversee military chaplains since the appointment of Bishop Patrick Hayes (later Cardinal) as papal military vicar for the United States on November 24, 1917.

[edit] Prelature

[edit] Ordinaries

[edit] Auxiliary bishops

  • William Tibertus McCarty, C.Ss.R. (1943 - 1947)
  • William Richard Arnold (1945 - 1965)
  • James Henry Ambrose Griffiths (1949 - 1955)
  • Philip Joseph Furlong (1955 - 1971)
  • William Joseph Moran (1965 - 1981)
  • James Jerome Killeen (1975 - 1978)
  • John Joseph O'Connor (1979 - 1983)
  • Lawrence Joyce Kenney (1983 - 1990)
  • Angelo Thomas Acerra, O.S.B. (1983 - 1990)
  • Joseph Thomas Dimino (1983 - 1991)
  • Francis Xavier Roque (1983 - 2004)
  • John Gavin Nolan (1987 - 1997)
  • John Joseph Glynn (1991 - 2002)
  • José de Jesús Madera Uribe, M.Sp.S. (1991 - 2004)
  • John Joseph Kaising (2000 - 2007)
  • Joseph Walter Estabrook (2004 - Present)
  • Richard Brendan Higgins (2004 - Present)


[edit] Current Administration

  • Rev. Msgr. James R. Dixon - Vicar General, Moderator of the Curia
  • Rev. Msgr. Ronald Newland - Chancellor
  • V. Rev Thomas P. Olszyk - Judicial Vicar
  • Mr. William Kirst - Chief Financial Officer
  • Mr. John Schlageter, Esq. - General Counsel
  • Mrs. JoAnn Redmond - Director of Administration
  • Mr. David Levite - Director of Development


[edit] Resources