WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA (AMS), launched a new podcast called Catholic Military Life. The podcast, featuring recorded audio conversations with chaplains and others involved with pastoral care to those who serve, will appear in regular episodes on the AMS website, its Facebook page, and external sites such as SoundCloud and PodOmatic.
Two auxiliary bishops talk about their very different experiences jumping out of airplanes with fellow paratroopers. A retired Air Force chaplain shares how he negotiated with fellow officers to address secular influences threatening the free exercise of faith at the Air Force Academy. An Army National Guard chaplain spellbinds the listener with his account of bringing the sacraments to wounded G.I.’s getting medical treatment at a field hospital in Iraq. A religious writer spins yarns from his book on a Catholic Civil War chaplain who served the Confederates. All are subjects of early editions, each exploring a different perspective on Catholic Military Life.
In the first edition, now posted, Archbishop Timothy Broglio reflects on his first nine years at the helm of the global archdiocese that is the AMS. “It’s been a good run, thus far,” says Archbishop Broglio. “Certainly, the high points consist in ministering to the fine men and women and their families. That’s really a privilege. I think ordained ministry gives us the opportunity to reach out to people in moments that are particularly important to them, and so the opportunity to celebrate the sacraments with so many of our men and women in uniform, our cadets and midshipmen at the academies, and certainly, in 2009, spending Holy Week in Iraq, and in 2014, spending Holy Week in Afghanistan. Those were singular moments, privileged encounters between a shepherd and his flock…”
Catholic Military Life is just another way the AMS is building channels of communication with its worldwide population of 1.8 million in the U.S. Military, VA hospitals, and civilian service to the federal government beyond American borders. The new podcast joins other, ongoing forms of outreach including www.milarch.com, the e-TTENTION monthly newsletter, and the quarterly hard-copy magazine, SALUTE.
To hear Catholic Military Life and check for regular updates, visit milarch.org/podcast/.
