Catholic U.S. Navy Chaplain Candidate Ordained a Deacon in Boston

The Rev. Mr. David Campo reaches penultimate milestone in formational journey toward priesthood

Left to right: Auxiliary Bishop F. Richard Spencer, Rev. Mr. David Campo, and Father William D. Devine, (CH) CAPT, USN (Ret.) on Oct. 24, 2020, in Boston.

BOSTON – The Reverend Mr. David Campo, LTJG, USN, a candidate for the Catholic priesthood and United States Military chaplaincy, was ordained a transitional deacon on Saturday, Oct. 24, in Boston, MA. He plans eventually to serve as a Catholic chaplain in the U.S. Navy with endorsement and faculties from the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA (AMS). The new deacon is on track to be ordained a priest next year and hopes to go on active duty following a three-year period of pastoral service in his home Archdiocese of Boston.

The Rev. Mr. Campo is participating the program for priestly formation at Saint John’s Seminary in Brighton, MA. His diaconal ordination was celebrated at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross through the laying of hands and the prayer of consecration invoking the Holy Spirit by His Eminence Sean Cardinal O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston. AMS Auxiliary Bishop F. Richard Spencer concelebrated the 10:00 a.m. ordination Mass. Other concelebrants included Father William D. Devine, a retired Navy chaplain and current pastor at Saint Thomas Aquinas Parish in Bridgewater, MA, where the new deacon has served as an intern.

Among those in attendance were the new deacon’s parents, John and Joanne Campo, and his brother, Mr. Paul Campo. The family has a strong military background. The Rev. Mr. Campo’s father is a retired Marine and his youngest brother, Stephen, is also a Marine now serving on active duty. The prospective Navy chaplain is a 2014 graduate of Boston College, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics. He says he discovered his vocation through daily Mass, Adoration, the Holy Rosary, and the example of good priests. “I was especially enlivened by the heroic courage of the martyrs and the missionary saints who gave their lives to save souls,” he said.

Commenting on his diaconal ordination, the Rev. Mr. Campo said he is “fully alive, incredibly grateful, and excited about being the Lord’s own.  I look forward to the priesthood, but I feel blessed to be an ordained cleric who already enjoys laboring in the Lord’s vineyard as a ‘co-worker of the truth.’”

The eventual service of the Rev. Mr. Campo and other Catholic chaplain candidates is greatly anticipated by the Navy, which, like all other branches of the U.S. Military, continues to suffer a chronic shortage of Catholic chaplains. Currently, the Navy has only 52 priests on active duty, serving a Catholic population of more than 135,000 Sailors, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen spread worldwide, not counting their families.

Young men interested in discerning a priestly vocation, and the vocation within a vocation to serve those who serve in the U.S. military, can find more information at www.milarch.org/vocations, or may contact Father Logan by email at vocations@milarch.org.

Gifts in support of AMS Vocations are gratefully accepted at milarch.org/donate.

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