WASHINGTON, DC – The Most Reverend Timothy P. Broglio, J.C.D., Archbishop for the Military Services, USA (AMS), has appointed retired U.S. Army Colonel Anita Raines as Chancellor of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, effective Sept. 1, 2024.
Col. Raines comes to the Archdiocese after a distinguished career in the Department of the Army. For the last nearly forty years, as a U.S. Army Commissioned Officer and DoD Civil Servant, Col. Raines has demonstrated outstanding leadership skills in logistics, operations, resource, and planning management. Most recently, Col. Raines served as the Director of Organic Industrial Base Strategy in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Material Readiness, Office of the Secretary of Defense. Col. Raines has served as the Region IV Representative of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) National Advisory Council (2016-2020), and as the Chair of its Executive Board (2019-2020). She has served in and supported ten dioceses throughout her long military career. Col. Raines currently serves as Dame Commander with Star in the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre, and as its President of the Military Section in the Middle Atlantic Lieutenancy.
Col. Raines will step into the office of the Chancellor succeeding Father Robert R. Cannon, J.C.D. Cand., a priest of the Diocese of Venice, FLA, and a retired Air Force Chaplain who has given distinguished direct service to the AMS for the past eight years. Father Cannon will continue to serve in the Archdiocese during Col. Raines’ transition to Chancellor, and plans to remain in the Washington, DC area as he completes his doctorate in Canon Law. Before his appointment as Chancellor in 2016, Father Cannon had a distinguished, 30-year Air Force career, retiring at the rank of Colonel. He earned his licentiate in Canon Law at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Italy, in 1988, and has served in a variety of pastoral and administrative posts.
Archbishop Broglio said:
“I am deeply grateful to Father Cannon for his distinguished service as a chaplain and most recently as the Chancellor of the Archdiocese. He suggested that I prepare for his succession before the conclusion of his second term. It is typical of his ministry that he looks ahead. I am also glad that he will be able to dedicate most of his time to the completion of his contribution to canonical studies with his dissertation.”
Col. Raines is eager to bring her exceptionally fruitful military leadership experience and her love for the Church to the service of the Archdiocese. For this I am most grateful, and I look forward to her collaboration in the ever-important mission of the AMS. I see her contribution also as a realization of the mandate given to the laity to assume active roles of ministry in the Church.”
