Chaplain says military mortuary work deepens his respect for life

Published: 2004-06-18

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. (CNS) -- Father Robert Cannon confronts "the face of evil" every day as he prays over the remains of U.S. military personnel being returned from Iraq and ministers to mortuary workers as they prepare those bodies for a final trip home. Amid the horrific results of war that he sees, Father Cannon said, he maintains his mental and spiritual health by approaching his work "as a man of faith." "It is very easy for anyone to recoil from the face of evil; I see the wounds of war as part of the reflection of the evil of our day and time," he told The Dialog, newspaper of the Diocese of Wilmington. "I confront that with prayer, with Scripture." The priest, 52, is a lieutenant colonel and a reservist who was called to active duty 18 months ago. Father Cannon, who grew up in Florida, is one of two chaplains at the air base's Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Services, the Defense Department's only mortuary in the continental United States.

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