Catholic chaplain at military hospital finds work hard but rewarding

Published: 2004-12-01

LANDSTUHL, Germany (CNS) -- There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Specialist Ronald Baker of the Arkansas Army National Guard was going to die. All that kept the man from Cabot, Ark., alive at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center was a life-support system and his wife's concern for his soul. The 34-year-old soldier had never been baptized, and his wife needed the reassurance that the soldier would leave the world as a Christian after he had been severely wounded by an improvised explosive device in Iraq Oct. 7. The woman, a Protestant, asked a Catholic priest, Father Richard Sirianni, to baptize her husband. A military chaplain who is a lieutenant colonel in the Oregon Air National Guard, Father Sirianni had been helping the comatose man's loved ones to say goodbye to the soldier since they had arrived in Germany. Father Sirianni, who is pastor of St. Henry Parish in Gresham, Ore., baptized Ron Baker and on Oct. 13 the Arkansas man died, passing into what his family said would be a better place. The priest's days on duty can be long, but Father Sirianni is glad to be ministering overseas. He is the only full-time priest-chaplain at this massive hospital. His active duty began Sept. 25 and will continue through Dec. 21.

Copyright (c) 2004 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .