Military families find sense of home in base chaplaincies

Published: 2007-04-13

GIESSEN, Germany (CNS) -- Four teenage women, a young Army wife and two soldiers stood before Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien in the chapel of the U.S. Army Garrison in Giessen, asking to be confirmed. The archbishop, head of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, knew that while all the candidates were part of the "military family" the two soldiers were not just older -- their lives and their service in Iraq made them different. He told the teenagers April 10, "This might be the most important thing you have ever stood up for." And he told all of them, "It is not easy to take a stand today," risking appearing odd or being criticized or "even rejected." He said, "As unique as your fingerprint, so unique are you and your calling from God." As Christians, as committed Catholics, the archbishop told the group, "You will have to take a stand, especially in this culture of death."

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