Walter Reed chaplain who tends to war wounded finds number growing

Published: 2007-05-03

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Father Patrick Kenny, like many priests, finds that the number of priests able to collaborate with him in his ministry is shrinking, and that the flock is growing. Father Kenny's flock is at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, which came under national scrutiny in late winter after The Washington Post exposed severe shortcomings in outpatient care and myriad red tape at the 113-acre facility. The Irish-born priest, now 72, has been a chaplain at Walter Reed for 27 years of his 47 years of priestly ministry. It all started as a way for him to make a little money while he was in Washington pursuing studies at The Catholic University of America. Father Kenny had mainly served in parish and university ministry for 20 years as a priest of the Diocese of Auckland, New Zealand, which had given him the OK to go to the United States for further education. But New Zealand's immigration laws, according to Father Kenny, stated that upon returning to the country after getting this extra education, he could stay in New Zealand only two more years. So he asked permission to remain in the United States, and Father Kenny's bishop agreed.

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