California priest, chaplain promoted to Air Force brigadier general

Published: 2007-10-09

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. (CNS) -- Father Jack K. Sewell, pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Church in San Clemente, was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. Father Sewell was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Orange in 1978 and commissioned in the Air Force Reserve in 1981. As a brigadier general, Father Sewell serves as the mobilization assistant to the Air Force chief of chaplains, with headquarters at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington. He will advise the chief of chaplains on issues related to the training, readiness and utilization of the 560 Air Reserve Chaplain Service personnel. Bishop Tod D. Brown of Orange participated in the ceremony, held in late August, at which Maj. Gen. Charles C. Baldwin, Air Force chief of chaplains, promoted Father Sewell to his new rank. The bishop called the promotion "an acknowledgment of Father Sewell's more than 25 years of dedicated ministry to America's soldiers in their times of spiritual need."

Copyright (c) 2007 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 The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in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 .