Archbishop Broglio installed as fourth U.S. military archbishop

Published: 2008-01-28

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The many worlds of Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio came together at his Jan. 25 installation Mass as the fourth head of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services. There were military chaplains and members of the armed forces, representing his new post. There were bishops, priests and lay Catholics from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, where he served until recently as the papal representative. There were friends from his days at the Pontifical North American College in Rome and his 11 years working in the Vatican Secretariat of State. There were fellow priests from the Diocese of Cleveland, his home diocese, and couples from St. Margaret Mary Parish in South Euclid, Ohio, who "broke me in" as a young priest in the late 1970s. And from even further back, there were his three brothers, Tony, Larry and John; his sister, Joan; and other friends and relatives. In his homily for the installation Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, Archbishop Broglio pledged to "offer the best that I have to the faithful who have been entrusted to my pastoral care." "Our thoughts cannot fail to turn this afternoon to the thousands of young men and women who unselfishly serve our nation and many other nations with their faithful vigilance," he said, mentioning Iraq and Afghanistan in particular. "We offer our prayers for them and beg almighty God to bring them home safely." The archbishop also prayed for wounded veterans and those who have died in battle. "Men and women who have sacrificed themselves for values in which they believe, they have given their youth and often their health and their lives in the service of our country," he said.

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