New Military Chaplain Scholarship Program Announced
The Knights of Columbus has established a new scholarship program to help fund the education of seminarians preparing to become Catholic chaplains in the U.S. armed forces.
The program will distribute $1 million in scholarship money to the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, over a period of five years at a rate of $200,000 per year. These funds, in turn, will help produce a new generation of much-needed Catholic chaplains to minister to U.S. military personnel and their families.
Fundraising for the Orderwide project will be led by the Fourth Degree, the patriotic degree of the Knights.
The idea for the scholarship developed during Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson’s recent visit to the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.
While watching flight-qualifier tests with an assistant secretary of the U.S. Navy, the supreme knight had the opportunity to think about Catholics in uniform and the hardship they face of having to go weeks – and sometimes months – without being able to attend Mass or receive spiritual guidance from a priest.
It can be very difficult for Catholic members of the armed forces when they’re on forward deployments,” Anderson said. “The U.S. military archdiocese, which supplies Catholic chaplains, estimates that it needs 800 priests to fully serve all of the Catholic men and women in uniform today, but they are only able to supply 280 – barely a third of the number needed.”
Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA.
The military chaplain scholarship aims to provide a solution to this problem. According to Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, the scholarship money will be dedicated to the archdiocese’s “Co-Sponsored Seminarian Program,” which was initiated to recruit priestly vocations for the military for the benefit of the armed forces as well as participating dioceses and religious orders throughout the country.
Through this program, the military archdiocese contracts with each participating diocese to fund 50 percent of the cost of a seminarian’s five-year education – typically $12,500 per year. In return, the candidate agrees that, following ordination and three years of service at a parish, he will commit to serve as a military chaplain under the auspices of the military archdiocese for a minimum of three to five years.
So far, the Co-Sponsored Seminarian Program has seen impressive results. Since its inception, the initiative has garnered an increase in cosponsored seminarians, from seven in 2008 to 30 in 2010.
These results, while extraordinary, place a large financial burden on the archdiocese, which annually generates only enough funds – 95 percent from donations – to cover its operating costs,” said Archbishop Broglio, who joined the Order in 2007 while serving as the apostolic nuncio of the Dominican Republic. “The archdiocese has no funds on hand to meet the longterm contractual commitments of the Co-Sponsored Seminarian Program, especially if, as it is hoped, the numbers continue to grow.”
Through this new scholarship, the Order, too, hopes to ensure the future development of the Co-Sponsored Seminarian Program.
Thanks to the generosity of the Knights of Columbus, this military chaplain scholarship will help fill this need for years to come,” Broglio added. “The Knights of Columbus, over many years, has been most generous in providing much-needed financial support to this archdiocese.... [This] is but the latest instance of the organization’s generosity. For that, I am most grateful.”
Military Councils
Some links for overseas councils will deliver only a generic index for such councils.
Alaska
North Pole Council 8308, North Pole
Arizona
Father Vincent R. Capodanno Council 13024, Luke AFB
Cristo Rey Council 13435, Davis-Monthan AFB
Father Joseph Timothy O’Callahan Council 14157, Yuma
California
Father John Crowley Council 3199, Ridgecrest
California City Council 6705, City-Mojave
Vandenberg Council 9231, Vandenberg AFB
Sacred Heart Council 9486, Fort Ord
St Michael’s of Marin Council 10530, Novato
Father Vincent R. Capodanno Council 11595, Camp Pendleton
Colorado
St. Michael the Archangel Council 14436, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs
St. Francis of Assisi Council 14688, U.S. Air Force Base, Aurora
Our Lady Queen of Peace Council 14715, Peterson AFB, Colorado Springs
District of Columbia
St. Michael the Archangel Council 14823, Bolling AFB
Delaware
Our Lady of Perpetual Help Council 9098, Dover
England
Saint George East Council 14233, Anglia
Florida
Our Lady of the Bay Council 10950, MacDill AFB
St. Peter Council 8910, Mary Esther
Georgia
Father Emil Kapaun Council 14713, Fort Benning
St. Michael's Council 14773, Augusta
Germany
Chaplain Charles J. Watters Council 8792, Stuttgart
LTG. Timothy J. Maude Council 10292, Mannheim-Heidelberg
Father Emil J. Kapaun Council 11987, Ramstein
Guam
St. Michael the Archangel Council 5652, Talofofo
Illinois
Scott Air Force Base Council 10276, Scott AFB
Italy
Padre Pio Council 14293, NAS Sigonella, Sicily
D’Aviano Council 14538, Aviano AFB, Sicily
San Gennaro Council 14853, Naples Italy
Japan
Knights of Columbus Yokosuka Council 12488, Yokosuka
Martyrs of Tsuwano Council 13316, Marine Corps Air Station, Iwakuni
Father Charles Ermin Bantle Council 13945, Urasoe City
Father Francis Xavier Council 14821, Camp Zama
26 Martyrs Council 12970, Naval Air Facility Atsugi
Kansas
St. Ignatius Council 13354, Fort Leavenworth
Chaplain Emil J. Kapaun Council , 14218, Fort Riley
Korea
Bishop John J. Kaising Council 14223, Pyongtaek/Osan
Louisiana
Holy Family of Barksdale Council 9085, Barksdale AFB
Maryland
Commodore John Barry Council 14534, Annapolis
Father Sebastien DeRose Council 13091, Patuxent River Naval Air Station
Massachusetts
Holy Family Parish Council 14016, Hanscom Air Force Base
Mississippi
St. Joseph the Worker Council 12271, Gulfport
Missouri
The Four Chaplains Council 13901, Fort Leonard Wood
New Jersey
St. Francis of Assisi Council 10994, Fort Dix
New Mexico
Louis Smithhisler Council 9504, Cannon AFB
Father Reynaldo John Rivera Council 8230, FM Kirtland AFB
New York
Msgr. Cornelius George O'Keefe Council 8250, West Point
North Carolina
Father Aloysius H. Schmitt Council 13220, Camp Lejeune
Colonel Jerry W. Marvel Council 13488, MCAS New River
North Dakota
St. George Council 8003, Minot
Oklahoma
Reverend Stanley F. Rother Council 4889, Altus
Panama
Panama Balboa Council 1371, Panama City
Texas
Our Lady of Loretto Council 10677, NAS Corpus Christi
SPC Casey A. Sheehan Council 13534, Fort Hood
St. Michael Council, 14584, Fort Bliss
Virginia
Fort Belvoir K of C Parish Council 11170, Fort Belvoir
Father Capodanno Quantico Council 11958, Father Capodanno
Jesus Mary Joseph Council 11984, Chesapeake
Washington
The Four Chaplains Council 10652, Fort Lewis/McChord
Father John Francis Laboon Council 13395, Silverdale
Holy Family Council 14510, Fairchild AFB We provide garage door repair and service to the following States
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