FORT MCPHERSON, Ga. Aca,!" He's one of the few, one of the proud, but he's not a Marine.
As a Catholic chaplain ministering to military Catholics, Chap. (Lt. Col.) Dennis Niemeier is a minority in the ranks of the armed forces.
While some Army officer career fields are undermanned, the role of a Catholic chaplain is extremely stretched thin.
According to an Army News Service article appearing in the Feb. 4, 2008, California Catholic Daily, the Army currently has 92 active duty Catholic chaplains, less than half of the 200 needed.
One reason for the shortage is the potential recruiting pool. While the Army has a limited supply to draw from, the collection of Catholic chaplains comes from priests actively serving in dioceses around the country.
With a nationwide shortage of priests, the result has been an even-more-critical gap in the military.
"The general consensus is about 20 percent of the military are Catholics," said Niemeier, garrison Catholic chaplain.
According to statistics from the Spring 2008 Salute magazine, the magazine of the Archdiocese for the Military Services (AMS), there are 1.4 million Catholic servicemembers spread throughout all the military services.
With so large a flock and so few shepherds, many Catholics, especially those deployed overseas, are often unable to receive weekly Mass and sacraments.
Although the issue has only been compounded by the War on Terror, the shortage has been ongoing for decades.
In 1985, Pope John Paul II created AMS, an organization that provides pastoral and spiritual services to those serving in the military and other federal agencies.
Prior to the creation of the AMS, spiritual care of those in military service fell to the Military Ordinariate, headed by the archbishop of New York.
Now the Most Reverend Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, archbishop of the AMS, oversees the archdiocese, which allows local bishops to lend priests in their diocese to serve with the military. Broglio, the fourth archbishop to fill the position, was installed Jan. 25 and pledged to use his time in office to help fix the critical shortage of Catholic chaplains in the military.
"I know there aren't enough priests to meet the spiritual needs [in Iraq], and that is the impetus to get more priests over there," Broglio said in a September interview with Kathleen Stauffer for Catholic Digest.
Broglio explained that his plan to increase the priests serving the needs of Catholics in the military is three- fold. Describing his plan to Salute editor Julia Rota in the spring 2008 edition, he said it consists of supporting young men in the service who express a desire to serve the church as priests, continuing the work of previous archbishops to minister to servicemembers and their Families and creating a sound economic base to free personnel to serve rather than be fundraisers.
"I count on the generosity of my brother bishops and religious superiors in the United States to share ... with the AMS to enable us to respond to the pastoral needs of our military personnel. I hope that our benefactors will continue to donate the funds that the AMS needs in order to fulfill her ecclesial mission," Broglio said. "The presence of our Catholic chaplains is not an option, it is a necessity."
To fulfill this need, Broglio said he is working with the Army chief of chaplains and bishops to search for volunteers.
"One of my first priorities will be approaching the nation's dioceses for them to send us more priests," he said. If a diocese can spare an interested priest, Niemeier said the military will vet the priest. If the military approves of the priest, the diocese endorses the priest and he or she is commissioned as a military officer.
More than 11 percent of the priests ordained in 2007 were prior service, Broglio said in Salute, noting such numbers could help with recruitment of priests into military service.
Like many of the recruits who Broglio seeks out, Niemeier, a priest of 35 years, had prior military service before becoming a full-time active duty priest.
Before going active duty in 1984, he served as a reserve Soldier between 1975 through 1978. While Niemeier volunteered to return to active duty, before the AMS was created, he does not differ in possessing the types of qualities Broglio said are necessary, qualities similar to the Army values of duty and selfless service.
Even with these qualities, the life of a Catholic chaplain can be a tough life, Niemeier said. Like Christ told his disciples, the life of servitude to God can be a tough one, but likewise, those who take up their cross and complete the race will be rewarded.
"The big difference in the military is the chaplain is with the Soldiers day to day. We don't have a primary congregation like a normal priest. It's a ministry of presence," Niemeier said. That ministry of presence requires being with the Soldiers through the thick and thin, counseling in the field, giving mass in combat and getting down and dirty with the grunts, taking those lumps along with them, Niemeier said.
One such lump almost cost Niemeier his career. In 1999, while serving with the 3rd Armored Division in Grafenwohr, Germany, Niemeier was diagnosed with a heart condition.
"After 35 days of a field exercise with a mechanized infantry maneuver group, I was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism," he explained. Like some of the great men in the bible, Moses with a speech impediment, Gideon and his lack of courage, Paul and the "thorn in his side," Niemeier said he has not let his weakness keep him from following God's mission for him in the Army.
"I could have taken a medical discharge, but as long as I can still serve I'm going to do so," he said, adding the war effort and his desire to support the troops was a major reason to stay. "My basic motivation is to serve the needs of the men and women in service," Niemeier added.
While the condition keeps Niemeier from deploying, he still works to support the Catholic community in the Fort McPherson and Fort Gillem area by providing daily mass and weekend services at the Cantonment Chapel on Fort McPherson. Niemeier helps all Soldiers, even non-Catholics, freely exercise their religion.
Although it can be challenging, Niemeier said it has been a privilege to work outside a denomination and with chaplains of other faiths. For those who feel that men of peace, such as chaplains, should not be in an organization built for war, Niemeier said going to war is only part of the military.
A more important and more common task for Soldiers is protecting life, he explained.
"These true heroes reflect the greatest dedication to working for peace and justice every day," Niemeier said. "We make a genuine attempt to bring peace."
Thus, the military discourages war and acts as a detriment to it, Niemeier said. In the unfortunate events that war does occur, the presence of chaplains in the military helps aid the healing process in recovering from that war, said the late Pope John Paul II.
"Military chaplains, inspired by Christ's love, are called by their special vocation to witness that even in the midst of the harshest combats, it is always possible ... to respect the dignity of every human being involved in armed conflict," the Pope said a message to military chaplains March 24, 2003. "In this way, moreover, the reconciliation is fostered that will be necessary for re-establishing peace when the war is over."
Just as the war in Iraq is dwindling down, so too is Niemeier's role in the organization that helped bring stability and democracy there and around the world.
Niemeier is retiring Sept. 1, 2009. Although it will be a big change after nearly 26 years, Niemeier said he looks forward to returning to the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
However, he does encourage fellow priests to consider the option of military service.
"I've traveled and lived around the world and went places I never dreamed of," he said, rattling off names like Camp Zama, Japan, Fairbanks and Fort Greely, Ala., Colorado Springs, Colo., and Fort Bliss, Texas. "The bottom line, it's a unique challenge to serve with Soldiers and serve your country, but you know your work makes a big difference."
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