Serving God and their country
They minister wherever they are needed — in a tent in the desert, on the deck of an aircraft carrier, in the barracks on base, in a combat zone. They are the Catholic Chaplains in the Military and Veterans Affairs and go where their spiritual guidance is needed by our military men and women.
The priests who serve both God and their country say it’s a “calling within a calling.”
The Archdiocese for the Military Services is entrusted with the pastoral care of 1.8 million Catholic men and women serving in in U.S. Armed Forces and Department of Veterans Affairs throughout the world. The Archdiocese of Newark has about 12 priests serving as chaplains throughout the world.
The chaplains minister in the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Space Force, and Coast Guard and their families; patients in Veterans Affairs Medical Centers; and employees and families of the U.S. Federal Government outside the borders of the United States.
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Because the priests serve as active-duty, Reserve, National Guard, Civil Air Patrol, and Coast Guard Auxiliary officers in the U.S. Armed Forces, they must meet all the military requirements to be commissioned as officers.
Senior Command Chaplain Colonel Father Rajmund Kopec
Father Rajmund Kopec is a native of Poland and immigrated to the United States in 1988. He began his seminary studies four years prior in his native country and continued his education at Immaculate Conception Seminary, culminating in his ordination for the Archdiocese of Newark in 1992.
That same year, he was commissioned a First Lieutenant in the United States Army and entered active duty. From 1997 to 2011, he was a unit chaplain in Colorado, Hawaii, Kentucky, and Alabama. He was then assigned to Army Central Command as a senior Catholic Chaplain at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. Upon redeployment, in January 2013 he was assigned to the Office of the Chief of Chaplains, US Army Pentagon as Vocation and Retention Officer and graduated from US Army War College in 2018.
Father Kopec then took the position of III Corps Command Chaplain at Fort Hood, Texas. In October of 2019, he reported to Fort Brag, N.C. to serve as the United States Forces Command Chaplain, where he remained for three years until assuming his current position at Fort Campbell in Kentucky as Senior Command Chaplain.
He has been deployed amidst some of the most high-profile military operations in recent United States history, including to locations such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom 4), Kuwait (Operation New Dawn), and Afghanistan (Resolute Support).
Father Kopec has a highly-decorated military career, with accolades that include the Bronze Star Medal, Joint Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Joint Meritorious Unit Award, Meritorious Unit Commendation, National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (two), Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal (three), Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon (four), NATO Medal (three), Army Staff Identification Badge and Combat Action Badge.
Throughout his military career, Father Kopec is quick to highlight one moment that stands above the rest: his role in the repatriation of the remains of Servant of God Father Emil Kapaun shown in the featured image.
Father Kapaun was an American military chaplain who died during the Korean War as a prisoner of war. He was known to brave gunfire and at one point saved almost 40 lives, which earned him the Medal of Honor.
“Father Kapaun’s life in the POW camp was marked by instilling in his fellow prisoners’ loyalty to God, country, and each other,” Father Kopec wrote in an unclassified report. “His actions in the camp became the basis of today’s Code of Conduct of the US Armed Forces.”
Initially Father Kapaun’s remains were thought to be buried in a mass grave, but almost 70 years later identified and transported to Hawaii. Father Kopec oversaw the transportation of the remains, first to the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu for the Mass for the Cause of Beatification and Canonization. Then Father Kopec helped transport the remains to Wichita, Kansas – Kapaun’s home state – for a wake service and a Mass of Christian Burial.
Chaplain Captain Father Andrew “A.J.” DeSilva
Father Andrew “A.J.” DeSilva, Administrator of St. Peter the Apostle Parish in River Edge, originally had a strong inclination towards joining the military. Growing up in a family with a military background, he attended Virginia Military Institute. However, his career path led him through Thomas Aquinas College to the wine industry before he felt called to a life dedicated to God.
Drawn to the Community of St. John, DeSilva entered the order in 2006. He went to France to study theology and did some military ministry there, commissioning as an officer in the US Army Reserves’ Chaplain Corps. While a religious brother, DeSilva served as a campus minister at Seton Hall University where he ministered to its ROTC program. Entering Immaculate Conception Seminary, he earned a master’s degree in pastoral ministry and biblical studies and in 2019, he was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Newark. He was then accessioned from a Chaplain Candidate to Chaplain in the U.S. Army Reserves.
“I liked the fraternity of the brothers; it was a good foundation,” DeSilva said. “Becoming a priest opened up even more opportunities to serve.”
He describes his one-year deployment to Iraq and Syria from May 2021 to May 2022 as intense with “a lot of movement in helicopters and traveling every few days” from outpost to outpost.
“I was responsible for the spiritual health of catholic soldiers at 14 separate locations. There’s no church, no rectory to go home to at night. You live with the soldiers. You eat with them, have the same accommodations-often in tents,” said the priest and captain in the Army Reserves. “You share the same conditions. You are dependent on the weather, threat levels, the helicopters.”
He said the work was grueling but fulfilling. An attack might spark some questions about faith such as prayer, First Communion, or even baptism after finding Christ on battlefield. He counseled soldiers who had lost their faith or were exploring it, those who were addicted or suicidal or struggling in their relationship back home.
“Many struggled at different levels,” he said.
He remembers completing Mass at a remote outpost where they were aware of an imminent attack when a soldier arrived as he was packing up. DeSilva conducted another Mass for the one soldier just before the attack occurred.
“It was so providential that I was there,” DeSilva said.
Father DeSilva, a human tabernacle of sorts, carried consecrated hosts with him at all times, ready to offer Communion whenever necessary. During a fuel stop on a helicopter ride, a soldier approached him amidst the swirling dust of the propellers and humbly requested the Eucharist. Father DeSilva willingly obliged.
During his deployment he received the Combat Action Badge and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal.
Things are calmer and more routine at his parish in River Edge, but he still finds the time to minister to active Army soldiers a few weeks a year.
During COVID, he was the head chaplain for the Army Reserve’s 8th Medical Brigade.
Father DeSilva is also tasked with the solemn responsibility of notifying local families of soldiers about their loved one’s death. One such instance was when David Solinas Jr. of Oradell lost his life in an Army Black Hawk helicopter crash during a training exercise at Fort Campbell. Father DeSilva also presided over the funeral Mass for the 23-year-old at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in March.
Chaplain Captain Father Jerzy Pikulinski
Father Jerzy Pikulinski is a captain and chaplain in the U.S. Air Force. He went to seminary in Lublin, Poland and was ordained in 2001.
He said he felt a calling to the priesthood from an early age, and in 1992, he followed Jesus Christ into the Franciscan order. Although his initial aspiration was missionary work, he served in parishes and a chancery in England and Newark, N.J.
“At 45, I unexpectedly joined the Air Force, seeing it as God’s call to serve in the military. Over three years later, I stood ready, donning my gear, backpack in hand, helping people from all walks of life grow in resilience,” Chaplain Pikulinski said.
Joining the military allowed him to do the missionary work he aspired to do. As a shepherd at a Catholic chapel, he celebrates daily Eucharist and sacraments. But now he also, visits hangars, back shops, where he connects with Airmen and civilians, and firefighters and Security Forces (defenders). Chaplain Pikulinski sometimes goes to hospitals and detention facilities to minister there. And as a chaplain, he also offers support to military spouses, children, and seniors.
“It has taught me the importance of being present for people wherever they may be,” he said.
Being in the military means his days are long but filled with new experiences and endless opportunities.
What means the most to him is what he calls “profound moments” of connecting with individuals who somehow had lost hope.
“Through the simple gifts of time, prayer, empathy, and careful conversation, I have witnessed the transformative power of assisting, accompanying, and loving them,” he said.
To discover later that their talks and prayers inspired them to seek help or simply have their hope restored reaffirms the tremendous value of being present for others as a Catholic military chaplain, Chaplain Pikulinski said.
Assisting service men and women of various faiths while respecting the tenets of the Catholic faith is a privilege, he said.
“I kindly request prayers for us, the Chaplains, for new vocations to Catholic military chaplaincy, for the Archdiocese for the Military Services, and all those we serve. Your prayers are deeply appreciated, as we believe there is no limit to the power of prayer in reaching God.”
Chaplain Major Father Oscar Fonseca
Father Oscar Fonseca is an active-duty priest serving in the United States Air Force. He is currently covering for a priest at Kunsan Air Base in South Korea and has been serving as a Catholic chaplain recruiter at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas for almost two years.
Two things seemed certain for Father Fonseca in life: that he would be a priest and that he would serve in the military. The first was evident since childhood, as people would tell him from a young age that he would become a priest, and by age 11 he was involved in the juvenile Legion of Mary and exhibiting a strong devotion to Mary.
“I attribute my vocation to our Blessed Mother as she guided me to experience true love for the sick and those needing the sacraments of initiation in [the Legion of Mary],” he said.
It wasn’t until he was older and working as a physical therapist in the Air Force that he combined the calling to be a priest with the need for a pastoral and sacramental presence in the military. He attended daily Mass and often found there was no priest to celebrate.
When Father Fonseca was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Newark in 2007, he joined the Air Force Reserves while serving a civilian parish. Five years later he was granted the assignment of an active-duty chaplain after much discernment.
As a priest chaplain, Father Fonseca has served in Colorado Springs, Wichita Falls, San Antonio, Qatar, and multiple assignments in Japan.
“I believe that everywhere I have been I have made a tremendous impact in the life of many Catholics and non-Catholics,” Father Fonseca said. “I have been able to be there at moments in the life of people when they have needed that visible sign of God’s presence.”
His most memorable moments have been in his service overseas, specifically recalling his time in Japan and the joy of communicating the sacraments in multiple languages, to diverse peoples at the base.
“I learned to say the Mass in Japanese, which was an awesome time for me and the sisters I offered Mass for. I was also able to minister to a big population of Peruvians in Japan and I celebrated Mass in Spanish for them on base,” he said.
Father Fonseca will always remember their gratitude at hearing the Mass spoken in their native language in a foreign country.
His plan is to retire from the military in two years and he looks forward to serving in the Archdiocese of Newark for many more years.
“I feel it is time to come home!”
Command Chaplain Colonel Father James Hamel
Father James Hamel is currently a command chaplain in the United States Air Force, stationed at Joint Base Pearl Harbor – Hickam in Hawaii.
He began discerning the priesthood towards the end of his high school years, in part due to the “excellent parish priests growing up.” Father Hamel contemplated joining the military right after he graduated, but instead enrolled in Seton Hall University where he became a seminarian and then a priest for the Archdiocese of Newark in 1992. After seven years as a parish priest, he was granted military chaplaincy and entered the Air Force as a captain chaplain.
He has served all over the world, including North Dakota, South Carolina, Washington D.C., Florida, Alabama, Texas, Hawaii, South Korea, and Germany. In addition to those permanent assignments, Father Hamel has been deployed to Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan for approximately six months each.
He recalls those deployments as being the most memorable in his career, calling them “the best of times and the worst of time, but they were where I needed to be.”
“I love being a military chaplain. I wish more priests would seriously discern it as a ‘calling within a calling.’ The need for Catholic chaplains in the military has never been greater,” he said.
Chaplain Major Father Sudash Kokeram
Father Kokeram is retired from the Army and currently serving as a contract priest at Womack Army Medical Center Fort Liberty, N.C. He was ordained to the priesthood in the Archdiocese of Newark in 1999.
He was a parish priest first, assigned at St. Thomas More in Fairfield and then Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Newark before entering the Army. Once he became a military chaplain, Father Kokeram spent time at Fort Liberty in North Carolina, Fort Jackson in South Carolina, Fort Benning in Georgia, and Fort Lewis in Washington before serving abroad in Iraq and South Korea.
His call to the priesthood began as an altar server growing up in Trinidad and Tobago. He attributes the fostering of his vocation to a parish priest, Father Vincent Compton, who taught him what it meant to be a priest through his actions and kindness.
One moment that specifically stood out to Father Koekram in his ministry was an IED explosion in Iraq. The night before he had dreamed that a certain vehicle, HUMV17, had exploded. So, when an IED detonated the next day near the camp and everyone ran for shelter, Father Kokeram waited to see which vehicle was involved in the explosion.
“When the HUMV came back to the camp it was number 17,” he recalled. While no one on board was injured, the troops needed his spiritual support. “The commander wanted me to offer a prayer before they went back out. I could not believe that some of the people who came for this prayer were not Christians, but Muslim.”
Father Kokeram began his military career as a First Lieutenant, finished as a Major, and has enjoyed his post-military life since retiring in 2020.
On July 4, let us pray for the priests that discern a calling within a calling.
Featured image: Father Emil Joseph Kapaun, a U.S. Army chaplain, is pictured celebrating Mass from the hood of a jeep Oct. 7, 1950, in South Korea. Father Rajmund Kopec aided in the repatriation of the remains of Servant of God Father Emil Kapaun. A candidate for sainthood, he died May 23, 1951, in a North Korean prisoner of war camp. A new 15-minute film from the Knights of Columbus titled “The Magazine and the Miracle: Finding Father Kapaun” traces the journey of Father Kapaun’s mortal remains from a shallow grave in the prisoner-of-war camp where he died to their eventual return to his home Diocese of of Wichita, Kan., and final resting place at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Wichita in 2021. (OSV News photo/courtesy U.S. Army medic Raymond Skeehan)
