THE ARCHDIOCESE FOR THE MILITARY SERVICES COLLECTION
The Archdiocese for the Military Services (AMS) was created by Pope John Paul II to provide the Catholic Church’s full range of pastoral ministries and spiritual services to those in the United States Armed Forces. This includes the men and women serving in the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Space Force and Coast Guard and their families in more than 220 installations in 29 countries, patients in 153 V.A. Medical Centers, and federal employees serving outside the boundaries of the USA in 134 countries. The AMS is responsible for approximately 1.8 million Catholic men, women, and children. That’s more than our Archdiocese, which has a Catholic population of 1.4 million. But, unlike a conventional diocese, the Military Archdiocese has no parishes or parish registries. Its chapels are property of the United States government. Although the Archdiocese exercises jurisdiction over the religious education programs and the celebration of Catholic Liturgy, it maintains no legal jurisdiction over the physical property of the chapel. Because base/command chapels are United States government property, all records of sacraments performed on U.S. Military installations are maintained by the Archdiocese in its Office of Sacramental Records in Washington, D.C. The Archdiocese currently maintains more than 2.5 million records of sacraments performed on military installations.
There are only five clergy incardinated into the Military Archdiocese: Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio and his four auxiliary bishops. One of them is our own Bishop Joseph L. Coffey who serves as the Episcopal Vicar for Veterans Affairs and ministers to the veterans in the VA Medical Centers throughout the United States. Additionally, there are about 280 priests who have the permission from their local Ordinary to serve in the AMS.
The Archdiocese for the Military Services receives no funding from the United States government. Rather, it is solely supported by the generosity of its chaplains, men and women in uniform and private benefactors. As we take up a collection for the Archdiocese for the Military Services next week, I encourage you to be generous. And, I encourage you to pray every day for everyone in the military; their daily sacrifice keeps us safe and free!