Tag Archives: joel panzer

Chaplain Highlights Shortage of Catholic Priests

Chaplain (Capt) Joel Panzer, a Catholic priest who has served in the US Army for the past five years, recently made a push with fellow Catholic leaders to encourage priests to become military chaplains:

By doing so, he hopes to reverse a rising shortage of priests in the military.

About a quarter of the soldiers in the Army are Catholic, but only about 6% of the Army’s chaplains are Catholic priests.

All military branches combined have just Read more

Military Faces Catholic Chaplain Shortage, and Surge

Chris Carroll at the Stars and Stripes notes the importance of Catholic chaplains to a large majority of the US military population — and yet the marked shortage of priests in the military as a whole.

Searching for bombs day in and day out, [US Army SPC Joe] Murphy needed the reassuring hand of his faith more than ever, but because of a worsening shortage of Catholic chaplains in Afghanistan and throughout the military, it had never been more difficult to practice it.

“The only time in Afghanistan I ever saw a priest was Read more