The Air Force has launched “Come Be with Us” tours to recruit Roman Catholic priests into the military chaplaincy. Father John Kinney, the AFRS Chaplain Corps Accessions director, said

“There are currently 53 Catholic chaplains providing religious support to more than 190,000 Catholic Airmen and their families,” Kinney said. “That is down from 205 Catholic chaplains 25 years ago. Within the next three months, five Catholic chaplains will be retiring. The Air Force needs 120 Catholic chaplains to meet the needs of Catholics in the Air Force.”

Despite their large declared numbers in the military, Catholics have long faced a shortage in the chaplaincy. This has led to “fob-hopping” Catholic chaplains in Afghanistan — not unlike Jewish chaplains, who serve a much smaller community.

As an aside, its interesting to see the recruiter try to explain a restrictive policy in a positive light. Noting that the Air Force no longer waives the age limit of 42 for new chaplains, which makes it even harder to recruit chaplains, Chaplain Kinney said

“By eliminating the age waiver, the Air Force gives chaplains the potential for career development…The Air Force wants to give them the potential for long-term career development…If they come in when they are 33 years old, they have the potential to reach the rank of colonel.”

Think about that for a second. Eliminating the age waiver doesn’t give a 43 year old chaplain candidate the opportunity for career development; it just prevents him from serving at all. The age waiver is no help to a 33 year old chaplain, either, because he doesn’t need it.  Still, it was a nice effort to find a silver lining in that dark recruiting cloud.

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