Thomas Craughwell - Heroic Catholic Chaplains: Stories of the Brave and Holy Men Who Dodged Bullets While Saving Souls

HEROIC
CATHOLIC
CHAPLAINS

STORIES of the BRAVE and HOLY MEN WHO
DODGED BULLETS WHILE SAVING SOULS

Thomas J. Craughwell

With Foreword by Paul Kengor

TAN Books
Charlotte, North Carolina

Copyright 2018 Thomas J. Craughwell

All rights reserved. With the exception of short excerpts used in critical review, no part of this work may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored, in any form whatsoever, without the written permission of the publisher.

Cover design by Caroline K. Green

Cover image: Father Thomas H. Mooney leading sunday mass, 69th New York Infantry Regiment, 1861 (photogravure), Brady, Mathew (1823-96) / Private Collection / The Stapleton Collection / Bridgeman Images

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018938621

ISBN: 978-1-5051-0965-8

Published in the United States by

TAN Books

P.O. Box 410487

Charlotte, NC 28241

www.TANBooks.com

Printed and bound in the United States of America

CONTENTS

The War With Mexico: Americas
First Catholic Military Chaplains

R OMAN Catholic priests serve in persona Christi. Catholics witness that priestly service in many ways; they can see it as often as every day at Mass through the sacrifice that takes place there. But the vast majority of priests are never called to offer the supreme personal sacrifice: that of literally laying down their lives for another in moments of life and death. When it comes to military chaplains, however, many have been called to do just that. Men such as these are truly in the spiritual trenches.

Thomas Craughwell has long been intrigued by stories of heroic priests serving America during wartime, from the American Revolution onward. Thomas loves a good story, and he tells them well. Here, in this book, he has compiled touching tales that American Catholics ought to know and share, especially with their children, particularly those considering religious life. That said, this is a book for non-Catholics tooespecially those not fully aware or appreciative of the depth of the sacrificial nature of the priesthood.

As Craughwell notes, the first Catholic chaplain in American wartime history was recruited by no less than Benedict Arnold on behalf of French-Canadian soldiers. That might seem an ironic, if not ignominious, start given the life-giving loyalty of so many Catholic chaplains in the years aheadimpressive and inspiring to Catholics and Protestants alike. Catholic priests served both sides in the US Civil War and yet always understood their ultimate side. Their eyes remained fixed on the eternal as well as the temporal. As one curmudgeonly chaplain instructed Stonewall Jackson, he outranked the esteemed general because he was a Catholic priest.

While Americas territory was torn asunder during the Civil War, Americas Catholic chaplains kept their focus on heaven as well as earth. Craughwell shares a poignant account of Father William Corby, who climbed atop a rock at Gettysburg to give absolution en masse to 530 men of the Irish Brigade, whose numbers were already decimated from the original 2,500 and soon would be cut by another 200. Thats just one touching scene of many that ought to be in a movie.

Americas second deadliest conflict was World War II. An astounding three thousand-plus priests served each branch of the US military during this ghastly conflict. From Pearl Harbor to Normandy to the Bataan Death March, these priests were there to suffer with their men and offer allmost especially the sacraments of God.

So many of those scenes, too, could be right out of a movie. In fact, some instances recounted by Craughwell did make their way to Hollywood. I did not know until reading this book that in the wonderful scene from the epic film Patton in which George C. Scott orders a chaplain to compose a prayer for good weather, the unnamed chaplain was, in fact, a Catholic priest. The prayer itself is a stirring call to arms:

Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains with which we have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for Battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call upon Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies and establish Thy justice among men and nations.

As Craughwell notes, this prayer made its way into the script and was dramatically recited for the big screen. Patton had ordered the prayers author, Father James ONeill, to have 250,000 copies printed to see to it that every man in the Third Army gets one.

Did the prayer work? Well, we cant say it failed. The heavens seemed to respond. On December 20, ONeill recalled, to the consternation of the Germans and the delight of the American forecasters who were equally surprised at the turn-about, the rains and the fogs ceased.

That moment is a rousing one that ended in clear skies. But so many other episodes for our brave chaplains ended in smoke and blood. Craughwell writes of Father Lawrence Lynch on Okinawa: Amid the ferocious fighting, Lynch dashed to a soldier in need. He held the Eucharist in his fingers to give to the wounded young man. Just then, a shell exploded, killing them both. A Catholic lieutenant colonel ran over to the dead priest, took the host from his hand, and consumed it so it would not be desecrated.

This book is filled with such scenarios of tribulation and inspiration: Father Francis Duffy in the hellacious trenches of the Great War, Father Michael Thomas Conway aboard the USS Indianapolis, Father Emil Kapaun in Korea, Father Vincent Capodanno in Vietnam, Father Timothy Vakoc in Iraq, and many more. And aside from the chaplains, there are other fascinating gems of Catholic history. Did you know that Pope Pius IX received emissaries from President Jefferson Davis of the Confederacy? Were you aware of the six hundred courageous, caring nuns from at least a dozen orders that acted as nurses in the Civil War?

But all of that isnt my task to tell; it is Thomas Craughwells. Here are the tales he tells so wellstories of faithful priests in the person of Christ offering their sacrifices.

Paul Kengor, PhD, is a professor of political science at Grove City College and the author of A Pope and a President: John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and the Extraordinary Untold Story of the 20th Century.

I have always liked stories. Throughout my years as a writer, I have gravitated to projects where I could write what I hoped would be a good story. Thats what I have hoped to bring you in this book.

This isnt a comprehensive history of American Catholic military chaplains. Its not a biographical dictionary. The numbers of Catholic chaplains who have served since 1775 would make such a project dauntingthere were between three and four thousand priests serving every branch of the United States armed forces in World War II alone.

And so this is a highly selective, you might even say shamelessly biased, collection of narratives about chaplains who have traveled with our armies and navies from the American Revolution to the ongoing war on terror.