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The Catholic New World


Father John Barkemeyer: “The individual encounter with the soldiers I thought was really powerful. I’m just amazed at what they do day in and day out.”

Catholic New World photo by David V. Kamba

A regular feature of The Catholic New World, The InterVIEW is an in-depth conversation with a person whose words, actions or ideas affect today’s Catholic. It may be affirming of faith or confrontational. But it will always be stimulating.

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Pastor turned chaplain finds mission in Army

Father John Barkemeyer had been the much-loved pastor of St. Cajetan Parish in the Mount Greenwood neighborhood when he volunteered to be a U.S. Army chaplain last year. Only a few weeks after completing training, he was sent to minister to troops in Iraq. After six months, Barkemeyer, 41, agreed to serve as a military chaplain for another three years. He returned on leave to Chicago Nov. 2, and plans to stay through the holidays—using part of that time to move his belongings out of the rectory at St. Cajetan, where he resigned as pastor, and to say goodbye to parishioners.

According to the Archdiocese of the U.S. Military, the 1.5 million Catholic service men and women make up about 25 percent of the military, but Catholics make up only 8 percent of the chaplain corps. During his tour, there were only about 12 Catholic chaplains in Iraq, Barkemeyer reported.

Catholic New World staff writer Michelle Martin talked with Barkemeyer about his experiences and what he thinks the future will bring.



The Catholic New World: Was serving in Iraq like what you expected?

Father John Barkemeyer: I didn’t go in with any clear set of expectations. I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. There were certainly a lot of challenges. As long as you took each one as it came, they were manageable.

TCNW: What was the biggest surprise?

FJB: The biggest surprise was the spiritual hunger the soldiers had. Here are 18-, 19-, 20-year-olds who are asking profound questions, attending Mass, sometimes sitting on the edge of their seats they’re paying so much attention.



TCNW: Why were they so spiritually hungry?

FJB: They’re facing life-and-death situations. They’re realizing for the first time that they’re not going to live forever, and there’s more to the world than them.



TCNW: Compare ministering to military men and women to pastoring a parish in Chicago.

FJB: With the military, you have a very homogenous group of people, in a close age range, with 85-90 percent of them male.

When you’re pastoring a parish, you have people from all ages, from babies to old people, and you are ministering to families in all of life’s circumstances—baptizing babies, celebrating weddings and funerals. In the year I was in Iraq, there were no baptisms, there were no weddings, there were no families.



TCNW: What did you like best?

FJB: The individual encounter with the soldiers I thought was really powerful. I’m just amazed at what they do day in and day out. It’s humbling. I don’t think they realize how extraordinary they are, and how extraordinary the work they do is. They do extraordinary service, and they don’t call attention to it. They do it in a humble way.

Every day, they go out on patrol, and they’re not sure if they’re going to come back. If you talk to them about it, they say, “Hey, it’s just another day.” They do it with a great deal of grace and humility.

Most people at home, if they walked outside their back doors and didn’t know if they were coming back, they’d be a whole lot more worried.



TCNW: Did you enjoy your stint in Iraq?

FJB: I certainly enjoyed serving the soldiers, but it’s a difficult environment to be in.



TCNW: What was difficult about it?

FJB: Everything from the weather—in the sun it would get up to 152 degrees—and the stress people were under. I worked in prisoner detention, at Abu Ghraib and Camp Bucca —and sometimes in dealing with detainees, that’s a great deal of stress for the soldiers, along with the stress of living in a combat theater.



TCNW: Did you interact at all with the detainees or only with the soldiers guarding them?

FJB: Actually, I was the first U.S. military chaplain in Operation Iraqi Freedom to celebrate Mass for Iraqi detainees. There were five Catholic detainees and I said Mass for them.

It was a powerful experience. It was beautiful on many levels. They were tremendously grateful. They made the initial request, but I wasn’t sure if the U.S. commanders would agree to it. I thought they might be hesitant, but they were extremely supportive. It was clear from the outset that the desire for Mass was genuine.

The Mass itself was certainly the most unique Mass I have ever celebrated. It was in the detention facility, and they were in their yellow prison jumpsuits and I was in my desert fatigues. I celebrated in English, and it was translated to Arabic.

I told them that I have our soldiers in the Mass each Sunday, and we pray for the detainees each and every Sunday. I told them I expected them to do the same for us. I think that helped to change attitudes on both sides of the wire. I think that reduced tension and brought down the stress level a little bit on both sides—with the power of prayer.



TCNW: Were you afraid? Of what?

FJB: Well, there were a number of incidents that were relatively close, and sometimes there was fear, or certainly a high level of awareness, of roadside bombs, incoming rockets and mortars and things like that.



TCNW: How did you cope with that?

FJB: We were living in the desert for a good number of months. There’s a desert spirituality that happens when you’re away from the comforts and securities of home—away from the comforts of life, the distractions of life.



TCNW: Which comforts or distractions do you miss most?

FJB: Guinness, pizza and football.



TCNW: After a little more than a year as a military chaplain, are you glad you volunteered? Why?

FJB: Oh, yes. It’s been extraordinary—I’m very grateful for the experience. I plan on continuing it for the immediate future. I found an opportunity to minister in a much needed and appreciated and very unique way.



TCNW: What do you want your former parishioners (and other Chicago-area Catholics) to understand about the war? About the soldiers?

FJB: Coming back here, it seems like the war is a personal issue, like it’s not really going on. It’s a real experience for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. People are dying every day.

Here, the news becomes so commonplace that it’s no longer significant. The country has sent these people into a combat situation, but it doesn’t feel like we’re at war. There is a tremendous amount of support for the troops—no question about that. But people need to be aware that real people are dying—sons and daughters of moms and dads—each and every day.



TCNW: What comes next for you?

FJB: I’m here until Christmas time. Then I’ll be heading to Fort Bragg, N.C., where I’ll be learning how to jump out of airplanes, along with all the regular chaplain duties.

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