Cosmos-Liturgy-Sex

Benedict XVI has named the Archbishop for the Military Services, Edwin O’Brien, as the 15th Archbishop of the nation’s first See in Baltimore. Archbishop O’Brien was an Army Chaplain with the 82nd Airborne Division back in the early 70s, as well as a chaplain in Vietnam for the 173rd Airborne Brigade and the 1st Cavalry Brigade as well. He has also been Rector of St. Joseph’s Seminary in NY and North American College in Rome. His military background and his seminary experience are no doubt why he was selected to oversee the seminary review that was completed last year. I suspect that this background may also be the reasons that he was given Baltimore.

He was my Archbishop for my last 4 years on active duty. I never met him though I did inconsequentially correspond with him once. He was generally known by the average military Catholic (who cared enough to know about his faith) to be a solid and caring bishop. Even though the military services are low on priests, he would not hesitate to remove a priest whose actions/beliefs led to more harm than good. With the work ahead of him, I think that his background will be of great benefit.

The Pope has done Baltimore a great service by giving them an Archbishop who cares more about their faith than their personal approbation. Please say a prayer for the Archbishop as he begins to serve the people of Baltimore.