WobLog

Last Friday's Wall Street Journal had an article about the cause for canonization of the Rev. Vincent Capodanno.

As a young chaplain candidate in the U.S. Navy in the late 1980s, the Rev. Daniel L. Mode became captivated by the story of a Roman Catholic priest who was killed at age 38 while ministering to U.S. Marines in 1967. Over the next several years, Father Mode immersed himself in the life of the Rev. Vincent R. Capodanno, a Maryknoll missionary from Staten Island, N.Y., who spent 16 months traveling from battlefield to battlefield in Vietnam. What began as Father Mode's master's thesis at Mount Saint Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., turned into a book called "The Grunt Padre," published in 2000.

Father Capodanno was renowned for his willingness to be among Marines in the heat of combat. "If a company was going out, he would just slip into their midst and he'd be gone before you knew it," says Tony Grimm, a captain who was assigned by his battalion commander to keep track of the priest.

On Sept. 4, 1967, the men of M or "Mike" Company, Third Battalion, Fifth Marines, fought a vicious battle with North Vietnamese Army regulars in the Que Son Valley, 30 miles south of Da Nang. Throughout the day, Father Capodanno administered last rites, delivered medical care and dragged injured Marines to safety -- even after he was twice struck by gunfire in his hand and shoulder.

Ray Harton, who at the time of the battle had been in Vietnam for three months and who now lives in Carrollton, Ga., was one of the last Marines to see Father Capodanno alive. He himself was injured in the battle, having been shot in the left arm. He recalls the peace that came over him as he heard the priest's voice: "Stay calm, Marine. Someone will be here to help. God is with all of us this day." Father Capodanno then dashed to tend to another wounded corpsman -- and was fatally cut down by machine-gun fire.

The article points hour the Fr. Capodanno's postulator, Fr. Mode, is following in his footsteps:

Father Mode, who is 42, does not advocate for his hero's holiness from behind a desk in a diocesan headquarters somewhere. Rather, he is following Father Capodanno's example, serving as a Navy chaplain in a war zone. He has been on active duty for three years now, including 20 months in Afghanistan.

There are 300 active-duty Catholic chaplains serving in the U.S. military, and they need both our prayers and our financial support. If you would like to help out, check out the organization responsible for supporting the work of Catholic chaplains: CatholicMil.org.