Many do not know that Catholic priests who serve in the United States military belong to a separate diocese known as The Archdiocese for the Military Services. This archdiocese functions somewhat differently from territorial archdioceses and dioceses throughout the country. For instance, none of the priest chaplains serving in one of the branches of the military formally belong to the Military Archdiocese. Rather, they are “on loan” to the Military Archdiocese while preserving their incardination (membership) in their own respective archdiocese or diocese.
During the most recent iteration of the Catholic Church sexual abuse crisis, very little attention has been shown to the Archdiocese for the Military Services. This is not because abuse hasn’t been committed by Catholic chaplains. The Archdiocese for the Military Services has never divulged a list of accused priest abusers. However, we know they exist because they have been listed on their individual diocesan reports, save Miami and San Francisco which have never publicly disclosed such a list.
In the Archdiocese of Chicago alone, there are three priests accused of the sexual abuse of minors who once served in the Military Archdiocese:
- The Rev. David Ball, who sometime before his death in 1999 had been a Navy chaplain and also worked at Angel Guardian Orphanage on the edge of Rogers Park and St. Lambert Church in Skokie.
- The Rev. William Meagher, who before his death in 1980 also had been a Navy chaplain and worked at parishes in Cicero and Wauconda and at Columbus Hospital in Lincoln Park.
- The Rev. Edmund Skoner, who had been an Army chaplain during World War II and worked at parishes in Chicago and Highland Park before his death in 1988.
Another priest, the Rev. Michael J. Hogan, has been on Chicago’s list since 2006. He molested two boys in 1985 while assigned to a parish in Brookfield, records show.
He was also a chaplain in the Air Force Reserves. Aides to one of Cupich’s predecessors, the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, told the military archdiocese in 1986 about Hogan’s misconduct when he wanted to transfer into an Air National Guard unit at O’Hare Airport and needed them to vouch for him, records show.
A Chicago Sun-Times review of dozens of church lists and other public records, along with interviews, found that about 140 Catholic clerics who at one time worked as military or VA chaplains have been credibly accused of at least one child sex offense occurring while they held that role — or before or afterward.
Their names are spread across more than 70 church lists and in other records.
They include: four priests who had also served in downstate Illinois parishes; one priest from the Diocese of Gary, the Rev. Ambrose McGinnity, who had also served in Gary, Hobart and Whiting; and four priests who were part of the Jesuit’s Midwest province, two of whom once served in Chicago. That includes the Rev. Thomas Powers, who worked at Loyola University Chicago in the 1980s in between two stints with the Army. He was linked to at least two victims and died in 2019.
Another cases involved a priest from the Diocese of Springfield named Alvin Campbell. He was an Army chaplain between 1963 and 1977, after which the Springfield diocese took him in — knowing he might be a child molester. That’s according to a 2023 report, which also made clear that church leaders in the military had been aware of Campbell’s misconduct and covered it up.
“Prior to Campbell’s arrival, a senior Army chaplain telephoned the diocese” — then led by Bishop Joseph McNicholas — and told church officials that “Campbell has a moral problem with boys/young men and this has surfaced and was being brought against him when he chose to resign,” the report says.
Also relayed to McNicholas’ office was that the “matter had been handled ‘sub secreto’ through the military delegate in Germany and there had been no scandal through publicity.”
Campbell ended up serving at seven Illinois parishes — including Springfield’s cathedral — and molesting at least 33 kids. Victims described the abuse as “masturbation, group masturbation, photographing abuse acts, groping, oral sex performed on children, anal sex performed on the priest, anal sex performed on children, fondling, kissing and pornography,” records show.
In 1985, he pleaded guilty but mentally ill to sexually assaulting children, and was sentenced to 14 years in prison. He died in 2002. While sexual abuse among the Catholic military chaplaincy has not received much press coverage, the military chaplaincy is not immune from the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse crisis.
