KNOXVILLE, TN — Father Alexander “A.J.” Houston, (1LT) USAR, a former active-duty soldier and military musician who is now on track to become a U.S. Army chaplain, was ordained a Catholic priest on Saturday, June 7, in his home Diocese of Knoxville, TN. The new priest plans to go back on active duty providing pastoral care to Catholic soldiers and their families with endorsement and faculties from the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA (AMS).
Father Houston received the sacrament of holy orders from Bishop Mark Beckman of Knoxville through the laying of hands and the prayer of consecration invoking the Holy Spirit. AMS Auxiliary Bishop Joseph L. Coffey concelebrated the 10:30 a.m. ordination Mass at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Among those in attendance was the new priest’s father, Mr. Charles Houston, who served in the U.S. Navy as a corpsman. Watch the video.
Father Houston, 32, is a 2015 graduate of the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, where he earned a Bachelor of Music Degree. From 2015 to 2019 he served on active duty as an Army musician, playing clarinet in the 1st Armored Division Band at Fort Bliss in El Paso, TX. In 2021 Father Houston earned a Master of Arts (MA) in Catholic philosophical studies from Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in Indiana, where last year, he also earned a Master of Divinity (M.Div).
For the next three years, Father Houston will serve as a diocesan priest at parishes within the Diocese of Knoxville before returning to active duty as an Army chaplain under his co-sponsored seminarian agreement with that diocese and the AMS. After his military service he will return to his home diocese to serve out his vocation.
Father Houston says he began to discern his priestly vocation during his earlier military service. “I felt the calling to ordained ministry while serving as an active duty soldier at Fort Bliss,” he says. “I saw the need for priests to serve in the Armed Forces while deployed in Iraq, and I was inspired by the preaching and the joy of some chaplains assigned to Fort Bliss.”
“Please keep me in your prayers,” he says, “as you remain in mine.”
The eventual service of Father Houston and other Catholic chaplain candidates is greatly anticipated by the Army, which, like all other branches of the U.S. Military, continues to experience a shortage of Catholic chaplains. But reinforcements are on the way. Father Houston is among nine prospective Catholic U.S. Military chaplains being ordained priests this year through the Co-Sponsored Seminarian Program, a vocation partnership between the AMS and other U.S. dioceses and religious communities to encourage priestly military service. Currently, 34 chaplain hopefuls are enrolled, promising an influx of new chaplains in years to come. Last year alone, nine co-sponsored priests acceded to active duty with more on the way.
The military chaplain shortage coincides with a scarcity of priests throughout the U.S. Catholic Church. Paradoxically, the military itself has been for some time the largest single source of new priests, not only in the AMS but in dioceses and religious communities nationwide. According to the annual Survey of Ordinands to the Priesthood conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University, 6% of new Catholic priests being ordained throughout the country in 2025 once served in the military, and 12% grew up in military families. The AMS Office of Vocations, along with the military’s own Catholic chaplain recruiters and vocation directors nationwide, are focusing attention on this population, shepherding qualified candidates discerning God’s call to priesthood and chaplaincy.
Those interested in discerning a priestly vocation, and the vocation within a vocation to serve those who serve in the U.S. military, can find more information at milarch.org/vocations, or may contact AMS Vocations Director Father Paul-Anthony Halladay at [email protected] or (202) 719-3600.
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