MADISON, WI – Father Mark Wagner, 2d Lt, USAF, a candidate for United States Military chaplaincy, was ordained a Catholic priest on Friday, May 22, in his home Diocese of Madison, WI. The new priest hopes eventually to serve as a Catholic chaplain in the U.S. Air Force providing pastoral care to Catholic airmen, space guardians, and their families with endorsement and faculties from the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA (AMS).
“When I became an altar server in third grade,” the Father Wagner reflected, “I immediately had a thought that I could be a priest. This thought never left me, and over the years grew into something that I couldn’t ignore. I am blessed to have had a priestly vocation placed on my heart from a very young age.”
In a solemn, Memorial Day weekend Mass at St. Maria Goretti Church in Madison, Father Wagner, 27, received the sacrament of holy orders from Bishop Donald J. Hying through the laying of hands and invocation of the Holy Spirit. AMS Auxiliary Bishop Gregg M. Caggianelli, Ch, Col, USAF, concelebrated the 7:00 p.m. ordination Mass. Proudly watching from the congregation were the new priest’s parents, Chief Master Sergeant Jeffrey Wagner, (USAF), and Mrs. Karen Wagner, herself an Air Force veteran; his brother John Wagner and wife Tess, and sister Sarah and husband Ross Ramsey.
Father Wagner completed his priestly formation at Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Winona, MN, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA) Degree in Philosophy, and Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology in Franklin, WI, where he earned a Master of Divinity (MDiv) Degree.
Under his co-sponsorship agreement with the AMS, Father Wagner will spend the next three years honing his pastoral skills as a diocesan priest in his home Diocese of Madison before acceding to active duty as an Air Force chaplain. His first assignment will be as Parochial Vicar of St. John Paul II Pastorate, serving four Catholic parishes in south central Wisconsin.
Anticipating the practice of his vocation, Father Wagner said, “I am greatly looking forward to celebrating the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and extending our Lord’s mercy and forgiveness through the sacrament of reconciliation.”
The eventual priestly military service of Father Wagner and other Catholic chaplain candidates is greatly anticipated by the Air Force, which, like all other branches of the U.S. Military, continues to suffer a chronic shortage of Catholic chaplains. Currently, only 72 priests are on active duty in the Air Force, serving nearly 80,000 Catholic airmen and space guardians spread worldwide, not counting their families, whom Air Force chaplains also serve.
Young men 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 www.milarch.org/vocations, or may contact AMS Vocations Director Father Paul-Anthony Halladay, CH (MAJ), USA (Ret.), at [email protected] or (202) 719-3600.
Gifts in support of AMS Vocations are gratefully accepted at milarch.org/donate.
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