Florida priest, a 30-year Air Force veteran, named auxiliary for U.S. military archdiocese

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Pope Francis has appointed Father Gregg M. Caggianelli, a nearly 30-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force, as auxiliary bishop of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services.

Bishop-designate Caggianelli, a priest of the Diocese of Venice, Florida, is currently at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he serves as the mobilization assistant to the U.S. Air Force Academy chaplain. He holds the military rank of colonel. The bishop-designate is also a vice rector of St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach, Florida.

The appointment was publicized in Washington Feb. 21 by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Bishop-designate Caggianelli’s episcopal ordination will take place sometime in the next few weeks, the archdiocese said. His appointment brings to five the total number of auxiliary bishops serving under Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, who heads the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services.

“I am very grateful to Pope Francis for this sign of concern and care for the faithful of this global archdiocese,” Archbishop Broglio said in a statement. The newly named auxiliary “will be a tremendous asset to ministry in the AMS,” he said. “Our prayers are with him, his mother, and the seminary community as he prepares for a new page in his service to the Church.”

Bishop-designate Caggianelli, 56, said he is “most humbled and grateful” to the pope for his appointment.

“After the initial shock and disbelief, and much time begging for God’s mercy, I was filled with true praise and thanksgiving to God,” he said in a statement.

“Since I was a little boy, there have only been two things I have wanted to do in life. At age eleven, I started thinking of being a priest and at age fourteen I had a great desire to serve in the military,” he said. “Since 1986, I have had the honor of wearing the uniform in one capacity or the other, and as a priest, serving as a chaplain in the Air Force Reserves — all of this has been a life-giving experience that has been filled with joy.”

Born Aug. 2, 1968, in Kingston, New York, he earned a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan in 1990 and received a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Dayton, Ohio, in 1994. He also has a doctorate of ministry in homiletics from the Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis.

In his current military position at the Air Force Academy, he is a member of the superintendent’s headquarters staff. He establishes guidance and advises on all matters of religion, ethical concerns, morale and quality of life impacting assigned personnel. In this capacity, Bishop-designate is senior Reserve adviser to the Air Force Academy’s chaplain and as senior team leader of the academy’s Reserve chaplains and religious affairs airmen.

He was commissioned in 1990 as a U.S. Air Force line officer, serving with the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. After leaving active duty in 1996, he entered the Air Force Reserve while completing priestly formational studies at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach, earning a master’s degree in divinity.

Bishop-designate Caggianelli was ordained a priest on Oct. 25, 2002, and reappointed as a U.S. Air Force Academy chaplain in 2003.

The priest also serves as the vice rector, dean of human formation and assistant professor at the seminary in Boynton Beach. Previously, he was an associate pastor, vocation director and parish administrator in the Diocese of Venice.

In accepting his new role, Bishop-designate Caggianelli counted many blessings. “I am deeply grateful for the unconditional love of my Mom and Dad. God has blessed me with dear friends who both support me and call me to task when I have failed,”he said, “and I am grateful to the people of the Diocese of Venice and the men and women I work with at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary.”

He reflected that “throughout the Scriptures, for some reason, God chooses the most unlikely of people.,” noting that Jesus “called a motley lot of fishermen, tax collectors, and sinners” as his disciples.

“He simply asked them to follow Him,” the bishop-designate said. “God continues to call each of us to follow Him in a unique way, and we trust in His promise to remain with us always.”

“As I begin this new journey,” he added, “I look forward to assisting Archbishop Broglio and the other bishops, chaplains and good people who serve the Archdiocese for the Military Services. Most of all, I look forward to giving my life in service of our Lord in the care of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, coastguardsmen, guardians, veterans and diplomats throughout the world.”

The Archdiocese for the Military Services, based in Washington, serves U.S. Catholics of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Department of Veterans Affairs and those in government service outside the United States. Worldwide, an estimated 1.8 million Catholics depend on the military archdiocese to meet their spiritual and sacramental needs.

This story was updated at 3:10 p.m.

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