Father Matthias Rendon

The U.S. Military draws Catholic priests to serve as chaplains from a variety of sources, including dioceses throughout the United States and beyond as well as religious orders. Father Matthias Rendon, OFM, CH (CAPT), USA, is a Franciscan who has spent almost a decade providing pastoral care to Catholics in the U.S. Army. In this edition of Catholic Military Life, the only official podcast of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, Father Rendon shares his life as "a contemplative in action," serving those who serve. He tells how he was called from the monasteries of the Franciscans, an order whose main mission is to take care of sacred sites in the Holy Land, to the "vocation within a vocation" accompanying the men and women in uniform on their journey of faith while defending our country. And he explains why his 2011-2012 deployment to Afghanistan was perhaps the best year of his ministry so far, in spite of difficult circumstances.