Alaska airman on a mission to be a military priest

CatholicAnchor.org
Madison Hayes has been immersed in the military for most of his life. So, it’s no surprise that the tall 27-year-old Air Force senior airman, who will begin studies for the priesthood this fall, is being co-sponsored by both the Archdiocese of Anchorage and the Archdiocese for the Military Services.

To Hayes, who spent much of his childhood at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany where his father was stationed, a life of service as a priest in the military can easily be seen as dual service.

“The most important thing,” Hayes said, “is to remember that there’s no greater love than to lay down one’s life for a friend.”

Born in California, Hayes spent his growing up years in Germany and was later educated at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota and then joined the military. He has been stationed at JBER — Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson — since December of 2013; he is an airborne missions systems specialist with the 962nd Airborne Air Control Squadron. Like many before him, he has let Alaska capture his heart.

“I fell in love with Alaska. I love fishing, and I’m an outdoorsman,” Hayes said. “Plus, there’s a strong military presence here and the military feels like my home.”

A Catholic convert, Hayes joined the church with his whole family as a child in Germany.

“My parents were from a Baptist background,” he said, but they were searching for a spiritual home. It was the influence of a Catholic friend, a woman whose kids were on a wrestling team with some of the Hayes’ sons, who piqued his mother’s interest in Catholicism.

“My mom joined the church first,” he said. “It took my dad a little longer.”

By 1996, the whole family converted and Hayes experienced the positive influence of Catholic military chaplains. But he credits his mom for much of his faith development.

“Most of where I am today is because of the prayers of my mother,” said the lanky airman.

So, what does it mean to be “co-sponsored” by two dioceses, and what will Hayes offer to each?

Father Tom Lilly, the pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in South Anchorage, is the director of seminarians for the archdiocese. Additionally, he is also an Air Force veteran who spent years serving both the military and the archdiocese.

The Archdiocese for the Military, Father Lilly explained, supervises all priests serving as Catholic chaplains in the military but doesn’t really have final authority over them. Military clergy remain aligned with a home diocese, and serve the military with the permission of that diocese.

After being accepted by the Archdiocese of Anchorage, the military archdiocese also put Hayes through a long application process and will pay half of his education expenses, Father Lilly explained.

Like most seminarians for the Archdiocese of Anchorage, Hayes will attend St. Paul Seminary in Minnesota, and during his academic years he will study theology and philosophy. But he’ll spend at least one summer in basic officer training, and after that will have the option of spending summers drilling with the Air Force and spending time assisting Catholic chaplains in their work.

“The Air Force will try to send him to big bases where he’ll get a lot of experiences and see a lot,” Father Lilly said.

“After ordination for the Archdiocese of Anchorage, he’ll spend three years working in the archdiocese. Then he’ll be released to a career as a military chaplain,” Father Lilly said. “But, at any time, the Archdiocese of Anchorage could call him home.”

And after a typical military career, Hayes will still be young enough to provide plenty of service to his home archdiocese.

Hayes first felt a call to the priesthood when, as a sixteen-year-old, he made a Confirmation retreat in Germany.

“There, I had the confidence to ask the presider (who happened to be the archbishop of the military services at the time, now Cardinal Edwin O’Brien), what I had to do to become a priest,” Hayes recalled.

“He told me to go to school, and to continue to pray about it.”

Later, after the retreat was over, the base chaplain asked if anyone was discerning a call to priesthood. Hayes and his brother were the only two to stand up. Today, that brother, one of three, is married and also in the Air Force.

“My brothers pray for me every day,” Hayes said.

With these extensive military connections, Hayes felt acutely the need for chaplains in the military.

The military archdiocese serves 1.5 million Catholics worldwide, including all Catholic military personnel and their families. Yet, the number of Catholic military chaplains is small.

A 2013 article in U.S. News and World Report reported that although 25 percent of the military describe themselves as Catholic, only 8 percent of the chaplain core is Catholic. During World War II, the magazine reports, there were thousands of Catholic chaplains. Today, that number is around 240.

“I think Hayes sees a real need from an insider’s perspective,” Father Lilly said. “He’s very friendly, mature, prayerful, personable, and he has a desire to serve the nation and a deeper call to the priesthood.”

Although Hayes hopes for a full career as a chaplain, he said he “leaves it open to God and his will.”

And that would be his advice to anyone considering a religious vocation.

“For those who feel the call, just place your fears and anxieties with God. In my prayer life, I just want to do God’s will.”