Priest chaplains’ legacy of heroic serviceAmong American Catholics, indeed among American Catholic priests, are heroes too often unsung: the military chaplains.Through two centuries of warfare and peacekeeping, Catholic priests serving as chaplains in the armed services have been a lifeline for the enlisted, inevitably far from home, lonely and in harm’s way. Because of chaplains, they have found strength and consolation in their religion.While religious chaplains have served in the military since the Revolution, priests did not become part of the group, at least not in any number, until the Mexican War, waged between 1846 and 1848, not surprisingly. Anti-Catholicism...