Heroism And Sacrifice: A Military Chaplain’s Faith

A Priest’s Sacrifice for God and Country

A military chaplain’s heroic faith and courage are remembered.

I WILL NEVER FORGET the last time Father H. Timothy Vakoc, known as Father Tim, celebrated Mass at my parish. He came down from the pulpit to deliver the homily and strolled toward the center aisle as he spoke. Spotting a young family in the first pew he scooped up an infant being held by the mother and delivered his entire sermon on the importance of family and children. The whole congregation was captivated, including the baby; who never uttered a peep.

Indeed, Father Tim seemed to make an impression wherever he went.

Vakoc grew up in Robbinsdale, Minn., the youngest of three children. At the age of 18, he joined the Knights of Columbus, and after college and a few years in the work world, he entered the seminary at the encouragement of his boyhood pastor.

While studying to become a priest, Vakoc entered the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps. He was ordained in 1992 and, while serving at local parishes he realized the great need for military chaplains. He entered the Army full-time in 1996, the same year he joined the Fourth Degree – the patriotic degree of the Order.

Father Tim’s military assignments included Germany and Bosnia. Once, after hearing of his mother’s concern for his safety, he told his sister,

The safest place for me to be is in the center of God’s will, and if that is in the line of fire, that is where I will be.

Following service at military bases in the United States, Father Tim was called to serve in Iraq in 2003. His goal, he said, was to be “an intentional presence” to the military men and women there. Often, he would wait outside the mess hall and tell soldiers that he was available for confession or simply to talk.

In May 2004, an inquiry was sent to chaplains about the importance of their military service. “The chaplains, Catholic and others, hold the light of Christ in a dark place,” Father Tim wrote.

There is a spiritual battle going on here, not between religions, but between the light of Christ and darkness…. As one of my soldiers who recently died said, ‘Every day counts!’

Just days later, on May 29, the eve of the 12^th anniversary of his ordination, Father Tim was injured by a roadside bomb that exploded near his Humvee. At that time, he was returning to his barracks after celebrating Mass on a makeshift altar for the troops in the field. Gravely wounded, he lost an eye and incurred severe brain damage. Before being transported for medical care, he managed to utter, “Take care of my boys!”

Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien, then-head of the Archdiocese for Military Services, USA, visited Father Tim at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. There, he told him, “Tim, you are still a priest. This bed is now your altar.” This phrase was later written on the program at Father Tim’s funeral.

Even in his darkest hours, when he could not respond or communicate, and his body could do little more than fight infection, there was an awareness, upon entering his room, that God was with Father Tim.

“Nurses and hospital workers would go into his room, pull the curtains and just sit there,” his mother said. “They said they could just feel that there was something special about him.”

Fr. Timothy Vakoc

Father Tim began to make a remarkable, almost miraculous, recovery in the five years after his injury. He regained limited use of his hands and could even navigate his own motorized wheelchair. Though a tracheotomy limited his ability to speak, his free spirit and teasing personality often came through as he communicated with his eyes, a nod of his head and hand gestures.

On ]une 20, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and just one day after Pope Benedict XVI initiated the Year for Priests, Father Tim died unexpectedly at a nursing home in New Hope, Mo. He is the only chaplain to have died from injuries sustained in the Iraq War.

Father Stan Mader, a seminary classmate and friend, delivered the homily at Father Tim’s funeral Mass. “Tim went to Iraq not for war, but to provide the possibility of peace,” Father Mader said. “He was a priest, and answered the call to minister in a different and powerful way …. Tim died to so many things when he was injured, but rose to a new ministry as a powerful witness to the value of life.”

 MARY ANN KUHARSKI is the author of several books and serves as the director of Prolife Across America, a national educational organization in Minneapolis, Minn.

Reprinted by permission of Columbia magazine, courtesy Knights of Columbus Supreme Council, New Haven, Conn. Columbia is published monthly by the Knights of Columbus.