By CatholicVote | Created at 2025-01-16 21:51:09 | Updated at 2025-01-17 05:45:34
7 hours ago
CV NEWS FEED // On Jan. 4, in his hometown of Owensboro, Kentucky, seminarian Conrad Jaconette was ordained a transitional deacon as a part of his journey to becoming a Catholic priest — and, hopefully, a United States Air Force chaplain, according to the Archdiocese of Military Services, USA (AMS).
Dcn. Jaconette shared with AMS that after he graduated from Western Kentucky University in 2018, he initially was considering medical school, not the seminary.
“After graduation, I was applying to medical schools, in a serious relationship, and was unsure what God was asking of me,” Dcn. Jaconette recalled. “I needed to properly discern my next step in life — this is what got me in the doors of seminary. It took years of fruitful formation for God to show me that He wanted to use me as one of His priests.”
In an August 2023 interview with the Western Kentucky Catholic, Dcn. Jaconette shared why he was drawn to military chaplaincy. At the time, he said that at military bases, nearly 40-50% of all people are Catholic, underscoring the need for chaplains’ presence on base.
Military chaplains minister to the men and women on his base and their families, whom Dcn. Jaconette said are “all searching for that higher calling.”
“The Catholic priest fits like a glove in that situation,” he continued. “You can offer them truth and knowledge to understand that there is goodness and more than just chaos in this world.”
At the time, he shared that he wants to minister specifically in the Air Force because of this branch’s high rates of suicide and mental health difficulties. Chaplains are the only persons in the military who can guarantee full confidentiality, giving soldiers the ability to process and be more transparent, he explained.
Now, as a transitional deacon, he is one step closer to serving in this capacity and is set to be ordained a priest later this year, according to AMS. Dcn. Jaconette described the diaconate as “transformative.”
“It places you face to face with the people of God, giving you every opportunity to love and serve others,” he said.
AMS and the Diocese of Owensboro are co-sponsoring Jaconette’s seminary costs, allowing him to become an officer before he is ordained, according to the Western Kentucky Catholic.
Dcn. Jaconette anticipates serving in a diocese for three years, followed by five years of active-duty service as a chaplain through AMS. According to the AMS website, Dcn. Jaconette is one of the 34 Catholic U.S. Military chaplain candidates co-sponsored through the AMS program.
