Newly ordained priest in Winona-Rochester Diocese celebrates first Mass ad orientem

 

From West Point to the Priesthood

Newly ordained West Point grad will minister both as diocesan priest and Army chaplain.

L to R: Joshua Miller in uniform at his West Point graduation in 2012; Father Miller at his first Mass in June 2024 (photo: Courtesy of Father Joshua Miller and Goldhouse Productions)

Susan Klemond FeaturesJuly 4, 2024

While Father Joshua Miller was a West Point cadet, he expected he’d be deployed to either Iraq or Afghanistan after completing his training at the New York-based U.S. military academy.   

But by the time he graduated in 2012, the U.S. government was bringing troops home from the conflict areas, and Father Miller’s Alaska-based team was put on standby for the Pacific rather than the Middle East. Some of the soldiers he supervised, however, have served in those war zones and came to him psychologically, emotionally, spiritually or physically wounded.  

“What they really needed was someone to listen, someone to talk to, someone to listen to their stories,” said Father Joshua, 34, who, as an Army captain for five years, supervised a combat team of up to 40 soldiers, mostly at Fort Wainwright near Fairbanks, Alaska, before discerning a call to become a priest and military chaplain. 

With his platoon in South Korea(Photo: Courtesy of Father Joshua Miller)

“I recognized, through many, many of these conversations, in my own heart the desire to be a spiritual father to them rather than be their boss,” he said. 

Father Miller’s desire to help wounded soldiers, their families and other military personnel led him to leave his 10-year Army career, discern and apply for the priesthood in two different dioceses, and study at two major seminaries, while also preparing to serve as a full-time military chaplain. 

His ordination to the priesthood on June 8 at the Basilica of St. Stanislaus Kostka in Winona, Minnesota, by Winona-Rochester Bishop Robert Barron, marked the end of his long journey to his priestly vocation and the beginning of a new adventure of bringing Christ as a priest to the Winona-Rochester Diocese and into the military culture he knows well. 

Father Joshua Miller celebrates his Mass of thanksgiving, June 2024.(Photo: Goldhouse Productions)

Read the rest: From West Point to the Priesthood| National Catholic Register (ncregister.com)