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Hey there, Diocese of the Rio Grande, I want you to meet the new bishop of the Armed Forces and Federal Ministries for the Episcopal Church, the Right Reverend Ann Ritonia.

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It is so good to be with you this morning. I just want to share a little bit about Armed Forces and Federal Ministries.

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Not only do chaplains take care of those that are currently serving in our military, but we have chaplains all over the world.

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Veterans that are being taken care of as well as those that are in Federal Bureau of Prisons.

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And so if you're interested in chaplaincy in any one of these arenas, please call me.

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It really is the work of Jesus on the front lines.

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So we'd love to have you involved in federal ministries in whatever way you can.

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And God bless the Diocese of Rio Grande.

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Love you guys. It is such a wonderful thing to be with you on this day.

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In particular, for those of you who don't know, the Diocese of the Rio Grande has a special relationship with the Bishop for the Armed Forces and with all of our military chaplains.

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It started when my predecessor, Bishop Michael Vno and one of your predecessors, Jay Magnus, Bishop j Magnus, got together and said, when a chaplain who's already a military chaplain, but they are a Presbyterian or a Baptist, They want to become an Episcopal priest in the Episcopal Church, and yet, if they're in the military, they're being moved around all the time, that's difficult.

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Why don't we have one diocese where the Bishop and the Standing Committee and the Commission on Ministry understand the military and are flexible enough to work with them wherever they're deployed around the world? And the Diocese of the Rio Grande became that diocese, gosh, almost a decade ago now.

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Right. Second or third combination.

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We are, we are working together. It's fantastic and the work that you do forming priests for the church is absolutely so important.

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And there's really a great understanding of The Commission on Ministry ministry and I have to do a shout out to Michael Perko.

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He is a rock star when it comes to forming priests.

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And I know that when our chaplains go through the program of Rio Grande, they are absolutely fabulous priests.

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So thank you. And thank you, Diocese of Rio Grande.

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We are so blessed to have so many chaplains.

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They bring us life. Tell us a little bit about life for a military chaplain.

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And of course, you care for not just military chaplains, but chaplains for the VA and for federal prisons as well.

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So tell us a little bit about what the ministry life is like in each of those places.

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Well, for our military chaplains, they can serve on a base.

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They can serve with a unit down at the very basic level.

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So that means when a unit deploys, our chaplains go with that unit.

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So they are all over the world. I've got chaplains in Korea.

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I've got designated faith group leaders who, when there's no Episcopal priest, they actually form the community and they provide a worship space.

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And that's going on right now in many places.

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Our veterans chaplains, they tend to be in veterans hospitals and in the community as well.

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And they work with veterans who are struggling with PTSD, with moral injury just across the gamut.

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So, they're really a valuable part of our community.

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And our Bureau of Federal Prisons chaplains probably, I think, have the hardest work.

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They work with folks who... Have been so damaged and really suffer from trauma.

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And they provide a place where they know that they are loved by God, that they are forgiven, and that it really is a new start for them.

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I am just in awe of our Federal Bureau of Prison Chaplains.

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These chaplains are wonderful clergy and they do amazing work.

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You know, there's a bit of a misconception sometimes that chaplains in the military In fact, these chaplains, whether in the prison system, whether with the VA or with the military, they're going to where people are in need to make sure that the love of God is with those soldiers and servicemen and women wherever they are.

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Around the world when they're facing life threatening and challenging situations for them to when they have those spiritual questions that are often very intense Most of it is young adult ministry Because most of the folks in our service are young adults giving their lives in service for their country And so it's a wonderful exciting ministry.

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I encourage you to call Bishop Ritonia and join up Thanks, Ann.

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See y'all. Bishop's getting ready.