Monday, August 4, 2008

The Jesuit Army Chaplin

A priest goes to war
By Luis Carlos Montalvan
Jesuit priest the Rev. Timothy Meier does not exactly fit the typical profile of a soldier serving in a war zone. And yet Meier, director of the Honors Program in Biology at Stanford University, was mobilized to go to Iraq on June 30. 'I never dreamed of being a soldier,' said Meier, 52. 'I never, ever dreamt it. I was a kid during Vietnam and felt it a mistake for us to be there. I saw people mutilated from the war. My cousin, George, was severely wounded, his right arm damaged along with other wounds, and still walks with a perpetual limp.' Meier never thought he would become a Jesuit priest, either. 'Who wants to not be married and vow to a life of poverty?' Meier said with a chuckle. Born in Detroit and raised in Farmington Hills, Meier worked seven days a week at his local parish and at a raquet club doing administrative work to help pay his tuition to University of Detroit High School, where he graduated as class valedictorian.
Read the full story (here)

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