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Chaplain returns home for family, annual Mass
Former Fort Scottian Father Dan Lorimer, 37, has learned some life lessons during his more than two-year service as an Army chaplain.
He is home for the holidays after his most recent tour in Kuwait.
"I think we hear about sacrifice, especially when it comes to country, but being in the Army I get to see that up close, when loved ones go overseas a number of times. It's an understanding of always being ready to move from one point to another. When you see it up close, the soldiers are willing to serve and sacrifice because they believe in our country and all the blood, sweat and tears mean something," Lorimer said.
The War on Terror, which has continued for more than 10 years, is the longest war in America's history and has added to the stress on families, according to Lorimer.
"The length of years...not knowing when our son or daughter will have to serve has weighed on them, it's been difficult," he said.
One memory that sticks with Lorimer is attending a memorial to a sergeant major who had served more than 20 years in the Army and was killed in a suicide bomber attack in Afghanistan.
"The support of his friends and family members, when his body was returned home. That stuck out, that a lot are willing to die for this country. You see the tragedy of war, the hope of life after death and the love of country," Lorimer said.
Also memorable is the duty and obligation that each member of the military "signs up for and has to live out," he said.
Lorimer is home for Christmas to visit his parents, Martha and Andrew Lorimer, and will likely be assigned to duty in Afghanistan in February, he said.
As is his custom while home, he led one of the Masses at St. Mary Queen of Angels Church in Fort Scott.
"It's my home parish. I did my first Mass there back in 2004. I usually do take a turn doing the Mass," he said.
This year it will be the midnight Mass at the church, to give the priest, Father Bob Wachter, "a break," Lorimer said.
Mass is an important part of the Catholic tradition- it is a thanksgiving celebration for "Christ's passion, death and resurrection," Lorimer said.
"As Catholics we believe we receive not just the symbol, but in the Eucharists, we're receiving the body, blood, soul and divinity," of Jesus Christ, he said.