Meet the ‘Lone Survivor’ Priest and ‘Grunt Padre’ Author Who’s Now the Head Chaplain of the Coast Guard

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Father Mode was deployed as a chaplain to Afghanistan in 2005, and within the first 24 hours of being in theater he came face-to-face with the realities of war.

Father Daniel Mode was the chaplain for the Lone Survivor SEAL team in Afghanistan and has authored a book about the famed Grunt Padre, Father Vincent Capodanno.

Now there’s a new distinction on Father Mode’s impressive service record: leading the chaplaincy efforts of the U.S. Coast Guard, the first Catholic priest to hold that important role in 12 years.

Yet Father Mode, 57, says his greatest mission is bringing the peace of Jesus Christ to the service members and civilians to whom he ministers.

“Peace is kind of my mantra,” Father Mode told CNA.

Mode grew up in a Navy family and moved around frequently, attending Bishop Denis J. O’Connell High School in Arlington, Virginia, as a teen. He was ordained in 1992 in the Diocese of Arlington, where he served for 13 years, pastoring Queen of the Apostles Parish in Alexandria from 2001 to 2005.

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