While many Catholic Angelenos are with U.S. overseas troops in spirit, one local archdiocesan priest is presently walking and working amidst thousands of American soldiers as a U.S. Army Reserve chaplain in Kuwait and northern Iraq.

Father Kevin Nolan, 40, pastor of St. Augustine Church in Culver City, was deployed in February to minister to troops participating in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Serendipitously, two of his parishioners are members of the same battalion. Currently based in Kuwait, their company is a Movement Control Battalion which oversees all land, sea and air transport.

According to Father Nolan in a recent e-mail to St. Augustine parishioners, "My battalion, our fellow parishioner soldiers and I are all safe and sound." He said the soldiers in his company face "a great challenge and often a logistical nightmare transporting over 100,000 troops, all of their weaponry and life support systems."

Father Nolan travels with company members to several camps scattered throughout northern Iraq. He covers around 300 miles a week on dusty, pitted roads in the middle of barren desert. "The sand storms get so thick, you can't see 15 feet ahead of you," he recounted. Also, he noted, temperatures in Kuwait can reach up to 140 degrees.

"Blessings come from both countries where soldiers allow me to break bread with them, share in their challenges, struggles and joys in addition to offering wonderful conversation and for the most part, very enthusiastic spirits," Father Nolan wrote. "With all that's going on, you'll all be happy to know that U.S. troops fill the chapels and take time for prayer. I am glad to be an American, with so many young people trying to serve a loving God."

Worshippers at Father Nolan's noonday Masses include key military leaders and top generals of the Kuwaiti/Iraqi Theater. "These men and women witness for all of us that the tactics learned in War College will not alone serve a God of Peace," wrote Father Nolan in an e-mail to The Tidings. "Their presence and the practicing of their faith allow us to know that the sharing of Eucharist and the message of the Gospel must be used to attain real and lasting peace."

He added: "Whether it be the dog-tired soldier who has spent the whole day on guard in the watch tower or a key leader who has spent endless hours in briefings, the brothers and sisters of the armed forces come together on common ground with a common hunger to be nourished from our God."

Typically, Father Nolan celebrates ten Sunday liturgies a weekend, beginning on Thursday for troops scattered throughout Kuwait, Iraq and those serving in the prisons. "The fact of the matter is soldiers go without the sacraments of our church because we are so short in supply [of priest chaplains]," said Father Nolan. "In the Army, every day is a Sunday."

Besides celebrating Mass, priest chaplains "honor the dead, care for the wounded and nurture the living" explained Father Nolan. He noted that the chapel and chaplain's office is a place where troops can receive spiritual guidance and counseling "24/7." Catholic chaplains also provide spiritual care for American civilian contractors as well as TCN (Third Country Nationals). Group prayer is offered daily, rotated among a pluralistic leadership.

Recently, Father Nolan has been tasked to replace Father Tim Vakoc, a Minnesota Catholic army chaplain who lost an eye and sustained serious head and neck injuries as the result of a roadside bomb which hit his Humvee vehicle. The Mosul area of Iraq where Father Vakoc was stationed is considered dangerous territory because of the traffic flow between Turkey, Syria and Iran, noted Father Nolan.

"I have had some very busy days but much prayer and hope," said Father Nolan in a recent e-mail. He said that the troops remain dedicated to working for world peace and a democratic Iraq. As far as his own work as a chaplain, he cited a June 4 article in the Wall Street Journal quoting Father Vakoc during an earlier deployment to Bosnia as expressing the chaplains' view: "The safest place for me to be is in the center of God's will," said Father Vakoc, "and if that is in the line of fire, that is where I will be."

According to close friends, Father Nolan is well suited to chaplaincy work. "He's a very calm and reassuring person and his spirituality is reinforcing and stabilizing," said Msgr. Clement Connolly, pastor of Holy Family Church in South Pasadena.

At a parish farewell party hosted last December, Msgr. Connolly and some 200 guests in attendance gathered around Father Nolan to bless him before his departure.

"We all laid hands on him and said we are sending you in the name of the church with our love," said Msgr. Connolly. "He's a minister of God's presence."

Colette Villegas, director of religious education at Holy Family Church who has known Father Nolan for 24 years, added: "He has an ability to resign himself to wherever God is calling him to go."

Editor's note: Father Nolan, who joined the reserves during his formation at St. John's Seminary, was commissioned as an officer in 1987 and was ordained in 1990, will be overseas on loan from the archdiocese for at least a year-and-a-half, according to his original orders of 545 days. In response to how Tidings readers can help the troops, Father Nolan suggested contacting local chapters of the American Red Cross, which provides "great service and care to the armed forces."