Jacksonville, Fla. — Father Darren Balkey, who served as parochial vicar at St. Matthew in Charlotte, finished his U.S. Navy chaplain training course in Newport, R.I., on July 30, and is off to his first “billet," (assignment) at the third-largest Navy installment in the country in Jacksonville, Fla.
Chaplain Balkey is the second priest ordained for the Diocese of Charlotte who also serves as a chaplain for the U.S. Navy. Chaplain Balkey served in the diocese for three years before receiving his assignment through the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA.
As a shepherd to a new flock of impressionable young troops, he asks for prayers from parishioners across the diocese as he embarks on his next mission for God and country.
"I am excited to share that I have been assigned to the base chapel at Naval Station Mayport, Fla.,” Chaplain Balkey wrote to his former parishioners.
“I completed 7 weeks of chaplain training aboard Naval Station Newport and just learned of my assignment on the (Feast of the) Transfiguration, Aug. 6. It has been a joy to serve you in the parish, and I ask for your continued prayers as I begin my ministry to our military families."
Now a lieutenant, Chaplain Balkey is excited to serve at Naval Station Mayport.
“It has a harbor deep enough to dock any nuclear supercarrier in the U.S. fleet. The runway at adjacent Naval Air Station Jacksonville is 9,003 feet long, enough to land any airframe ever in service with the U.S. military,” he said.
He said he is also pleased to be just an hour north of the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche in Saint Augustine, FL, the site where the first Mass was said in what would eventually become the United States.
— Catholic News Herald. Photos provided by Naval Chaplaincy School
Read more: Charlotte priest prepares for launch as Navy chaplain
