Auxiliary Bishop Joseph W. Estabrook of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services addresses the congregation during a March 24, 2007 confirmation Mass at Camp Pendleton, a U.S. Marine Corps base in Oceanside, Calif. More than two dozen people were confirmed, the majority of them children with parents in active military service. (CNS photo/David Maung)
Auxiliary Bishop Estabrook of military archdiocese dies
Auxiliary Bishop Estabrook of US military archdiocese dies
By Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON – Auxiliary Bishop Joseph W. Estabrook of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services died Feb. 4 in Houston following a lengthy illness. He was 67.
A priest of the Diocese of Albany, N.Y., where he was born, he was ordained an auxiliary for the military archdiocese in July 2004. He had been a chaplain in the Navy since 1977, earning the rank of captain in 1995. He retired from the Navy in September 2004.
His body was to be received the evening of Feb. 9, followed by prayer, at Good Shepherd Church in the Washington suburb of Alexandria, Va. A funeral Mass was to be celebrated at the church the next morning.
Interment with military honors will take place at Calvary Cemetery in Albany at a time yet to be announced.
“The Archdiocese for the Military Services has lost an energetic and sensitive successor of the apostles, whose pastoral zeal and love for the men and women in uniform and their families electrified everything he did,” said Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, who heads the military archdiocese, which is based in Washington.
“His valiant struggle with cancer and his sense of hope have given us all a lesson in how to live and how to face death. My heartfelt sympathy goes to his mother and family. They have given him exemplary care and showered him with love throughout his illness,” he said in a statement.
In a 2007 interview with The Catholic Review, Bishop Estabrook spoke about Cardinal-designate Edwin F. O’Brien’s military service. He described his approach as “a ministry of presence” because the cardinal-designate spent about 60 percent of his time traveling to military bases around the globe. Bishop Estabrook said Cardinal-designate O’Brien’s ministry included “a soft bedside manner with wounded soldiers.”
Bishop Estabrook and another auxiliary for the military archdiocese – Bishop Richard B. Higgins – were ordained the same day – July 3, 2004, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington.
Bishop Estabrook spoke of the significance of being ordained a bishop on the feast of St. Thomas, who said to Jesus, “We will go with you and we will die with you.”
“He would have made a great Marine,” the new bishop said, prompting laughter from the congregation.
But Thomas’ doubts about Jesus’ resurrection were also important, Bishop Estabrook said.
“We need someone who is a doubter to identify with on our journey of faith,” he said. “This religion is not for the fainthearted. It takes tremendous courage and faith.”
As an auxiliary bishop, he was assigned to care for members of the military and their families on the West Coast and in the Midwest. “If I’m not out with them, I’m not doing my job,” he said once during a visit to Camp Pendleton Marine Base near San Diego.
In his first few months there, he had already visited Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas; Fort Irwin Army Post northeast of Barstow, Calif.; Edwards Air Force Base northeast of Los Angeles; and the marine Corps Air Station at Miramar, also near San Diego. He lived at Our Lady of Fatima Parish in San Clemente, Calif.
Born May 19, 1944, in Kingston, N.Y., he was a graduate of St. Bonaventure University and Christ the King Seminary, both in new York state. In 1969, he was ordained a priest of the Albany Diocese and was diocesan family life director before entering the Navy chaplaincy in 1977.
As a chaplain, he served on many ships throughout Europe, and then with the Marines in Quantico, Va. He completed studies at the Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Va., in 1983. Then he was assigned to the Chief of Chaplains Office in Washington and later to the USS Carl Vinson.
Then-Father Estabrook graduated from the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, Calif., in 1989 after completing graduate studies in ethics. He served at the Navy Air Station in Sicily and supported troops in the first Gulf War, both in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
He was the basic course officer at the Navy Chaplain School, Newport, R.I., and returned to Washington as executive assistant to the Navy Chief of Chaplains. He also was appointed as ethics consultant to the Navy surgeon general and was on the Department of Defense Health Affairs Ethics Panel until 1997.
He was fleet chaplain, U.S. Pacific Fleet, and senior chaplain of the U.S. Pacific Unified Command, 1997-2000.
Named a monsignor in March 1997, he reported aboard as command chaplain at the Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay in September 2000 until being named a bishop in 2004.
His military decorations include the Legion of Merit with two gold stars, the Meritorious Service Medal with a gold star, a Navy Commendation Medal with a gold star, four Meritorious Unit Awards as well as a number of other medals and awards. He was a fourth-degree Knight of Columbus and a Knight of the Holy Sepulcher.
Bishop Estabrook was preceded in death by his father, J. Walter Estabrook. He is survived by his mother, Genevieve; brother Timothy and his wife, Giselle; sister Mary Ann and her husband; several nieces and nephews; and numerous cousins.
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02/06/2012 2:06 PM ET
Copyright (c) 2012 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops