Coast Guard sacks top chaplain due to ‘loss of confidence’

The Coast Guard this week fired its senior military chaplain, only months after praising him as “instrumental in the upliftment of the U.S. Coast Guard’s spiritual and moral framework.”

In a brief statement on Wednesday, the Coast Guard said it “permanently removed” Capt. Daniel Mode, chaplain of the Coast Guard, from his primary duty due to a “loss of confidence.”

“The Coast Guard determined Mode failed to demonstrate the requisite judgment expected from his key leadership position,” the service said. The statement did not clarify how Coast Guard officials arrived at their decision.

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The Navy provides military chaplains for the Coast Guard, and Capt. Mode, a Roman Catholic priest from the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, will be reassigned to duties outside the Coast Guard, officials said.

Capt. Richard Ryan, the Coast Guard’s Atlantic Area chaplain, will assume the duties as chaplain of the Coast Guard until a permanent replacement is identified, officials said.

In December 2023, the Coast Guard issued a press release noting Chaplain Mode’s trip to Guam, where he visited with U.S. service members and spent time with Philippine Coast Guard personnel as part of the inaugural International Coast Guard chaplain exchange.

The number of chaplains in the Coast Guard grew by more than 25% since April 2022 when he became its senior spiritual leader, the Coast Guard confirmed in a December 2023 statement. The service also noted a reduction in suicides in 2023, calling it a testament to services for personnel such as the chaplain-supported enhanced resiliency programs.

“While we’re trending in the right direction, we must remember that one death is too many. We must look out for our shipmates, always,” Chaplain Mode said in the statement.

Chaplain Mode is the author of “The Grunt Padre,” a popular biography of Father Vincent Capodanno, a Navy chaplain awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor for his battlefield heroism in Vietnam. In 2006, the Catholic Church declared Father Capodanno a Servant of God, the first of four stages toward possible sainthood.