A Sacrifice That Goes Beyond the Battlefield
For most of us, the Sacraments are always within reach. We can stop by the parish for Confession, attend Sunday Mass, even linger before the Blessed Sacrament midweek. But for Catholic men and women in uniform deployed across the world, the spiritual world is not to be taken for granted.
Why?
Because spiritual nourishment often vanishes the moment boots hit foreign soil.
May is Military Appreciation Month.
And while it’s a time to thank those who serve, it’s also a moment to remember a hidden hardship of military life: the absence of the Sacraments.
The Spiritual Desert of Deployment
Catholic troops are not only separated from family and home—they’re often separated from Christ in the Eucharist. It’s a type of spiritual isolation hard to imagine.
For weeks or even months, many Catholic service members have no access to daily prayer in community, no opportunity for Confession, and no possibility of attending Mass. There’s no parish bulletin, no holy water font, no quiet kneeler in a chapel. Just the open silence of duty—and a hunger for grace.
This is something we know firsthand as a family.
Three of the sons of our founders have been deployed and have told us of the spiritual challenges of being deployed. Each of them felt the ache of being far from home, and even farther from the Sacraments.
The Hetzels have lived through the long spiritual drought of deployment, and they carry in their hearts the memory of that absence: the longing for the Eucharist, the need for a priest, the quiet prayers whispered into the void.
We wanted to know how we could help…and this is where the priests of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA step in.
The Chaplains Who Go Where Others Cannot
The Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA are the clergy specifically designated to serve our military, at home and abroad, created by Pope St. John Paul II.
The Archdiocese for the Military Services provides the Catholic Church’s full range of pastoral ministries and spiritual services to those in the United States Armed Forces. This includes more than 220 installations in 29 countries, patients in 153 V.A. Medical Centers, and federal employees serving outside the boundaries of the USA in 134 countries. Numerically, the AMS is responsible for more than 1.8 million men, women, and children.
And in one of the twists of life that only providence could arrange, we’ve become good friends with Bishop Joseph…Coffey, one of the auxiliar bishops for the Archdioces of the Military.
These chaplains are missionaries of mercy. They don the same camouflage, march through the same heat, bear the same dangers—and yet carry with them the sacraments that souls need to survive. They celebrate Mass in tents and on tailgates, absolve sins under starlight, and accompany the wounded in body and soul.
They remind every Catholic service member: You are not forgotten. Christ is still with you.
Coffee That Carries Communion
At Catholic Coffee, our mission is steeped in more than rich flavor. It’s rooted in faith—and in action.
This mission is personal.
Supporting military chaplains isn’t an abstract cause for us—it’s a deeply felt personal calling.
We’ve seen the darkness that can settle in without the light of spiritual support. And we’ve seen the grace that arrives when a chaplain does.
That’s why we tithe a portion of every order to support the priests who minister to our military. Your daily coffee becomes part of a daily act of mercy—sustaining the chaplains who bring Christ to those who serve.
So, as we sip our morning brew in freedom, let us remember those who serve in hardship. And let us support those who bring the sacraments to them—sometimes across oceans, sometimes behind enemy lines, always with courage.
This May, raise a mug for our troops—and for the priests who serve them.
Let your coffee be a quiet act of gratitude—and a loud proclamation of faith.
St. Michael is one of the patrons of soldiers, and so we’ve dedicated our St. Michael roast to him to ask us to take care of our troops—active-duty or veterans, at home or abroad.
You can know, however, that for every purchase of any coffee that your order will be tithed to support the spiritual needs of our troops through the dedication of the Archdiocese for Military Services, USA.
