But this time, the historical view. An interesting short piece on the first Catholic US military chaplains

When war broke out between the United States and Mexico in May 1846, General Zachary Taylor’s army moved into northern Mexico with some 3,000 regulars. After he encamped along the Rio Grande at Matamoros, however, his force mushroomed to nearly 8,000 with the arrival of volunteers, many of whom were Irish immigrants. The increase in the number of Irish soldiers, combined with the politics of waging war with a Roman Catholic country like Mexico, led President James K. Polk to arrange for a private meeting with Archbishop John Hughes of New York to discuss the possibility of having Catholic priests accompany the American Army in Mexico. Although Hughes suspected that the president’s actions were politically motivated, he saw a clear advantage in having a Roman Catholic appointed as an Army chaplain for the first time in American history.