Tracey Harger, with husband, Rick Harger, and son, Michael, receives the Medal of the Archdiocese for the Military Services June 11 at the Soldier’s Chapel at Schofield Barracks from U.S. Navy chaplain Father John M. Shimotsu, right. (Photo courtesy of the Archdiocese for the Military Services)
The Archbishop for the Military Services Timothy P. Broglio has awarded Tracey Harger, the Catholic pastoral life coordinator for U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii, the Medal of the Archdiocese for the Military Services for her outstanding volunteer work in the archdiocese. The award was presented at a Mass June 11 at the Soldier’s Chapel at Schofield Barracks.
According to a U.S. Pacific Command news release, the medal is “granted infrequently” and given to someone who has demonstrated “qualities worthy of special recognition and served without recompense over an extended period of time.”
The award noted Harger’s “exemplary moral character, fidelity to the teachings and mission of the church, and devotion and service to the Catholic community.”
Military chaplains Father Jason Dechenne and Father John M. Shimotsu, who nominated Harger, presented her with the medal.
For more than three years, Harger has regularly volunteered up to 40 hours a week, preparing for Masses and other services, teaching sacramental preparation courses, preparing sacramental records, and providing leadership for the Catholic military community when the priest chaplains were unavailable due to deployments or other reasons.
Father Larry Fisher, a retired priest of the Diocese of Honolulu who assists at the Aliamanu Military Reservation Chapel, and who lives near Harger and her family in Halawa Heights, said, “she has been my wheels to Sunday Mass since I gave up my car a little over two years ago.”
Father Fisher concelebrated the Mass at which the award was given.
Harger spent three years on active duty as an officer in the Army Transportation Corps. She is married to Col. Rick Harger, the U.S. Army’s Director of Combat Capabilities Development Command-Pacific. They have three children.
Harger said, “I am humbled by the incredible honor to receive the Medal of the Archdiocese from Archbishop Broglio. It has been my joy … working with military and contract priests along with staff and many fellow volunteers to support and strengthen our military Catholic community.”
“I feel that the award is a celebration of every effort that each person who contributed to our program over the past three years made,” she said.
The front side of the medal features an image of the risen Christ taken from the Roman Catacombs and encircled by the words “Lord, God of Hosts.” The reverse side features the coat of arms of the Archdiocese for the Military Services.
Also receiving the medal this year was Father Paul K. Hurley, CH (GEN), USA (Retired), who was honored May 30 in a ceremony at Fort Myer, Virginia, celebrating his retirement as U.S. Army Chief of Chaplains, a post he has held for the past four years.
The medal is awarded each year to no more than five recipients.
The Archdiocese for the Military Services serves more than 220 U.S. military installations in 29 countries, plus 153 U.S. veteran medical centers, a total of 1.8 million Catholics worldwide.
