Father Daniel Swartz, a priest of the Diocese of Columbus and a member of the military Corps of Chaplains, received two U.S. Navy awards for his ministry during the combat deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman and accompanying ships.
They are the Stennis Award, given to a single Navy officer from an aircraft carrier for exceptional leadership through arduous conditions, and the Thomas P. Parham Jr. Leadership Award, given annually to a Navy chaplain who exemplifies persistence and toughness in the face of adversity and challenging conditions.
The latter award is named for Chaplain Thomas Parham Jr., the first African American promoted to the rank of captain in the Navy. The award citation noted that Father Swartz was part of more than 60 flights moving from ship to ship in his combat group to help ensure sailors had access to the sacraments.
The Truman, with a crew of more than 5,000 officers and sailors, has been at its home port of Norfolk, Virginia, since June 2025 after being deployed in September 2024 as part of the Navy’s Fifth and Sixth fleets.
During four months of that period, the Truman was engaged in combat with the Houthis in Yemen to protect their attacks from halting civilian shipping in the Red Sea. This was the most combat an aircraft carrier had experienced since World War II.
Father Swartz was also recently promoted to the rank of lieutenant commander. He will leave the Truman for a new assignment as a chaplain with the U.S. Marine Corps (part of the Department of the Navy) at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
Father Swartz, whose home parish is Columbus St. Agatha Church, was ordained a Columbus diocesan priest in 2016 and since 2019 has served as a Navy chaplain in Afghanistan and Guam and on the Truman.
He was a Marine Corps chaplain in August 2021 when Afghanistan fell to the Taliban. As the last priest to leave that nation, he witnessed the chaos of the evacuation of American troops there.
His next assignment was to the naval station in Guam, which was significantly damaged by a typhoon in May 2023. His time on the Truman, besides four months of combat, included stops in Norway, France and Greece and a crossing of the Arctic Circle.
Statistics provided by the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA show that about 200 priests are certified to serve as active-duty chaplains at 220 U.S. military installations in 29 nations, making up about 8 percent of the total number of military chaplains. They serve about 325,000 active Catholic service members – about 25 percent of the U.S. military.
Their total congregation of 1.8 million also includes Catholics in 153 Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals and Catholic employees of the U.S. government in other nations.
Father Swartz said the best way to contact him with questions or prayer requests is via email at dswartz@columbuscatholic.org.