Mode did not violate any laws or policies requiring punitive action, the Coast Guard said, but instead demonstrated a “failure in judgment below what is expected from his key leadership position.”
The priest has served as the branch’s head chaplain since 2022 and has been ministering and serving in the military since 1988.
Mode was the chaplain for the “Lone Survivor” SEAL team in Afghanistan and authored a book about the famed “Grunt Padre,” Father Vincent Capodanno.
In a statement Friday, the Archdiocese for Military Services, USA, said that Archbishop Broglio “is confident that within hours of receiving documentation of the 2011 incident of sexual misconduct, Father Mode ensured and directed that key Coast Guard personnel and chaplains responsible for advising and briefing their commanders were emailed all of the detailed and pertinent documents.”
The priest told Broglio that “he believed that his initial report in 2022 would be more broadly communicated,” the statement said.
“However, having reviewed the Coast Guard’s investigation findings, Father Mode now realizes that his presumption that all field commanders involved in the case were informed following the initial report, was incorrect,” the statement said.