A spokesman for Sheppard Air Force Base said Aug. 20 the military community was mourning the loss of Father Timothy Hirten, an Air Force chaplain, who was killed the night of Aug. 16 at a railroad crossing in Wichita Falls, Texas.

Local police took a call about a fatal accident at the crossing involving a male pedestrian. The 66-year-old priest was later identified as the pedestrian who was killed after he was struck by a train. On Aug. 17, police ruled his death a suicide, according to the Times Record News daily paper.

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of Chaplain Hirten. He touched many lives for good here at Sheppard and throughout his ministry, both in and out of uniform. We join with his family members, friends and fellow airmen in mourning his loss,” said George Woodard, the base’s director of public affairs.

In an Aug. 17 letter to Catholic military chaplains, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, said of the Father Hirten: “I am certainly deeply shaken by the tragic end of his life and I am certain that all who knew him are as well.”

“Many of you may know that he had been experiencing difficulties for some time, was suffering from depression and was isolated from his duties at Sheppard Air Force Base” due to COVID-19 restrictions implemented by the base command, the archbishop said.

“It is hard to imagine this usually exuberant, gregarious man so weighted with distress that he could not recognize the presence of light in his life and surroundings,” he added.

Visitation is scheduled for Aug. 24 and 25 at St. Barnabas the Apostle in Bellmore, New York. A funeral Mass to celebrate Father Hirten’s life is to be celebrated at St. Barnabas, but due to COVID-19 restrictions, it will be private for family and clergy. The Mass will be livestreamed for all to view; more information is available at http://www.csbartholomewandson.com. A private burial for family only will be at Long Island National Cemetery.

Father Hirten, who held the rank of major, was born in Rockville Centre, New York. He was a 1975 graduate of Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio.

Prior to entering the seminary, he was a professional basketball player. After college, he played European basketball for three seasons, then played for a year in the Philippines.

Back in the United States, the future priest played during the late 1970s to the early 1980s for the Washington Generals, the perennial opponent of the Harlem Globetrotters — famous for their high jinks as well as their basketball razzle-dazzle.

“I covered Curley Neal,” the Globetrotters’ ace dribbler, Father Hirten said in a 2011 interview with The Long Island Catholic, Rockville Centre’s diocesan newspaper.

He also had a half-dozen NBA invitations for tryouts.

He studied for the priesthood at the Pontifical North American College and the Pontifical University of St. Thomas, both in Rome. He was ordained for the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York, by Bishop Thomas V. Daily at St. James Cathedral-Basilica in Brooklyn Oct. 9, 1993.

After two parish assignments, he entered the Air Force. He served in Europe and was activated following 9/11. In 2006, he was assigned to McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey. He did several tours in the Mideast while assigned to bases in Oklahoma and Delaware.

He had a degree in social work from Fordham University, specializing in alcohol abuse prevention.

As a military chaplain, one priority was ministering to young families, Father Hirten said. “There is great pressure on the military families,” he told The Long Island Catholic. At the time, he was chaplain at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

“I have been a happy priest and am grateful for the gift of the priesthood and the ability to see people benefit from the graces of the sacraments,” he said.

His deployments for the Air Force included Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, South Korea and Saudi Arabia. In the U.S., besides serving at Dover and Sheppard, he was stationed at Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma and at Joint Base McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey.

Father Hirten served as national chaplain for the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Division 15, and for the Knights of Columbus. He was the founder of the Catholic Sports Camp in the Rockville Centre Diocese, a member of the Jones Beach Lifeguard Corps of Long Island and a lead dancer in the Hirten Family Irish Step Dancers Troupe. He was fluent in seven languages and conversational in many more.

According to his obituary in Newsday, Father Hirten had served as a religious commentator for the WABC-TV Channel 7. He also was a member of the Screen Actors Guild — he had served as a consultant on an Academy-Award winning film, “The Departed.”

He was preceded in death by his parents, Robert F. and Gladys (Kelly) Hirten. His survivors include brothers Michael, Robert and Terrence, and sisters Maureen and Nancy, and his siblings’ spouses; 15 nieces and nephews, and 20 great-nieces and great-nephews.

In his letter, Archbishop Broglio urged priests serving in the military archdiocese as chaplains to take care of themselves and not hesitate to reach out to the auxiliary bishops, the vicar general “and me for anything that we might be able to do to make your burden lighter. None of us is so busy we do not have time for a brother.”

“Pray, confession, spiritual direction, time to relax and healthy friendships are important for our ministry and our general well-being,” he said. “A priest also needs time for himself. I know that you are over-extended and that much is demanded from you. None of us is an island. We minister together in the service of the body of Christ and the ministry of each one is vital.”

During the ongoing pandemic, “these weeks of seclusion, quarantine and separation from what most motivates us as priests — ministry to people — have not been easy,” Archbishop Broglio said. “Yet I have been amazed at your creativity, your earnest desire to reach out to those entrusted to your care. And your desire to ensure proper protection for those in our communities.

“Thank you for your diligence and for being a beacon of hope in a very challenging time.”

With so many unknowns about the future weighing “heavily on us,” he said, “we cannot forget as Pope Francis reminded us in that dramatic ‘urbi et orbi’ message that Christ is in the boat with us. He guides us and sustains us. We must place our trust in him.”