Marquette Alumnus Is a Warrior

From a Nashville paper, an account of a Marquette alum who is a soldier.

John Krenson is a man of the cloth, a soldier of war, a Gospel preacher, a defender of the Iraq invasion.

Krenson, 42, is an ordained deacon at Catholic Cathedral of the Incarnation and a major in the Tennessee Army National Guard. He has led parish prayers in Nashville and endured rocket fire in Afghanistan.

Rarely does the conflict of war and peace unfold so dramatically in one soul. Krenson admits it’s a struggle, but it forces him to think with candor. He decided to write a book declaring his convictions as minister, soldier and family man — and why we must attain victory in Iraq.

He signs copies of “Crossfire: A Time for Peace, War & Love” at 10 a.m. Sept. 16 at St. Mary’s Bookstore.

Krenson was raised in a socially active Catholic household in Nashville. A high school year in Finland, 1980-81, was pivotal. He saw Soviet Russia, met European students facing compulsory military service and returned home eager to serve his country. At Marquette University, he did ROTC training.

His short book confronts military strategy and holy teaching. In Scripture, Jesus is Prince of Peace. But Krenson finds images of necessary aggression there in the name of peace — Jesus angrily driving people out of the temple, St. Paul praising soldiers who protect others from harm.

“Jesus lived the ideal, but he wasn’t married either; does that mean we shouldn’t be married? He didn’t kill anyone; does that mean we shouldn’t defend ourselves?” Krenson says.