WASHINGTON (CNS) — Not every bishop gets, at his episcopal ordination, a color guard from both the Knights of Columbus and the U.S. military. Nor do they get both “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “The Navy Hymn” sung at the ordination Mass.

But when you are newly ordained for the Archdiocese for the Military Services, as Bishop Robert J. Coyle was April 25, you get that and a lot more — like being told by his new boss, Archbishop Timothy M. Broglio, that he’ll be working in “a global archdiocese.”

Bishop Coyle’s appointment was announced Feb. 11, the same day Pope Benedict XVI announced his intent to retire from the papacy.

In Bishop Coyle’s remarks at the end of the two-hour, 45-minute ordination Mass, he said that alone would be enough to make it a memorable occasion. The new bishop spoke of his great affection for both Pope Benedict and his predecessor, Blessed John Paul II.

He also referred of one of Archbishop Broglio’s predecessors, the late Cardinal John J. O’Connor of New York, as one of his heroes. In their respective military chaplaincies, both had served on Okinawa. “He had served in the 3rd Marines as well,” Bishop Coyle said, adding that he once got a letter from the late cardinal, recommending that the priest “stay close to him (Jesus). He will never fail.”