Chaplain Cristiano DeSousa, then a lieutenant commander, delivers the invocation at a memorial service at Naval Station Mayport, Fla., in October 2015. (Timothy Schumaker/U.S. Navy)
The Coast Guard on Tuesday fired a Miami-based chaplain, the second one to be dismissed in less than a month.
Cmdr. Cristiano S. DeSousa, who had served as the Seventh District chaplain since July 2023, was relieved because of a “loss of confidence in his abilities to fulfill the expectations of his position,” according to service officials.
Rear Adm. Douglas Schofield, the district commander, made the decision following an administrative investigation, said Lt. Cmdr. John William Beal, spokesman for the district.
“The Coast Guard found Cmdr. DeSousa demonstrated poor judgment and performance constituting a breach of trust with the workforce,” Beal said. “The Seventh Coast Guard District chaplain serves as a trusted command adviser and is charged with the pastoral care and spiritual needs of nearly 9,000 Coast Guard members throughout our 1.8 million square mile area of responsibility. His performance undermined his position of leadership and authority, and the Coast Guard has higher expectations of officers in these key leadership positions.”
DeSousa, a Presbyterian minister, was reassigned to the Navy, which provides chaplains to the Coast Guard.
Capt. Daniel Mode, a Catholic priest who became the Coast Guard’s top chaplain in April 2022, was reassigned April 24 for failing to act appropriately when he learned of another chaplain’s sexual misconduct that predated military service.
The Archdiocese for the Military Services refuted the Coast Guard’s investigation and argued Mode received documentation in 2022 of the incident that occurred in 2011 and reported it “within hours.” Mode provided the report to “key Coast Guard personnel and chaplains responsible for advising and briefing their commanders” with the assumption it would be more broadly communicated.
The dismissals of DeSousa and Mode are not related, Beal said.
DeSousa was commissioned as a naval officer in September 2006 and has served in Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard units, according to his official service record.
Before moving to Miami with the Coast Guard, he served with the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force in Okinawa, Japan.
His awards and decorations include two Meritorious Service Medals, three Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals, the Coast Guard Commendation Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and two Sea Service Deployment Ribbons.
