Father Klaus Joseph Sirianni, a priest of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington for 47 years and a former longtime Air Force chaplain, died Nov. 21, 2025 at the age of 80.
At the time of his death, he was serving as a parochial vicar at St. Stephen, Martyr Parish in Washington, D.C. and as a chaplain to George Washington University Hospital.
Born Aug. 7, 1945, in Hannover, Germany, his father died in World War II, and his mother later married Paul Sirianni, a member of the U.S. Air Force who was stationed in Germany. As a young boy, the future priest went to school around the world during his adoptive father’s nearly three decades in the military.
In addition to going to schools in Germany and England, he also attended Mount Calvary School in Forestville while his father was stationed at nearby Andrews Air Force Base (now known as Joint Base Andrews).
Father Sirianni served in the U.S. Air Force from 1965-69 as an airman in northern Michigan. In 1972, he earned a bachelor of arts degree from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, and after earning a teacher’s certificate, he taught at a high school in that city for a year, before deciding to enter the seminary, following up on a calling he first thought about as a child.
In a 2018 interview with the Catholic Standard on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of his ordination, Father Sirianni said the call to become a priest “became more clear, more loud in my heart. I felt this was what God was calling me to do after all.”
He attended Christ the King Seminary in East Aurora, New York, and was ordained by Cardinal William Baum as a priest of this archdiocese on May 6, 1978, at the Cathedral of St. Matthew in Washington, D.C.
He was first assigned as parochial vicar at St. Mary's Parish in Rockville, Maryland, and two years later was appointed parochial vicar at St. Philip the Apostle Parish in Camp Springs, Maryland.
In 1982, Father Sirianni embarked on a 20-year ministry as a chaplain for the United States Air Force.
From 1982 until 2001, he ministered at a variety of posts, including Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota; Howard Air Force Base in Panama; Scott Air Force Base in Illinois; RAF Mildenhall in England; Randolph Air Force Base in Texas; Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany; and Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska; and with several deployments to Egypt, Tunisia and Bahrain.
“I had this feeling I may be of service to the military as a chaplain,” Father Sirianni told the Catholic Standard in that 2018 interview. “I figured I could contribute something to those folks.”
In that interview, Father Sirianni said that in serving as a military chaplain, it was his goal “to bring the Church to people, to bring the sacraments to people, to bring Christ to people, wherever they’re at, whether you’re in a nice chapel … or in a tent out in the desert.”
In 2001, he returned to the archdiocese, serving as a parochial vicar at St. Jane de Chantal Parish in Bethesda for four years. He told the Catholic Standard that the transition from the military sector to the civilian sector was not a difficult one for him to make.
“We take our priesthood with us, regardless of where we’re at,” he said, adding that in his many decades as a priest, he had met “a whole bunch of wonderful people throughout the years.”
From 2005 until his death, Father Sirianni served as chaplain at George Washington University Hospital and as parochial vicar at St. Stephen, Martyr Parish.
In 2019 following the archdiocese’s annual Rose Mass, the John Carroll Society presented Father Sirianni with the Msgr. Harry A. Echle Award for Outstanding Service in Health Care Ministry for his service as a chaplain at George Washington University Hospital. He said that his ministry at the hospital, along with a team of volunteers from the parish serving as extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion for patients, involved “presence, first and foremost,” showing people that “the Church has come to you.”
A viewing was held Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 at St. Stephen, Martyr Church, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial on Dec. 1 offered by Cardinal Robert W. McElroy. Burial was in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Silver Spring, Maryland.
