His appointment was announced along with that of Monsignor Richard B. Higgins, chaplain for the 10th Air Base Wing in Colorado Springs, Colo. Their ordination is scheduled for July 3 in Washington, D.C.

Estabrook grew up in Albany, N.Y., and graduated from St. Bonaventure University.

He said he expects to leave Hawai'i in June.

The military archdiocese serves military families and federal employees around the world.

Estabrook, who has been counseling Marines before and after their service in Iraq, said he was very proud of American military families, "the most generous people our nation has to offer."

He said troops need "moral and spiritual readiness" to prevent the kind of prisoner abuses recently uncovered at a Baghdad prison.

The vast majority of soldiers, he said, try hard to make the right decisions in difficult circumstances, but "we had a few that really stepped out of the box and did some evil things."

Reached by phone in New York yesterday, Estabrook said his appointment came as "quite a surprise."

"I was feeling kind of down, looking at retirement soon." Estabrook said he was scheduled to retire next year, but had stayed on through the completion of the new chapel complex at the Marines' Kane'ohe base.

"It was the apostolic nuncio" delivering the news, he said, "the representative of the pope in the U.S. That's like picking up the phone with (Secretary of Defense Donald) Rumsfeld on other end."

"He said, 'Pope John Paul appointed you as bishop.'

" 'That's amazing!' " I said.

"And he said, 'Do not be afraid. It's a call from God.' "

Estabrook will have spent a total of seven years in Hawai'i.