Posted on 10/04/2013 3:05:02 PM PDT by sheikdetailfeather
In a stunning development, some military priests are facing arrest if they celebrate mass or practice their faith on military bases during the federal government shutdown.
“With the government shutdown, many [government service] and contract priests who minister to Catholics on military bases worldwide are not permitted to work – not even to volunteer,” wrote John Schlageter, the general counsel for the Archdiocese for the Military Services USA, in an op-ed this week. “During the shutdown, it is illegal for them to minister on base and they risk being arrested if they attempt to do so.”
According to its website, the Archdiocese for the Military Services “provides the Catholic Church’s full range of pastoral ministries and spiritual services to those in the United States Armed Forces.”
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
Great idea, Imam Obozo. First, arrest all the WWII vets trying to see their Memorial, especially the ones in wheelchairs...get them first. Then, arrest all the Viet Nam veterans coming to see their Memorial...extra points for arresting any who might be disabled. Finally, be a real man and go for the hat trick. Arrest all Catholic priests trying to minister to service members on military bases.
In a sane world, you’d need to build more prisons to contain the insurrectionists.
I might have even used my assets to provide security for the priests who wanted to say mass.
God's law or man's? You decide.
Thanks for your post and ping.
It wouldn’t surprise me at all that this CinC would issue an unlawful directive, even knowing full well it is unlawful.
I expect that the Catholic Military Archdiocese should explode over this. More than any other denomination, this attacks Roman Catholics. They have the least number of chaplains in the military in ratio to the number of Roman Catholics in the military.
However, it can affect other denominations at different installations in the US and overseas. There is no guarantee, for example, that there is a Baptist chaplain at each installation. If a minister is found acceptable to a denomination’s beliefs, the military regularly allows them to use the facilities on post as a volunteer or on a contract. This enables a commander to provide particular services even in the absence of a chaplain of that denomination.
[xzinx wrote: “My experience says that this is an unlawful directive by the president.”]
I fully agree. The problem is this “character” (trying to be nice) makes up the rules as he goes along, or so it seems to me!
It would be an unlawful order. You would be right to defy it.
This president is trying to create a crisis. His blocking memorials that people just walk past like they walk past a mailbox is a violation of our ownership of those pieces of property.
He is blatantly wrong, and it’s likely to cause disobedience.
Why would he want that?
Only so that it becomes a crisis.
Hi Vern. I agree.
The president is a “lawless one” isn’t he?
Absolutely.
I'm not Roman Catholic, but this is absolutely right.
23 posted on 10/4/2013 5:28:28 PM by COBOL2Java (quoting John Schlageter, the General Counsel for the Archdiocese for the Military Services): “If you are a Catholic stationed in Japan or Korea and are served by a Contract or GS priest, unless you speak Korean or Japanese and can find a church nearby, then you have no choice but to go without Mass this weekend. Until the Federal Government resumes normal operations, or an exemption is granted to contract or GS priests, Catholic services are indefinitely suspended at many of those worldwide installations served by contract and GS priests.”
As COBOL2Java pointed out, there is now an obvious and immediate problem in some locations such as South Korea and Japan where Roman Catholic troops will go without the sacraments this Sunday because GS civilian priests are not allowed to celebrate Mass.
I suspect that in South Korea the local Roman Catholic civilian dioceses may be able to arrange exchanges in which American priests celebrate Mass in local Korean Roman Catholic parishes while the local Korean priest celebrates Mass on post. By using translators, it could work, and might even end up being a good thing. Even in Korea's more isolated rural areas, there are probably Roman Catholic priests somewhere else in the local civilian diocese who will welcome the opportunity for an exchange — particularly those who may have served as KATUSAs assigned to the US Army for their mandatory Korean military duty.
But Japan is a whole different story, and it may be simply impossible to find local Japanese priests.
This situation is unacceptable for Roman Catholics. Protestants can “fill in” with lay preachers, but Roman Catholics, based on their understanding of the Mass, can't do that.
This needs to get **WIDE** attention in Roman Catholic military circles, and I hope some soldier somewhere sues over this.
ping to #46
So it isn’t just some wacko at the National Parks Service inventing forbidden activities, this is coming from waaaay upstairs,
.......namely, the WHITE HOUSE.
I hope the priests ignore Obama on this one.
The problem isn’t merely the guy at the top issuing illegal orders, its the guy down the chain of command who is willing to enforce and execute the illegal order. One guy sitting in the White House can’t subvert the country without flacks hacks and drones willing to obey him.
Chaplains (like all of us at some point) will have to decide who is God to them: that soulless drone sitting in the White House or Yahweh the God of All Creation.
He most certainly is trying to create a crisis by his actions closing and denying things that are not necessary.
Many different people in the government have come forward to say he wants to “make it hurt.”
He’ll regret the day if his actions do cause disobedience.
A couple dozen should get arrested. Hit the news shows late night tv etc. Show the world what an ignorant asshat we have as President
he sure hates Christianity, doesn’t he?
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