Posted on 10/08/2013 4:35:09 PM PDT by Nachum
Father Ray Leonard, a Catholic priest who serves a Georgia military base, was not allowed to celebrate mass at the Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay this weekend. “Shutdown: No Catholic service till further notice,” a sign posted on the chapel said. Leonard — who is contracted with the Department of Defense to minister the military on the base — is not allowed to work on the base during the federal government shutdown. In fact, the general counsel for the Archdiocese for the Military Services USA has warned that — under current law — some military priests under contract could even
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
This prohibition is in direct contradiction of the first amendment of the constitution. Plus, it's just STUPID!
I wonder if there will be similar prohibitions against Jewish, or more importantly, islamic services?
Mark
Obama Temper Tantrum reaches Georgia
They are coming after you. One group at a time.
This is not random. It is a calculated strategy.
First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.
Where are the higher levels of the US Catholic Church on this? If the church so liberal that it will stand by mutely and take this assault?
I’m not Catholic, but I recall when young that it seemed priests and nuns were willing to be jailed to defend their religion. The Catholic Church had influence in bringing down communist governments. But it accepts this now?
The tenor and tone of many of the comments on this thread suggest that a great deal of misunderstanding and ignorance is at work.
First, the Catholic Church supplies Chaplains to the military services who are commissioned as officers of the Chaplains’ Corps and serve as members of the Armed Forces. The Catholic Church has been unable for some years to provide Priests in the numbers that are required based on location of military forces and percentages of servicemen who identify as members of the Catholic faith. These military chaplains are not affected by the shutdown and they are saying Mass as they have always done.
Because of the shortage of military chaplains, the government has contracted with local dioceses to provide Priests for scheduled Mass and other services. These arrangements are subject to the legal provisions of the contract, which vary from place to place. Just like other government contractors, some are working as normal, some are being told to stay home depending on the contract.
I would think that the Base Chaplain, if he has half a brain and isn’t a complete bureaucrat, could arrange for a Priest not associated with the contract in question to say Mass as an invited guest. This would avoid any contract legal issues and ensure that some level of ministry could continue. He could also arrange to have a military chaplain report on TDY, although that may not be an option in this case.
If someone is being bullheaded, lazy, or hamstrung; then, the faithful may have to go off base to attend Mass. This problem highlights a serious issue that has nothing to do with a government shutdown. The Catholic Church in America has a serious shortage of Priests. There are plenty of Baptist in the Chaplains’ Corps.
Ever since Vatican II. They quietly dropped the tenets against communism during the council. No secret that the Church was filled with communists by the late 50's and 60's. Bella Dodd testified in front of Congress (at the encouragement of her encounter with Bishop Sheen) of the communist infiltration that started in the 20's.
There is a book called "The Metz Agreement" that was written in 2007 that goes into detail as to why communism was virtually ignored (and left open) during the Council. It was an abrupt about face and contradiction to what had been a staunch, Church stance until the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958. Thus explains the horrors surrounding the Church that has happened since then.
It’s the equivalent of living as a recussant Catholic in England during the Tudor police state. Pray the rosary. Pray the mass. Unite your prayers with the BILLIONS praying the mass throughout the world. Obama shall be defeated.
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I understand this is what they are doing at the Naval base in San Diego. The priests there are going off base to administer the sacraments.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
How are they going to stop him from talking. He should just start speaking mass right now , and not stop until the doors open again.
And THEN have a mass.
Hoodat nails it - Obama Temper Tantrum reaches Georgia.
GA FReeper ping.
These chaplains should celebrate their masses or services just outside the gates of these bases ... providing, of course, that they are in fact real chaplains and just not NWO stand-ins.
These are civilian contract Priests, not chaplains.
The problem is that Obama has also banned even volunteer Catholic priests from celebrating Mass.
For Baptists, this isn’t a problem, because Baptists aren’t supposed to go to church every Sunday, whereas Catholics do have a Mass obligation and are supposed to attend Mass every Sunday.
Obviously, if there’s no Mass and they can’t get off the base, God isn’t going to hold it against them!
But that’s the reason Obama is attacking Catholics.
My understanding is that in some places, contract Priests have been prevented from celebrating Mass. That is different from Priests who have no contractural relationship with the military being able to celebrate Mass by invitation.
This is a submarine base. Submariners, when on patrol, cannot attend Mass just as many infantrymen cannot regularly attend Mass. The church deals with this quite well. This is not 1943, those not on duty (i.e. watch) have no problem leaving base to attend Mass.
My point about Baptists is that Protestant denominations have very little problem providing the numbers of Chaplains that are required by their adherents serving in the military. The Catholics, not so much.
The point that I’m trying to make is that in addition to the contract priests, even non-contract, purely volunteer priests have been prevented from celebrating Mass.
The GOP passed a bill permitting them, but that clearly had no effect.
I understand your point, but I have not come across any credible source confirming that story to be true. It could be, but this particular report does not apply to that situation.
I do not find it useful to rail about urban legends when there are so many examples of Obama’s petulant behavior that can be verified.
So is this just for Roman Catholic priests?
WE NEED A PAPER TRAIL FROM THIS TO THE TOP.
(Yes I’m yelling. For all the talk, I’m not seeing any substantive legal action from those with access & standing.)
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