Are We in the Gulag Yet?

Catholics in the military face some possible shutdowns of religious services during the current unpleasantness. And the government, ever-present, ever-petty, will make sure to bar the door unless the t’s are crossed and the i’s dotted.

[The emphases below are mine – D]

The first report comes from The Acton Institute:

“Catholic Chaplains Face Possible Arrest During Government Shutdown”

There is a shortage of Catholic priests who serve members of the US military and their families, and it looks as if the government shutdown is going to make the situation worse. According to John Schlageter, general counsel for the Archdiocese for the Military Services, priests (whether they are active military or priests privately contracted by the military) will not be allowed to offer Mass or offer other religious services on military installations. (Some Protestant services may also be affected, but the shortage of Protestant clergy is not as extensive as it is for Catholics.)

Schlageter stated that the chaplains may not work or even volunteer during the shutdown. Should a priest attempt to offer Mass, hear confessions or baptize someone, he would be facing arrest. Pentagon spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Nate Christensen stated that if an “outside” priest were hired and paid via tithes and/or donations – not government tax dollars – he would be allowed to offer his services…

And from the Archdiocese for Military Services, linked in that Acton report, further information via this press release:

If the government shutdown continues through the weekend, there will be no Catholic priest to celebrate Mass this Sunday in the chapels at some U.S. military installations where non-active-duty priests serve as government contractors.

Military personnel enjoy, like all Americans, the First Amendment guarantee of the “Free Exercise” of their particular religious faith. But because military personnel are considered a “captive audience,” the laws of our country require the government to provide access to that faith. This is why we have a military chaplaincy. This all becomes very clear when one thinks of a military family stationed in Bahrain or Japan. They cannot walk down the street to the local synagogue, church, mosque, etc.

There is a chronic shortage of active duty Catholic chaplains. While roughly 25% of the military is Catholic, Catholic priests make up only about 8% of the chaplain corps. That means approximately 275,000 men and women in uniform, and their families, are served by only 234 active-duty priests. The temporary solution to this shortage is to provide GS and contract priests. These men are employed by the government to ensure that a priest is available when an active duty Catholic Chaplain is not present. With the government shutdown, many GS and contract priests who minister to Catholics on military bases worldwide are not permitted to work – not even to volunteer. During the shutdown, it is illegal for them to minister on base and they risk being arrested if they attempt to do so.

As an example, if a Catholic family has a Baptism scheduled this weekend at an Air Force base that is staffed by a GS or contract priest, unless they can locate a priest who is not a GS or contract priest, the Baptism is most likely cancelled. 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.

At a time when the military is considering alternative sources of funding for sporting events at the service academies, no one seems to be looking for funding to ensure the Free Exercise rights of Catholics in uniform. Why not?

[The author, John Schlageter, is General Counsel for the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA.]

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The press release also provided this information:

The Archdiocese for the Military was created as an independent archdiocese by Pope John Paul II in 1985 as the only Catholic jurisdiction responsible for endorsing and granting faculties for priests to serve as chaplains in the U.S. military and VA Medical Centers.

AMS-endorsed chaplains serve at more than 220 U.S. military installations in 29 countries, making the AMS the nation’s only global archdiocese. AMS-endorsed chaplains also serve at 153 VA Medical Centers throughout the U.S.

The AMS service population also includes American Catholic civilians working for the federal government in 134 countries, but currently, due to limited resources, the AMS cannot adequately serve this population.

Worldwide, an estimated 1.8 million Catholics depend on the AMS to meet their spiritual and sacramental needs.

For more information on the Archdiocese for the Military Services, visit AMS, the only official Web site for Catholics in the military and for the Cause of Father Vincent Capodanno, MM

So… are we in the gulag yet?

10 thoughts on “Are We in the Gulag Yet?

    • If I understand it correctly, no chaplain and no civilian govt employee priest who is paid under contract may offer any religious service whatsoever, volunteer or otherwise. I suppose he could do it in secret for his family, but who knows?

      However, if some Catholics in the military who don’t have a civilian church to hand are able to dig up a t-totally unaffiliated-with-military-in-any-way type priest, and then pay him out of their own funds for saying Mass, hearing Confessions, baptizing, etc., then that’s kosher. So to speak.

      This could be a problem for any Catholic family who’d arranged to have their child baptized on base. They’d have to scramble to find a pure civilian or postpone the ceremony. Two of my children were baptized on base by a military chaplain. This kind of thing would have put a crimp in family visiting for the occasion. But that was back when govt was less invasive than it is now.

      • I think that such services should be held in spite of the edict, Creon and Diocletian beware, clandestinely and under private auspices. This president has been accused of being a Muslim, or of serving Muslim interests. A policy like this doesn’t make things any better.

        • According to a former member of the MB , now a Christian, Obama is a Sunni Muslim.
          I have always believed it even before he was first voted POTUS.I noticed his attitude and snippets he mentioned that were highly suspicious but knew as being ” black ” ( which he is not technically half white, and not descended from US slaves)
          The most recent clue was his infamous
          declaration : The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of islam”
          Obamabots had closed ears and voted for him anyway TWICE.

          • Correction, (concentration slightly lacking at the moment, maybe due to a possible blood-pressure raise reading such incredible outrages I never thought I would experience in my life-time !)
            I missed out in previous sentence left hanging in the air that because of
            Obama being ” black” I knew he would secure a majority vote.

  1. Quote:
    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.
    end

    So how hard is this to do? Is it like rolling a boulder up Everest? Really?

  2. Here in the States, it would be difficult but possible for most military and their families to go to a civilian church. Overseas it would be impossible in many countries. That’s where this edict is really going to bite.

    I hope the Catholic bishops, who have been described as “the Democratic Party at prayer,” are learning a lesson from this. Many of them seem to have been baptized Democrat, not Catholic.

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