Now administration threatens military Priest

[r3020]

The US is fast becoming a tyrannical dictatorship.

snip-

Some Catholic priests under contract or GS (general  schedule) to the military are not allowed to offer Mass or perform  weddings, baptisms, and other religious functions on military property  during the government shutdown, and if they do, even on a volunteer  basis, they risk being arrested, according to the general counsel for the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA.

About 25% of the U.S. military is Catholic, some 275,000 service  members, but there are only 234-active-duty priests. To fill the gap,  contract or GS priests are brought in. But under the rules of the  shutdown, many of those priests cannot perform their religious duties on  military bases unless their contracts allow it.

“These men are employed by the government to ensure that a priest is  available when an active duty Catholic Chaplain is not present,” said  John Schlageter, general counsel for the archdiocese for the Military  Services, USA.  “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,” said Schlageter.

He explained, for example, if a Catholic family has a baptism  scheduled for this weekend on an Air Force base staffed by a GS or  contract priest, that baptism “is most likely cancelled.” If you are  stationed in Japan or Korea and served by a GS or contract priest, “then  you have no choice but to go without Mass this weekend.”

- See more at: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/michael-w-chapman/some-catholic-priests-risk-arrest-if-they-offer-ma...

[bruce MN]

Judas H. 00. You put up post after post detailing all of these things that are matters of prescribed policy seemingly fishing for people who as naïve, gullible and mis-informed as you obviously are in picking up on all of them. Trying to convince people that these are abitrary decisions made out of ideaology and political motives. Even so much at times to insinuate that the decision was made directly, case by case by the President. F'in cut it out. You are grossly embarassing yourself.

[hRex]

There's an obscure law in the federal code that expressly forbids governmental units from accepting unpaid services. First applied in my experience by a lockout during the Reagan administration this old law was used as the reason behind not allowing us to go to work, even off pay. I've been out of governmental service for over 25 years, but I don't think this law has been changed. So, the policy has been in place for years, if not generations--it wasn't just thought up by this administration.

[r3020]

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@bruce MN wrote:
Judas H. 00. You put up post after post detailing all of these things that are matters of prescribed policy seemingly fishing for people who as naïve, gullible and mis-informed as you obviously are in picking up on all of them. Trying to convince people that these are abitrary decisions made out of ideaology and political motives. Even so much at times to insinuate that the decision was made directly, case by case by the President. F'in cut it out. You are grossly embarassing yourself.

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You do understand Bruce they are threatening these Priest with arrest don't you. Arrest for nothing more than saying Mass. You find that agreeable?

[Canuck_2]

Will they be arrested if they say mass in the local subsidized church or just on government owned property?

[r3020]

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@Canuck_2 wrote:

Will they be arrested if they say mass in the local subsidized church or just on government owned property?

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If they celebrate the Mass on a military base that trains the young men and women who give the supreme sacrifice to preserve the right to practice our faith without fear of punishment from Almighty government.

[Canuck_2]

So I take it that would be government property.

Your government is shut down.

You seem to want to shut down the parts of government that suit you and open those that you decide should be open.

[gough whitlam]

This poor wretch thinks that anything to do with his fictitious god should be excluded as if it is paramount importance to the soldiers well being. The fact is, god can be taken out of anyone's life with no ill effects because there is no god. Only fools like think you believe your life is partly controlled by god. And, tell your clergy mates to get a real job after they stop all the kiddie fiddling they are well known for.

Furthermore, the hypocrisy of the military taking spiritual advice then proceeding to slaughter innocents of the same faith in the name god, is exactly why your country is continually engaged in some war effort. Your lot cannot distinguish between the two.

You are doing yourself a great disservice by pursuing irrelevant non existent issues.

Guns, god and the GOP. That is the reason.

[r3020]

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@Canuck_2 wrote:

So I take it that would be government property.

Your government is shut down.

You seem to want to shut down the parts of government that suit you and open those that you decide should be open.

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Camp David is also government property along with Obama's golf course. Camp David will some how manage to pay all 250 staffers to administer to the Presidents every demand. Wouldn't surprise me if the President is up there shooting skeet this weekend. But now if a Priest tries to volunteer his time to Baptize the child of a soldier who can not leaves the base he could be arrested and hauled off to jail.

[KNAPPer]

Hardly tyrannical or a dictatorship. Please look those words up. Actually, just following the law.

Not being allowed to volunteer to do the same duties as a job you are paid to do is actually part of labor laws. No one is allowed to volunteer to do the job they are normally paid for, public sector or government, but the government has to tow the line far more than the private sector. To make a long story short, if one volunteers to do the work they normally do for an employer, legally they are entitled to be paid. I am sure you can understand those complications. All Federal employees have to abided by this law. I think it is part of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

As for the threat of arrest - I suspect were it not on a military base, the threat would not be there. Unauthorized enrty to a military base is a pretty big deal. I am sure if there are other furloughed employees on a military base, the PX is probably as far as they can go in. If I'm wrong, then perhaps they should lighten up.

I suggest that you write your representative and tell them to pass a continuing budget resolution now and your troops will have their religion and will no longer suffer without it.