Politics

Democrat votes to arrest military chaplains who minister to troops during shutdown

enyart1On Saturday, the GOP-led House overwhelmingly voted 400-1 to approve a resolution demanding Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel allow contract and GS chaplains minister to troops during the government shutdown without fear of arrest.

The lone “no” vote came from Rep. William Enyart, a Democrat from Obama’s home state of Illinois.

Examiner reported Saturday:

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“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,” said John Schlageter, General Counsel of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA.

Catholics, he said, make up 25 percent of the military, but only comprise eight percent 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,” he explained.

To make up for the shortfall, the government provides government service and contract priests. But these priests are forbidden from working — even on a voluntary basis — during a government shutdown.

“During the shutdown, it is illegal for them to minister on base and they risk being arrested if they attempt to do so,” he said.

So, it seems the Obama administration was perfectly willing to arrest chaplains serving troops in the military.  And it looks as though at least one Democrat was all in for that…

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Joe Newby

A 10-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, Joe ran for a city council position in Riverside, Calif., in 1991 and managed successful campaigns for the Idaho state legislature. Co-author of "Banned: How Facebook enables militant Islamic jihad," Joe wrote for Examiner.com from 2010 until it closed in 2016 and his work has been published at Newsbusters, Spokane Faith and Values and other sites. He now runs the Conservative Firing Line.

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