(RightWing.org) – When people are sick or injured, many find comfort and even healing by turning to their faith. Their right to do so is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. One could rightly expect the federal government and the military to be at the forefront of fighting for it, especially when it comes to the men and women who have served to protect this nation. Sadly, it appears that is not the case for the administration headed by President Joe Biden based on what happened at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
Get. Out.
According to a press release issued by the Archdiocese for the Military Services USA, the group of Franciscan Catholic priests and brothers at Holy Name College received a cease and desist order on March 31 instructing them “to cease any religious services” at the facility. The issuance of the missive could not have been better timed to disrupt the practices of Catholic servicemembers or veterans who might be there because it removed the priests for the most sacred in time their religion, Holy Week, which precedes the acknowledgment of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Archbishop Timothy Broglio said “it is incomprehensible that essential pastoral care is taken away from the sick and the aged.” He also called it a violation of their First Amendment rights and questioned why the responsibility was transferred to a secular defense contractor that “cannot provide the necessary service.”
Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), and 10 other Republicans from both the Senate and the House of Representatives sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin protesting the move and seeking clarification on why it was done. They also questioned why the Defense Health Agency (DHA) doctors are spending so much time and effort “advocating for minors to receive experimental gender transition procedures,” while at the same time remaining silent about this violation of the rights of patients at the hospital.
Catholics Being Targeted
The Department of Defense (DoD) is not the only group under Biden’s authority that has come under fire recently for targeting Catholics in America. On February 8, FBI whistleblower Kyle Seraphin published a redacted internal agency memo (dated January 23) that tied what was described as “radical-traditionalist Catholic (RTC) ideology” to “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists (RMVEs).”
The unnamed author of the memo is with the Richmond, Virginia, field office and apparently relied heavily on information gleaned from the far-Left Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), going so far as simply appending its list of purported RTC groups to the official report. This prompted a letter from the chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary, Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH), and the chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, Congressman Mike Johnson (R-LA), to FBI Director Christopher Wray.
The letter claims “the SPLC routine [sic] maligns several mainstream conservative and religious” groups, and that blindly accepting their definition of hate groups is “highly concerning and undercuts the FBI’s assertion that it is unbiased and politically neutral.” They then asked for any documents pertaining to RTCs and RMVEs while reminding the director that the source of the information is protected under appropriate whistleblower laws. After some dodging from the FBI and Wray, the committee announced it had issued a subpoena on April 10 to get the needed information.
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