The Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services accused Walter Reed National Military Medical Center of not allowing Catholic service members and veterans their right to practice their religion.
The Medical Center canceled a contract for pastoral care and gave a “cease and desist” order to a number of Catholic priests just days before Holy Week.
“It is incomprehensible that essential pastoral care is taken away from the sick and the aged when it was so readily available,” Archbishop Timothy Broglio said in a statement.
“This is a classic case where the adage ‘If it is not broken, do not fix it’ applies. I fear that giving a contract to the lowest bidder overlooked the fact that the bidder cannot provide the necessary service,” he said. “I earnestly hope that this disdain for the sick will be remedied at once and their First Amendment rights will be respected.”
From Fox News:
The Catholic archdiocese says in a statement that Walter Reed issued the order against Holy Name College Friary, a Franciscan community of priests and brothers that has served at the center for nearly 20 years. Instead, it says the contract for Catholic Pastoral Care was terminated at the end of March, just as Holy Week was about to begin. Walter Reed replaced the contract with a secular defense contracting firm that the archdiocese says will not be able to provide the adequate care needed. The archdiocese condemned the move as an encroachment upon the right of free exercise of religion under the First Amendment and said its requests to have the ministry reinstated through Easter have not received a response.
