Army Chaplains Prohibited from Reading Letter on HHS Ruling
Catholic chaplains have been prohibited by the U.S. Army chief of chaplains from reading a letter opposing the Obama administration's contraceptive and sterilization mandate. The letter in question was written by the Most Reverend Timothy P. Broglio, head of the Archdiocese for Military Services.* In the letter, the Archbishop states that the decision handed down by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services violates First Amendment rights of free speech and free exercise of religion.

...The military archdiocese said there was no objection to the letter from the other branches of military service.

After a discussion between Archbishop Broglio and Secretary of the Army John McHugh, “it was agreed that it was a mistake to stop the reading” of the letter.

However, the line, “We cannot, we will not, comply with this unjust law” was removed from the letter by the archbishop at the prompting of Secretary McHugh, who believed that it “could potentially be misunderstood as a call to civil disobedience.”

According to the archdiocese, Archbishop Broglio believes the move violated both his rights and “those same rights of all military chaplains and their congregants.”

The archdiocese did not give any indication that it intends to pursue legal action over the incident. It said that it “did not receive any objections to the reading of Archbishop Broglio’s statement from the other branches of service."

Sounds like the Army Chief of Chaplains needs to be demoted and/or removed from his post for violating the First Amendment that he is sworn to uphold as are the rest of the members of the Armed Forces.

Bob