(RNS) The Navy has disciplined dozens of chaplains in the last decade for misconduct offenses ranging from sexual abuse to fraud, the Associated Press has learned.
More than 40 chaplains were punished at a rate much higher than that for other officers, according to documents obtained by the AP.
“Navy chaplains, in fact, create a disproportionate number of problem cases,” Navy Chaplain Corps official Bradford E. Ableson, wrote in a 1999 memo.
Ableson, the deputy executive assistant to the chief of Navy chaplains, wrote the document to give his supervisor details on the extent of the trouble.
This and other previously undisclosed documents reveal offenses including adultery, spousal abuse and child molestation that occurred at a rate in 1999 that prompted then-Navy Secretary Richard Danzig to order a new training and oversight program to make sure the Navy’s nearly 870 chaplains complied with high moral standards.
Lt. Jon Spiers, a chaplain corps spokesman, said the corps has instituted the retraining program but hasn’t tracked how many chaplains have been punished since that time.
Court records and news stories indicate that since 1999 a recently retired chaplain was charged with murder and at least one chaplain has been convicted of indecent acts.
Spiers said Rear Adm. Barry Black, the current chief of chaplains, has prioritized enforcing ethical standards. Black has been nominated to become the U.S. Senate chaplain.
“To say the actions of a few speak for the service of the many thousands of men and women who serve and have served as Navy chaplains does an injustice to all the good work these officers give so willingly,” Spiers said in a written statement replying to the AP’s questions.
According to the documents, 28 of the 42 punished chaplains were accused of sexual misconduct or harassment. For example, a Seventh-day Adventist chaplain was court-martialed for an indecent assault during a counseling session. A Roman Catholic chaplain was imprisoned for molesting the young sons of Marines and sailors.
Ableson wrote that between 1994 and 1999 the chaplain corps had at least 39 officers disciplined _ more than those disciplined among the rest of the Navy’s 32,000 regular officers. The discipline rate for regular officers was 2 per 1,000, while the similar rate for chaplains was 45 per 1,000, the memos said.
Spiers said chaplains are expected to maintain the same standards as other Navy officers, but Ableson’s memo concluded: “Too many officers with integrity problems are nurtured by the CHC (chaplain corps) culture and advanced by the CHC system.”
California Diocese Drops Suit Against Boston Archdiocese
(RNS) The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino, Calif., which sued the Archdiocese of Boston in April for not disclosing the abusive history of a pedophile priest, said it will drop its lawsuit now that a new archbishop has been appointed to Boston.
Bishop Gerard R. Barnes of San Bernardino said he would drop the suit as a gesture of good will toward Archbishop-elect Sean O’Malley.
“For the good of the victims, the church and the faithful, we must move forward,” Barnes said, according to the Associated Press. “It is important to me to live and be an example of the gospel. That means sitting down with Bishop O’Malley to resolve this matter directly.”
Barnes filed the suit in April _ the first time one diocese had sued another _ after he said his diocese should not be held responsible for abuse inflicted by the Rev. Paul Shanley.
Shanley was transferred from Boston to San Bernardino in 1990 with a letter stating he was a priest in “good standing.” Court documents released last year showed that Boston officials knew of allegations against Shanley from at least 1967. He is currently out on bond awaiting trial on 10 counts of child rape in Massachusetts.
When one of Shanley’s victims sued both dioceses, Barnes said he could not afford to settle the case, and argued he should not be held responsible when Boston officials did not disclose the abuse record.
The Rev. Howard Lincoln, spokesman for the Southern California diocese, told the Los Angeles Times that “we are confident the new leadership in Boston will be willing to take responsibility for the past action of the archdiocese. Both (bishops) expressed a sincere desire to bring a just and expedient resolution to this issue in a way that promotes healing.”
Under Fire, Openly Gay Bishop Withdraws His Nomination
LONDON (RNS) The Rev. Jeffrey John, an openly gay priest in the Church of England whose appointment as bishop angered conservatives in the Anglican Communion, has asked to have his nomination withdrawn.
John, who was named suffragan bishop of Reading last month, was well known for his advocacy of gay rights, and church leaders apparently knew of his 27-year relationship with another man. John said he has been celibate since 1991.
In a brief letter signed after a lengthy meeting on Saturday (July 5) with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, John said it had become clear to him that “in view of the damage my consecration might cause to the unity of the Church, including the Anglican Communion,” he had to ask Queen Elizabeth II to rescind her approval of his appointment.
Williams, who two weeks ago tried to smooth opposition among his bishops, said the appointment “has brought to light a good deal of unhappiness among people who could by no means be described as extremists, many of whom have willingly testified to their personal respect for … John.
“They are convinced, however, that there is a basic issue at stake relating to the consistency of our policy and our doctrine in the Church of England _ and that this issue has arisen in this particular case in a way for which there are no obvious parallels. Such unhappiness means that there is an obvious problem in the consecration of a bishop whose ministry will not be readily received by a significant proportion of Christians in England and elsewhere.”
John’s appointment raised significant anger overseas in more conservative churches in the Anglican Communion. “The estrangement of churches in developing countries from their cherished ties with Britain is in no one’s interests,” the archbishop said.
“It would jeopardize us as a church in every way. It would also jeopardize links with other denominations, weaken cooperation in our shared service and mission worldwide, and increase the vulnerability of Christian minorities in some parts of the world where they are at risk.”
Williams said some of the opposition had been “very unsavory indeed,” with letters that displayed “a shocking level of ignorance and hatred toward homosexual people.” he said.
_ Robert Nowell
Italian Theologian Issues 10 Commandments for Chastity
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Responding to a call by Pope John Paul II to young people to “discover the value and importance of chastity,” a Neapolitan theologian on Monday (July 7) issued 10 commandments for a chaste summer vacation.
“Summer traditionally makes people lose all control of their own moral actions, especially in the sexual field,” the Rev. Antonio Rungi said. He said his “simple rules” can help young people to exercise prudence and control their baser instincts.
Rungi’s first commandments for chastity are not to wear revealing clothes, go to places known to be “morally dangerous,” accept no invitations from strangers or to isolated places and take rides only with trustworthy people.
“Don’t flaunt your body with attitudes and movements of any kind, especially if you have an excellent physique,” says commandment No. 5.
The theologian warns that playing around with people who make their “erotic intentions” known can end with damage that is “physical and morally irreparable.” He rules out any relations with groups that encourage sexual approaches and frowns on “the fashion of considering sexual freedom to be allowed, especially during the summer.”
“Don’t betray your interior self, but read interesting books that promote respect for the human person, women above all,” he advises. “Don’t dismiss as banal such important values for you young people as love, fidelity and purity of body and spirit.”
“Of course,” Rungi adds, “all this would be easier if the young people of today took attentive care of their spiritual life.”
Speaking to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the noon Angelus prayer on Sunday (July 6), the pope offered young people the example of St. Maria Goretti, who was murdered on July 6, 1902, at the age of 11 protecting her virginity. Celebrations of the centenary of the Italian saint ended on Sunday.
The pope urged young people not to “burn up” their summer vacation “in dissipation and simple amusement” but to make it “a favorable occasion to give new breathing space to the interior life.”
_ Peggy Polk
Belarus Officials Promise to Bury Remains Unearthed by Digging for Stadium
MOSCOW (RNS) Officials in Belarus promised Monday (July 7) to find cemetery space for the bones dislodged when a large Jewish cemetery was destroyed to make way for a sports stadium, a local Jewish leader said.
“They promised that they would not do any more work,” said Grigory Khosid by telephone from Grodno, a city on the western edge of the former Soviet republic.
In a Monday meeting with Grodno’s mayor, Khosid was assured that the remains that were unearthed during the expansion of the city’s main soccer stadium will be buried by city workers in a local Jewish cemetery that is not ordinarily open to the city’s 600-member Jewish community.
The issue of the cemetery’s destruction drew international attention in recent months as word slowly spread about how Grodno residents were finding bones, skulls and fragments of gravestones with Hebrew lettering in the truck loads of earth removed from the stadium construction site.
Khosid said he is regularly fielding concerned telephone calls from Israel, America and Western diplomats stationed in the capital city of Minsk. The cemetery, where Khosid’s grandmother was buried, had several thousand Jewish graves until the late 1950s when Soviet authorities removed the headstones and built first a soccer stadium and later a hockey rink on the site.
At the time, Khosid said local Jews sent letters of protest to Moscow and “were lucky they weren’t arrested” for dissent in the Soviet police state. Former Jewish residents of Grodno now living in Israel are raising money to erect a stone obelisk next to the stadium that would commemorate the cemetery, he said.
Grodno, located about 15 miles from the point where the borders of Belarus, Poland and Lithuania meet, was a solidly Jewish city throughout much of the 19th century and, until the German Nazi invasion of 1942, had a population of 30,000 Jews.
“Only 200 of the 30,000 Jews survived. I was one of them,” said Khosid, who was 18 at the time and lost his entire family in the Holocaust. “I jumped out of the train as it went to Treblinka.”
_ Frank Brown
Christian Financial Expert Larry Burkett Dead at Age 64
(RNS) Larry Burkett, co-founder of Crown Financial Ministries, a Christian financial management organization, died July 4 in Gainesville, Ga., after battling cancer and other health problems, his organization announced. He was 64.
Burkett founded Christian Financial Concepts in his suburban Atlanta basement in 1976 and focused on teaching people how to handle money following biblical principles. After growing to employ more than 130 people, his organization merged in 2000 with the like-minded Crown Ministries founded by Howard Dayton.
Burkett authored more than 70 books and hosted nationally syndicated radio programs.
Christianity Today magazine credited him with being “largely responsible for creating `money’ and `finance’ sections in Christian bookstores.”
“Our money and possessions don’t belong to us; they belong to God,” Burkett said. “God has given us the authority to be stewards of our money and possessions, and the responsibility to faithfully manage them according to the principles of the Bible.”
_ Adelle M. Banks
Quote of the Day: Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.
(RNS) “It’s just a lapel pin, a little angel lapel pin, and it’s a constant reminder to me of the gift that God gave me and my son and his life and that I have a little soldier up in heaven who’s pulling for his dad.”
_ Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., quoted by The Washington Times from an appearance on “After Hours with Cal Thomas” on the Fox News Channel Saturday (July 5) in response to a question about a pin he wears on his suit each day. His infant son was named Gabriel Michael.
KRE END RNS
