Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese of Military Services has
protested a decision by the US Air Force not to fill an opening for a
Catholic chaplain at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama.
The chaplaincy has been vacant since April, and officials at the base
have announced that it may not be filled for several more weeks.
Archbishop Broglio urged government leaders “to assert control over the
bureaucracy that is permitted to deny the First Amendment rights of the
men and women in uniform and their families.”
He recalled that the recent controversy that arose when c chaplaincy at Walter Reed medical center was allowed to lapse.
“There is a priest to fill the position,” the archbishop said. “It is incomprehensible that it is still unfilled.”