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Archbishop of US military ordinariate comments on allowing homosexuals to enlist

October 25, 2010

Archbishop Timothy Broglio, the head of the US military ordinariate, emphasized that there is no “right” to serve in the armed forces, during an interview with the Catholic News Agency.

Archbishop Broglio pointed out that chaplains “can be excluded from military service, because of health or weight problems or because of their age.” The military regulations on these matters are not considered unjust, he observed.

The archbishop was responding to a pair of court decisions. A US federal court had ruled that is is unconstitutional to exclude open homosexuals from military service, and ordered an immediate end to the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy currently in force in the US military. An appeals court later delayed implementation of the lower court’s order, pending a full hearing of the case.

Archbishop Broglio, who has opposed efforts to repeal the existing policy, said that repeal could endanger the freedom of chaplains, since “there is the danger that teaching objective moral precepts or seeking to form youngsters in the faith could be misconstrued as intolerance.”

 


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  • Posted by: wolfdavef3415 - Oct. 25, 2010 7:44 PM ET USA

    "...the faith could be misconstrued as intolerance.” I think that is the plan. Or, perhaps, intolerance to the faith will be misconstrued.

  • Posted by: Chestertonian - Oct. 25, 2010 6:57 PM ET USA

    The point that seems to elude so many in this debate is that one's sexual orientation or activities, whether gay, straight, married or unmarried, should NEVER enter the workplace, whether an office or a bunker. That is personal and private information/activity that should have no bearing on professional behavior; in fact, to bring anything of a sexual nature into the workplace is the very essence of unprofessionalism. And when you work and sleep in the same place, all the more critical.

  • Posted by: Defender - Oct. 25, 2010 5:50 PM ET USA

    Like it or not, gays in the military affect the, "good order and discipline." It is hard to explain to those who haven't served, but allowing openly gays in the military will only create a host of problems. I'm afraid, my dear archbishop, that religion (especially Catholicism) is butting heads against political correctness.