DOD Bars 50 Priests from Mass, Locks Up Eucharist, Priest Sues

October 15, 2013
By Terry Jeffrey

After the Obama administration locked approximately 50 Catholic priests out of saying Mass at U.S. military facilities around the world for the second Sunday in a row, Father Ray Leonard, who serves as the Catholic chaplain at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in Georgia, has filed suit against the Department of Defense, Defense Secretary Charles Hagel, the Department of the Navy, and Navy Secretary Ray Mabus.

DOD locked out Father Leonard and the other priests even though two weeks ago Congress passed, and President Barack Obama signed, a law that instructed DOD to maintain on the job and keep paying contract employees who were supporting the troops.

DOD took this action because Hagel determined that the Catholic priests did not, among other things, “contribute to the morale” and “well-being” of service personnel.

"Father Leonard was told that if he practiced his Catholic faith on the Naval Base, even on a volunteer basis, he would be subject to arrest,” says the lawsuit. the rest