The Geneva Convention's classification of military chaplains as noncombatants has traditionally been interpreted in the United States to mean that chaplains normally do not carry weapons. This often puts them in precarious positions when they are in war zones. Over four hundred chaplains have been killed in the line of duty. Catholic chaplains are especially exposed to dangerous situations by their obligation to administer Absolution and Anointing. They have received every kind of decoration for valor, and seven have been awarded the Medal of Honor.

All four chaplains awarded the Medal since the Civil War have been Catholic. Among them, Lieutenant Vincent Capodanno, a Maryknoll priest and Navy chaplain, who served with the Marine Corps and was killed while aiding the second Platoon of M Company at the battle of Dong Son in Vietnam, has been proposed for heaven's highest honor, canonization as a saint.

The military chaplaincy is under threat by our own government as part of its social agenda.

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On November 6, the citizens of the United States re-elected perhaps the most anti-Catholic president in its history to a second term.

Even sadder, according to exit polls a majority of Catholics voted in his favor, even after they theoretically had imbibed the bishops’ message, conveyed from the pulpit and in various other media, that no Catholic should vote for a candidate who favors abortion rights and single sex marriage and does not support religious liberty.

What is going on here? Clearly, to borrow a line from the film “Cool Hand Luke,” “What we have here is a failure to communicate.”

Simply put, the U.S. is no longer “exceptional.”

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Washington D.C., 12Oct2012/(CNA).- The U.S. bishops criticized Vice President Joe Biden for an "inaccurate statement of fact" about the HHS mandate’s impact on religious institutions during last night’s vice presidential debate.

"With regard to the assault on the Catholic Church, let me make it absolutely clear," said Biden during the Oct. 11 debate in Danville, Ky.
"No religious institution—Catholic or otherwise, including Catholic social services, Georgetown hospital, Mercy hospital, any hospital—none has to either refer contraception, none has to pay for contraception, none has to be a vehicle to get contraception in any insurance policy they provide," he argued. "That is a fact."

"This is not a fact," responded the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in an Oct. 12 statement.

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15Sept2012 (CNA): A priest I know does a lot of spiritual direction. Two of the men he was helping died suddenly this past year, one of a heart attack and one of a stroke. In both cases they were relatively young men and quite successful. In both cases they watched Fox News. And in both cases they had gotten into the nightly habit of shouting at President Obama whenever he came on the TV. In both cases, the wives believed – and they still believe – that politics killed their husbands.

Now that’s a true story. And it’s a good place to begin our time together today. Henri de Lubac, the great Jesuit theologian, once said that if heretics no longer horrify us, it’s not because we have more charity in our hearts. (i) We just find it a lot more satisfying to despise our political opponents. We’ve transferred our passion to politics.

My theme today is living the Catholic faith in public life, including our political life. But in talking about it, I need to make a few preliminary points.

Here’s my first point. It’s very simple. We’re mortal. We’re going to die.

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