Military Chaplain Reports Retaliation over Lawsuit
Chaplain Ray Leonard, the civilian contract Catholic Priest now famous for suing the US government after he was banned from his congregation during the government shutdown, has now said he has experienced official retaliation as a result of his suit:
A Catholic priest has been the target of government retaliation…
The government’s alleged retaliation against Father Ray Leonard began with depriving the civilian priest of two months of his salary, even after the Department of Justice (DOJ) had allowed him to continue his ministry…
Chaplain Leonard’s attorney from the Thomas More Law Center, Erin Mersino, also alleges the Navy tried to coerce him to sign a new contract that would have undermined his litigation:
According to the TMLC brief, Navy officials told Father Leonard he had to sign a new contract on the basis that the old one was not “valid.”…
The TMLC amended complaint states that Navy officials threatened to find other priests to replace Father Leonard if he did not sign the new contract and that pay was withheld from the priest for two months…
Mersino said the new contract included clauses…”that would have called into question the legal claims he made in his complaint.”
Chaplain Leonard has continued his lawsuit despite the fact the government shutdown ended to prevent recurrence of the ban on religious services should the government budget impasse occur again in the future.
Also at CBS News.
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I’m glad you emphasize that he is a civilian contractor, and not a military chaplain. He wasn’t singled out to not be paid–he, as a contractor, was subject to all the same restraints as other contractors during the government shut down. The real issue for the Roman Catholic church is why they don’t put more men into the chaplaincy, so that military members are not subject to reliance upon contractors.
@BC
To be fully accurate, during the government shutdown civilians and contractors had been allowed to return to work if they
The DoD decision that this did not apply to chaplains was responsible for the lawsuit.