Walter Reed Says Catholic Services Will Resume After Priests Told to 'Cease and Desist'

Walter Reed National Military Medical Center officials say Catholic pastoral services will resume at the military veteran's hospital after it told Franciscan priests to stop ministering during Holy Week last month. 

The priests from the Holy Name College Friary in Silver Spring, Maryland, had ministered to service members and veterans hospitalized at Walter Reed, a renowned medical facility in nearby Bethesda, for 20 years. 

Walter Reed said it notified the Franciscans in March that their contract would not be renewed, and that another bidder for the new contract had been selected — Mack Global LLC, a government contractor. 

The medical center said it issued a cease-and-desist order on April 4 — in the middle of Holy Week — when the Franciscans continued to provide pastoral services after their contract expired on March 31.

The news prompted criticism from Timothy Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops who also is archbishop for the Military Services as well as several Republican members of Congress. 

Walter Reed officials said an active-duty Army priest on its staff is providing Catholic pastoral services, supplemented as needed by other priests in the region.

The medical center told the Catholic news outlet Crux that the contract with the Franciscans, which was specifically to provide supplemental pastoral services, had expired, and that the priests were aware of the expiration date when it was issued and signed.

"The Archdiocese has been assured that the situation will be rectified and waits to learn of the outcome of the efforts to ensure appropriate care so that the First Amendment rights of patients and staff at the Medical Center will be respected," Broglio told the Associated Press in a statement on April 12. 

CBN News has reached out to Broglio's office for an update. 

Walter Reed also said in a statement it "honors and supports a full range of religious, spiritual, and cultural needs."

The statement said the new contract offered to Mack Global "is under review to ensure it adequately supports the religious needs of our patients and beneficiaries."

The medical center's officials did not say when they expected the contract review to be completed. 

According to its website, Mack Global provides "chapel support, religious education coordinators, non-personal chapel support, hospice chaplains, and other religious staff" calling it "an honor and a privilege that we do not take lightly."

The website also noted Robin Mack, the company's CEO "comes from a strong Christian background and served as a Chaplain at her university."  She attended Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, according to Mack's LinkedIn page. 

The company's website also said their people are "ordained ministers and experienced leaders as pastors, priests, musicians, teachers, trainers and volunteers who favorably pass the background check application according to the Department of Defense Instruction (DoDI 1402.5). They are experienced in their field working with correctional re-entry programs, congregations, children, youth, and adults. They are equipped for their audience with excellent verbal, written, and bilingual communication skills."

Michael Berry, director of Military Affairs at the First Liberty Institute, told CBN News Faith Nation on Friday, the problem with Mack Global winning the Walter Reed contract is it's a for-profit secular business, a defense contractor. 

"They are not under the authority or the offices of the Catholic Church, so they cannot provide Catholic services in the same way that a Franciscan friary can," Berry noted. "Because they – the Franciscans – are under the authority of the Catholic church. So this is actually depriving Catholic service members, again wounded warriors, and people who are at Walter Reed recovering from their injuries or illnesses. This is depriving of their constitutional guarantee of Free Exercise of Religion."

"And this happened during Holy Week," he continued. "The holiest week in the Christian calendar which just adds insult to injury."

Berry told CBN News that First Liberty also sent a letter to the Pentagon, explaining to them the constitutional violations and how this is harming the U.S. military. 

"To my knowledge, the only response the Pentagon has given is 'Thank you for your correspondence. We're going to look into this,' which is effectively a non-responsive response," he said.  

CBN News has also reached out to Walter Reed Medical Center for an update and for additional comment. We'll post it here if we hear back. 

Twelve members of Congress, including Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Roger Marshall of Kansas, also sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin last month inquiring why the contract was awarded to a secular contractor "which cannot fulfill the statement of work."

"We have made promises to our service members and veterans that if they take care of us, we will take care of them," the letter said. "This extends to not just providing quality healthcare at our nation's military medical facilities, but by also providing the ability to freely practice their religion to those under the care at these facilities."