• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese of the Military Services celebrates Ash Wednesday Mass at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda March 2, 2022. Walter Reed hospital terminated March 31, 2023, a contract with Franciscan priests and brothers to provide pastoral care to Catholics, in advance of Holy Week. (OSV News photo/CNS file, courtesy U.S. Archdiocese of the Military Services)

Walter Reed decision to cancel Catholic pastoral contract ahead of Holy Week ‘incomprehensible,’ says US military archbishop

April 11, 2023
By Gina Christian
OSV News
Filed Under: Feature, Health Care, News, World News

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

BETHESDA (OSV News) — Hours before Holy Week began, a U.S. major military medical center ended a long-standing contract to provide Catholic pastoral care to veterans and service members, violating their religious freedom, according to Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for Military Services.

On March 31, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda issued a “cease and desist” order to Holy Name College Friary, a community of Franciscan priests and brothers who have served the center’s service members and veterans for close to two decades, the archdiocese said in an April 7 news release.

The center is one of several major medical facilities operated within the U.S. Department of Defense and the Defense Health Agency, and so falls within the pastoral jurisdiction of the military archdiocese. According to the archdiocese, the March 31 order directed Catholic priests to halt religious services on the center’s grounds, ahead of the church’s commemorations of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services gestures during a Nov. 15, 2022, news conference after being elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops during the fall general assembly of the bishops in Baltimore. (OSV News photo/Bob Roller)

The contract for pastoral care was instead “awarded to a secular defense contracting firm that cannot fulfill the statement of the work” required, said the archdiocese’s news release. “As a result, adequate pastoral care is not available for service members and veterans in the U.S.’s largest Defense Health Agency medical center either during Holy Week or beyond.”

Sources familiar with the contract told OSV News the cost differences between the nonreligious contractor and the Franciscans were minimal.

The release noted “there is one Catholic Army chaplain assigned to Walter Reed Medical Center, but he is in the process of separating from the Army.”

In a written statement provided to OSV News, the Franciscan Friars of Holy Name Province said Walter Reed’s decision was “certainly disappointing after 20 years of service … after building trust and so many wonderful relationships and friendships.” However, it stated the friars also “respect the process.”

Archbishop Broglio, who also serves as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, called the medical center’s decision in his statement “incomprehensible,” one that denies “essential pastoral care … (for) the sick and aged when it (is) so readily available.”

The archbishop also said he fears “giving a contract to the lowest bidder overlooked the fact that the bidder cannot provide the necessary service. I earnestly hope that this disdain for the sick will be remedied at once and their First Amendment rights will be respected.”

In comments to OSV News late April 7, Archbishop Broglio faulted those overseeing contracting at Walter Reed “for not doing their homework on what it takes to ensure Catholic coverage.”

The secular firm that underbid for the contract “is incapable of providing priestly care,” he said, adding that under this contract “priests wouldn’t have endorsements” needed to provide pastoral care to veterans and service members. “(It’s like) hiring a brain surgeon who didn’t go to med school,” he said.

Archbishop Broglio said the archdiocese has been trying “all week to get ahold of the Protestant chaplain there” at Walter Reed about the situation “but he has little control over contracting.”

In its release, the archdiocese said the contract termination, along with the award of a contract to a for-profit company with “no way of providing Catholic priests to the medical center,” represents “a glaring violation of service members’ and veterans’ right to the free exercise of religion.”

The timing of the move ahead of Holy Week “causes untold and irreparable harm to Catholics who are hospitalized and therefore a captive population whose religious rights the government has a constitutional duty to provide for and protect,” said the news release.

In their statement to OSV News, friars said they had been “blessed for two decades” to provide “this ministry of presence, peace, and compassionate pastoral care to our service men and women, and their families, in the hopes of helping them to heal physically, emotionally and spiritually during the most difficult and challenging times of their lives.”

The “very powerful ministerial experience” enabled the friars “to be invited into the lives of these true American heroes who have sacrificed so much for our country,” said the statement. “From administering the sacraments and celebrating Mass, to bedside visits and quiet chats, to being a comforting voice or a good listener, to emergency visits, the Franciscan Friars have ministered with the dignity and respect that these suffering military men and women deserve.”

The military archdiocese’s general counsel, Elizabeth A. Tomlin, has reached out to Walter Reed’s contracting officers “numerous times throughout Holy Week asking for the Franciscans’ Catholic ministry to be reinstated at least through Easter,” but had not received a response, according to the archdiocese’s news release.

Calls and emails placed by OSV News April 7-8 to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center have not yet been returned.

Read More World News

Judge blocks Trump birthright citizenship order as part of class action lawsuit

Ukraine religious leaders issue ‘desperate cry’ to world to end Russia’s war

care of creation

Pope Leo wears Chicago-made vestments to July 9 ‘care of creation’ Mass

sorry baby

Movie Review: Sorry, Baby

ICE

ICE deports Iowa parishioner to Guatemala homeland as supporters pray for his release

French woman hopes sharing mystical encounter with Minnesota Benedictine helps sainthood cause

Copyright © 2023 OSV News

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Gina Christian

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • 3 North Americans named to Vatican dicasteries for ecumenism, interreligious dialogue

  • Archbishop Lori announces clergy appointments, including pastor and associate pastors

  • St. Mary’s purchases former Annapolis Area Christian School

  • superman Movie Review: Superman

  • DUAL ENROLLMENT Double the learning: Dual enrollment provides college credit to high school students

| Latest Local News |

Archbishop Lori announces clergy appointments, including pastor and associate pastors

DUAL ENROLLMENT

Double the learning: Dual enrollment provides college credit to high school students

St. Mary’s purchases former Annapolis Area Christian School

Radio Interview: Exploring the Nicene Creed – Part Two

St. Clement Mary Hofbauer adapts to times, cultures as it celebrates 100th anniversary

| Latest World News |

Judge blocks Trump birthright citizenship order as part of class action lawsuit

Ukraine religious leaders issue ‘desperate cry’ to world to end Russia’s war

care of creation

Pope Leo wears Chicago-made vestments to July 9 ‘care of creation’ Mass

sorry baby

Movie Review: Sorry, Baby

ICE

ICE deports Iowa parishioner to Guatemala homeland as supporters pray for his release

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Expert discusses serious harms of smartphones for children and how to limit their use
  • Movie Review: Superman
  • Judge blocks Trump birthright citizenship order as part of class action lawsuit
  • Ukraine religious leaders issue ‘desperate cry’ to world to end Russia’s war
  • Pope Leo wears Chicago-made vestments to July 9 ‘care of creation’ Mass
  • Movie Review: Sorry, Baby
  • ICE deports Iowa parishioner to Guatemala homeland as supporters pray for his release
  • Come away and rest awhile
  • French woman hopes sharing mystical encounter with Minnesota Benedictine helps sainthood cause

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en