Chief of Navy Chaplains Change of Office Ceremony | RADM Gregory N. Todd

Full interview: U.S. Military Archbishop Timothy Broglio on Iran

 

 Full Transcript

We are (still) making the Chaplain Corps Great Again.

Installation ceremony for Timothy Cardinal Dolan as chief chaplain of the NYPD

The Hidden Power of the Senate Chaplain’s Prayers in Nation’s Crises

 

For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Esther 4:14.

Is Barry Black giving the trumpet a certain sound?

As a Seventh day Adventist and 20 years as a CHAPLAIN (a Catholic concept) to the U.S. Senate, has he preached the Three Angels' Messages to the nation's legislators?

Embattled chaplains group forms new denomination named Anglican Reformed Catholic Church

By Michael Gryboski, Editor Friday, December 26, 2025

The Rt. Rev. Derek Jones, bishop of the Anglican Church in North America's Jurisdiction of the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy, gives a speech in March 2025. | YouTube/Saint Luke's Anglican, Hilton Head Island

A chaplains group facing a legal battle with the Anglican Church in North America has launched a new denomination known as the Anglican Reformed Catholic Church.

Bishops with the Jurisdiction of the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy recently established the ARCC, with it being officially incorporated in Alabama as a new nonprofit organization.

JAFC Bishop Derek Jones will serve as the leader of the new denomination, according to Virtue Online. The group's leaders are calling ARCC “classic Anglican.”

“We live in the tradition and prayer book expression we have all known and loved in the JAFC for nearly 20 years,” they told Virtue Online.

“It is Reformed and Catholic as Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, Bishop John Jewel, Bishop Lancelot Andrewes, and other Anglican reformers envisioned — ancient in faithfulness to the witness of the Apostles and formulated in the ancient Creeds and Councils.”

Senate Chaplain Leads Morning Prayer On Day 15 Of Government Shutdown

Senate Chaplain Leads Opening Prayer On Day 14 Of The Government Shutdown

I bring soldiers to God and God to soldiers: Father Pomposello

Chaplain Granthi Giani Jaswinder Singh Sikh Gurdwara Pine Hill Daily Congress Pra...

Split Down the Aisle by Impeachment, Senate Still United in Prayer

Chaplain balances bipartisan alliances with trust in God’s will.


KATE SHELLNUTT

FEBRUARY 05, 2020 4:50 PM

Image: Getty

Your daily news briefing from the editors of CT:


While elected officials from either party don’t agree on the outcome of the impeachment trial, they could agree on how to pray for the proceedings, according to Barry Black, a Seventh-day Adventist minister and the longtime chaplain of the US Senate.

So what do you pray after the US Senate votes to acquit Trump on two articles of impeachment, as it did on Wednesday afternoon?

You pray that God’s will be done.

“I think the prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane provides us with the model,” Black told CT. “The preamble to saying, ‘Let your will be done’ can be ‘Father, all things are possible for you. If it is possible, let the impeachment trial come out this way, nevertheless, not as I will but let your will be done.’ That’s the basic setup, but the dominant thematic focus should always be ‘Let your will be done.’”

The minister, with his signature bow tie and deep preacher’s cadence, says that in the middle of the polarization and partisan sniping, he has urged senators and staff on both sides to seek God’s will.

People have been listening closely to Black’s prayers as the Senate has battled over the historic impeachment vote. He draws powerful phrases from his daily devotions and hours of scriptural studies.

House chaplain prays to cast 'spirits of darkness' from Congress

House chaplain prays to cast 'spirits of darkness' from Congress

Velma91


Published on Jul 18, 2019


(CNN)You know things are bad in Congress when the chaplain's morning prayer on the House floor sounds like an exorcism. On Thursday, the Rev. Patrick Conroy told members of Congress it has been a "difficult and contentious week in which darker spirits seem to have been at play in the people's house.""In Your most holy name, I now cast out all spirits of darkness from this chamber, spirits not from You," continued Conroy, a Jesuit priest who has been chaplain of the House of Representatives since 2011. As he prayed, Conroy closed his eyes and raised his hands in supplication. At times, Conroy's prayer sounded strikingly similar to the Catholic Church's old Rite of Exorcism, in which a priest cast "unclean spirits" from a possessed person. (The rite was revised in 1999.)In a brief interview afterward, Conroy said the echo was intentional. But he added that his prayer, which he wrote himself, was more inspired by traditional blessings for homes or other buildings. "Anoint your servants here in the House with a healing balm to comfort and renew the souls of all in this assembly," Conroy prayed. "May your spirit of wisdom and patience descend upon all do that any spirit of darkness might have no place in our midst." The idea for the prayer came to him, the chaplain said, after Tuesday's contentious House vote to condemn as racist President Donald Trump's tweets telling four Democrat congresswomen to "go back" to their home countries. Three were born in the United States, the fourth is a naturalized citizen. "I was on the House floor on Tuesday," Conroy told CNN, "and to me, it felt different than other days. It felt like there was something going on beyond just political disagreement. The energy of the House was very off. No one was relishing what was happening."Thursday wasn't the first time Conroy has prayed for peace amid congressional squabbles. "At the end of a contentious week, let Your spirit of peace descend upon this place and those who work here," he prayed on June 29. But while Conroy often invokes God to provide wisdom and aid to House members, he rarely mentions the darker side of the supernatural. "If you are a person of faith," Conroy told CNN on Thursday, "ultimately everything in our lives, our communities and our culture is a battle between darker spirits and our better angels." Conroy's term was approved by the House in January, less than a year after he was briefly ousted in a controversial move by then-Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. On Thursday, the 68-year-old Jesuit priest said his prayer was intentionally non-partisan. "You heard it, I wasn't picking sides," he said. "That's ultimately the goal every day. I want every member of the House to be able to say 'amen.' I'm praying for our better angels."


Related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xQcnP3-pwo

A Message to the Seventh-day Adventist Church from the President

Pastor Ted N.C. Wilson Speaks About the Upcoming Spring Meeting and More

Apr 04, 2019 | Silver Spring, Maryland, United States | Ted N.C. Wilson, President, Seventh-Day Adventist World Church

Greetings to our more than 21 million members around the world who make up the wonderful Seventh-day Adventist church family in more than 200 countries! I thank God for each one of you and want to encourage you, no matter where you are, to be an active member in your local church, and to reach out to your surrounding community, making friends as you gently yet purposefully guide people to Jesus and His love and truth. Always remember that you are the church—that God is eagerly looking to you to reach others for Him. He has called you, and He will equip you as you spend time with Him in prayer and the study of His word.

As you may know, at least two times a year, members of the world church’s General Conference Executive Committee gather together to discuss important spiritual and business items guiding the work of our worldwide church. The Executive Committee is made up of church leaders, teachers, pastors, and lay members from the thirteen world divisions, the Middle East and North Africa Union (MENA) and attached fields of the General Conference.

The full Executive Committee meets during what is called Annual Council, held in October of each year. A somewhat smaller group of the committee meets in April for the shorter Spring Meeting, where the focus is mainly on the finances of the church, along with related items. In addition, we also take some time to focus on important spiritual aspects, especially during the morning worship times together.

In just a few days from now, April 9 and 10, the Spring Meeting will take place here at the world headquarters of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Silver Spring, Maryland. You are welcome to join us during these meetings, via the livestream on the Executive Committee website at executivecommittee.adventist.org. The meetings begin with morning worship at 8 a.m., Eastern Daylight Time.

U.S. Senate chaplain urges 'unconditional benevolence' in talk in Providence church

By Kevin G. Andrade
Posted Feb 16, 2019 at 9:38 PM
Updated Feb 17, 2019 at 1:37 AM

U.S. Senate Chaplain Barry Black speaks at the Central Congregational Church, in Providence, on Saturday night. [The Providence Journal / Kevin G. Andrade]▲



Barry Black spoke about integrating citizenship and faith for the 2019 Darrell West Lecture Series on Religion and Politics.

PROVIDENCE — When you hear U.S. Senate Chaplain Barry Black speak, you might be struck by how many Bible verses and citations he knows by heart, but he has a simple explanation for his ample mental reserve of sacred text.

"Five cents a verse," he said, eliciting a laugh from the roughly 200 people gathered at the Central Congregational Church Saturday night to hear him speak. "That is all it took."

That pocket change came from his mother, who handed over the money for every Bible verse he and his siblings committed to memory, Black said during his talk on integrating citizenship and faith for the 2019 Darrell West Lecture Series on Religion and Politics.

"I cannot imagine what his job is like," West, a former Brown University professor of political science and current senior vice president at the Brookings Institution, said of Black. "I know that he manages to be meaningful and neutral at the same time, which is quite important in his position."

Black framed his conversation in terms of a concept that has become an ideological battleground in the United States — citizenship.

Paul Ryan ousts House chaplain

Report: House chaplain, a Jesuit priest, was forced out by Speaker Paul Ryan

Michael J. O’Loughlin April 26, 2018





Patrick J. Conroy, S.J., seen here in June 2017, had been the chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives since 2011. (CNS photo/Rhina Guidos)


A Jesuit priest who served as chaplain to the U.S. House of Representatives since 2011 was forced to resign by Republican Speaker Paul Ryan earlier this month, The Hill newspaper reported Thursday.

According to the report, Patrick Conroy, S.J., submitted his resignation earlier this month, and it included a reference that it was written at the request of Speaker Ryan, who is Catholic.

“As you have requested, I hereby offer my resignation as the 60th Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives,” the letter reads, according to The Hill.

Members of Congress from both parties expressed shock at the forced resignation, The Hill reports, with one congressional aide telling reporters that the speaker was dismayed by a prayer Father Conroy gave on the House floor that some may have interpreted as being critical of the G.O.P.-backed tax bill that passed last year.


“May their efforts these days guarantee that there are not winners and losers under new tax laws"—Father Conroy in a House prayer last fall
Tweet this

Navy chaplain fired after being caught on film having sex at New Orleans bar

by Mandy Mayfield

| April 04, 2018 05:30 PM

Capt. Loften Thornton, a chaplain at the Marine Reserve in New Orleans, was fired on March 20 due to a "lost of trust and confidence."
(Image via Marine Corps)



A Navy chaplain was fired from his post last month after being caught on video having sex with a woman at a New Orleans pub, according to a report Wednesday.

A Marine spokesman, Lt. Col. Ted Wong, told USA Today that Capt. Loften Thornton was fired on March 20 due to a "lost of trust and confidence."

Two defense officials confirmed to the outlet that authorities were evaluating a video which showed Thornton engaging in sex with a woman at the Crown & Anchor Pub, which is reportedly only a five minute drive from the Marine Reserve where he served in New Orleans.

Thornton had been a chaplain since 1986 and previously served on the destroyer Cole, according to the Navy Times.

The Navy supplies chaplains to the the Marine Corps and they “are embedded within commands operating at sea and ashore to ensure 24/7 availability,” the Navy’s strategic plan for religious ministry reads.

Implicit in the professional Naval chaplaincy role is also "the expectation that chaplains will be faithful representatives of their religious organizations."

Source

Air Force: Investigators reviewing statements by outspoken chaplain Hernandez

By DIANNA CAHN | STARS AND STRIPES

Published: September 22, 2017


WASHINGTON — After initially denying an investigation, the Air Force said Friday that its inspector general’s office is reviewing complaints against reserve chaplain Capt. Sonny Hernandez, who proclaimed that Christian servicemembers are wrong to support the rights of other faiths to practice their religion, actions that he said will lead them to hell.

“I can confirm that the Air Force is reviewing IG complaints made against Chaplain Hernandez that were referred to the Air Force Inspector General’s office,” Air Force spokesman Col. Patrick Ryder said Friday. “At this time it would be inappropriate to comment on the nature of those complaints or speculate on potential outcomes.”

An Air Force Reserve spokesman said earlier this week that the service was not investigating Hernandez.

Hernandez, with the 445th Airlift Wing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, is strongly outspoken on his Christian beliefs. On the Christian blog Barbwire.com, Hernandez wrote last week that Christians in the Armed Forces who support the constitutional rights of people from other religions to practice their faith are wrong. As a chaplain, he said he believes he cannot subvert his religion beneath Constitutional law. He wrote that if a Christian supports a person’s Constitutional right to an abortion, they are serving Satan.



Air Force Reserve Chaplain Capt. Sonny Hernandez.
U.S. AIR FORCE

“It is imperative the Bible-believing military chaplains align themselves with the right endorser that has sincerely held beliefs that appeal to Scripture alone and will not support or accommodate evil,” he wrote.

In the wake of the post, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation filed a complaint against Hernandez with the Department of Defense Inspector General. The organization’s president and founder, Mikey Weinstein, said the complaint was in addition to others MRFF filed against Hernandez in April. He said he was surprised that the complaints were being reviewed by the Air Force, not Pentagon investigators.

Ryder did not say whether the complaints from April were still under review or why spokespeople the Air Force and the Air Force Reserves did not know about the inspector general’s review.

related articles

Air Force chaplain comments raise debate on religious freedom vs. personal faith

The controversy raises questions over the role of chaplains and where the boundaries lie between spiritual leadership and innate freedoms of religion and speech guaranteed under the Constitution that all servicemembers swear to “support and defend.”

All chaplains must be certified as “willing to function in a pluralistic environment ... and to support directly and indirectly the free exercise of religion by all members of the Military Services, their family members and other persons authorized to be served by the military chaplaincies,” according to the Department of Defense.

It also is further complicated by the fact that Hernandez is a reserve chaplain, meaning most days, he is a civilian. He told Stars and Stripes this week that he sees his role as that of missionary and said he was espousing purely theological arguments.

cahn.dianna@stripes.com
Twitter: @DiannaCahn

Source

Ousted Navy Chaplain Looks to High Court to Overturn 2006 Separation

Help & Feedback

Daily News

Colorado State Rep. Gordon Klingenschmitt talks with fellow legislator Rep. Joe Salazar on the closing day of the 2015 Colorado legislative session, at the Capitol, in Denver, Wednesday May 6, 2015. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)13 JUL 2016Military.com | by Bryant Jordan


A former Navy chaplain removed from the service after disobeying an order not to wear his uniform during a protest in front of the White House 10 years ago is hoping to present his case for reinstatement to the U.S. Supreme Court when it reconvenes in the fall.

Gordon Klingenschmitt, a minister who has served as a representative for the past two years in the Colorado state legislature, said he hopes to show the high court that he did not violate a lawful order or Navy regulations with his appearance at the White House demonstration.

"Because I only said a prayer while in my uniform, and I declined to make any political speeches, and declined any interviews with the media until I changed into civilian clothes, I contend that my prayer in Jesus' name was a religious observance," Klingenschmitt said Tuesday.

In September 2006, a Navy court found then-Lt. Klingenschmitt guilty of disobeying an order by appearing in uniform at a political protest and subsequently separated him from the Navy. He said the Navy had offered to discipline him quietly with a letter of reprimand, but he insisted on a court- martial.

Klingenschmitt, through his attorneys, filed a writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court in May. It's now up to the court to review the petition and decide whether it will hear the appeal.

He said he wants the Navy's ruling overturned and, if it is, to be returned to the chaplaincy and awarded back pay.

Klingenschmitt was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 2014 but last month lost the Republican Party primary race to Bob Gardner, who previously served from 2007 to 2013 in the state legislature.

Since being separated from the Navy a decade ago, Klingenschmitt has continued to press the case that military chaplains should be allowed to use Jesus Christ's name in prayer at any time.

Additionally, his Pray In Jesus Name Project claims to have delivered five million faxed petitions to Congress in support of legislation opposing abortion, defending traditional marriage and other causes.

-- Bryant Jordan can be reached atBryant.jordan@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at@BryantJordan.



Source

Senate Chaplain Prayer for Baltimore and Nepal

APRIL 28, 2015



Chaplain Barry Black opened the Senate session with a prayer for Baltimore, where protests and rioting erupted the previous day after a funeral for an African-American who died of a severe spinal cord injury while in police custody, and for Nepal, which suffered a 7.8-magnitude earthquake during the prior weekend. He also prayed for senators to work together to solve those problems.


Source

.