Clearly there are problems with at least one chaplain here. And with some at the Air Force Academy, and I think we recently had a story about yet another place where some chaplain was only interested in pushing his own religion. I can see why chaplains are wanted in the armed services and elsewhere so I don’t oppose having them where people face critical situations without good opportunities to contact their own spiritual advisors (as I write this, it occurs to me the internet and cell phones everywhere actually may mean chaplains are needed a lot less now).
But anyway, with this administration bending over backwards for the religious group that largely got it elected and that it hopes will elect its successor so it is never properly investigated, it’s not surprising things would go more wrong than they may have in the past.

Rev. O. Ray Fitzgerald, a Methodist Chaplain at the government-run clinical research hospital in Bethesda, MD was demoted from his position as head of the Spritual Ministry Dept. and the Catholic Chaplain he fired was reinstated. Rev. Fitzgerald is still one of the Chaplains there. This apparently doesn’t satisfy the other chaplains who have greivences against him, and they want him gone. The NIH thought he should stay, and he’s there. It sounds like big egos, and little tolerance on their part, as well. They, being Clergy people, you would think and expect forgiveness would be the order of the day, and not to destroy another Chaplains job, even if he erred.

Henrietta,
If only that were possible. Sadly some chaplains believe they have the only path to redemption, truth, and faith. So they work their way into the lives of very vulnerable people. These same chaplains work through fear and exclusion, inspite of any sort of pledge to be cooperative and part of a ministry team. I have seen it far too often to dismiss this story as one group grousing about one particular chaplain. It is better to err on behalf of the patients who may become easy targets and then victims of possible harrassment. I belive the NIH acted responsibly by demoting this guy. I hope his denomination takes seriously that he represents them in a very public way, and that his presence reflects directly on their entire denomination. He may feel like a righteous martyr, but that is better than a family of a patient feeling he is a savior and the rest of the entire institution is suspect and corrupt.

Henrietta,
My impression is a bit different than yours. I don’t see it as a case of big egos on the part of the other chaplains. I see it as being forced to work in a very difficult situation with someone who has no qualms about showing contempt for you. How is the rabbi to work with someone who has called him names behind his back? Or, how is a priest to work with someone who accuses him of perversion? The chaplain in question has created a hostile work environment for his co-workers. That’s unacceptable no matter what one’s job is.
Naturally, anyone who has gone through the time and work to become ordained in any faith, believes in the truth of that faith. But, this gentleman has taken the unacceptable step of voicing his contempt for representatives of other faiths to others and behind their backs. I feel certain that the Methodist church could provide a better representative to see to the spiritual needs of people in that hospital.

Since I do not know any more about this particular chaplain and the situation than what is presented in the article above, I really can’t make a fair judgment of him or the matter. If he is what his accusers claim he is, then he is wrong and needs to be censored. Having spent ten years teaching in high school, however, I know there are always two sides to any story. We need to be careful, though, that we don’t paint with too broad a brush. This is one chaplain. Not all chaplains are like him. Not all people of faith agree with him, obviously, or he wouldn’t have charges brought against him by other chaplains. The Bible says “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” That is as true for chaplains as it is for all people of faith, indeed for all people.

Jestrfyl, I agree with you entirely. Having recently experienced a good example of what you said, it was fresh on my mind to compare this situation, even without all facts that this article leaves out, and leaves to our conjecture. Personality, ego’s, and the inability to communicate in any academic be they clergy or whatever is a bomb ready to blow. However, if Clergy, who are so close to spirtual matters or should be or why else be one, should understand that people make mistakes, and when corrected, such as NIH did by demoting this minister to give him another chance to correct himself they should try talking to him and give up their chase to eliminate him entirely. If they can’t do this why should people chose to have them as their Clergy for direction in living-faith matters, when they can’t practise what they preach?