Prison policy allows inmates to profess to belong to more th

[Stan]

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420ap_wa_multiple_religions.html

Last updated January 29, 2008 8:34 a.m. PT

Multi-religion prisoners OK by state, but not chaplain

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- A change in state prison policy allows inmates to profess to belong to more than one religion.

The change that took effect last month is a result of a lawsuit from an inmate who said the state had prohibited him from worshipping as both a Native American and Seventh-day Adventist.

Multiple religions may be OK with the Department of Corrections but it's not with Catholic chaplain Tom Suss.

He took a leave from his job at McNeil Island Corrections Center because he says the policy conflicts with his faith. He says he couldn't minister to an inmate who claims to be a Catholic and a pagan at the same time.

Here's breakdown of the top prisoner religious preferences as compiled by the Department of Corrections in September:

Protestant 5,544, None 2,092, Pagan 1,839, Catholic 1,534, Native American 1,252, Islam 1,078.

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Information from: The News Tribune, http://www.thenewstribune.com

[Gregory Matthews]

I will say that the Priest should have left.

Governmental chaplains are there to serve all, regrdles of there specific faith.

Chaplains are not required to violate their conscience. They are not required to perform sacramental servises that are outsie of their faith tradition. So, I am not required to baptize someone if I do not want to do so.

In a governmental chaplaincy, ministry is more than overtly religious. Ministry is relationship with people, to include other faith traditions. If that priest cannot minister in that sense to a pagan professes to be a Catholic, the priest shoudl resign.