Musing's musings

Stories from the Frontlines: Former Army Capt. Rebecca H. Elliott

I'm going to be participating in SLDN's "Stories from the Frontlines" campaign to encourage (I'd prefer to say "force") President Obama to live up to his promise, in the 2010 State of the Union address, that he would end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" this year. I won't go into the whole sordid history of that promise and the backpedaling the Obama administration has since done on it. Suffice it to say that he made the promise, and he told us himself on the night he was elected that it was up to us to hold his feet to the fire and make him do what he promised. Consider this ongoing effort part of that process.

"Stories from the Frontlines: Letters to President Barack Obama" is a new media campaign launched to underscore the urgent need for congressional action and presidential leadership at this critical point in the fight to repeal "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" (DADT). Every weekday morning as we approach the markup of the Defense Authorization bill in the Senate and House Armed Services Committees, SLDN and a coalition of voices supporting repeal, will share an open letter to the President from a person impacted by this discriminatory law. We are urging the President to include repeal in the Administration’s defense budget recommendations, but also to voice his support as we work to muster the 15 critical votes needed on the Senate Armed Services Committee to include repeal. The Defense Authorization bill represents the best legislative vehicle to bring repeal to the president’s desk. It also was the same vehicle used to pass DADT in 1993. By working together, we can help build momentum to get the votes! We ask that you forward and post these personal stories.

April 30, 2010

President Barack H. Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

I am the mother of two young children, and an Iraq war veteran. I joined up just like my dad – a retired Army officer – and my sister, who currently serves in the Guard. My brother is a reservist and has been deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan. Two weeks ago, our family gathered together as he is leaving again for Afghanistan -- his 4th deployment. Even my husband, Jay, served as an officer in the Air Force until 2008.

Like my dad, I chose the Army. I reached the rank of Captain and was a platoon leader in the military police. I was there during the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

I had some of the best NCO's (non-commissioned officers) in the Army who could accomplish any mission. Several members of my platoon received decorations for valor during the combat phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

On my last day of active duty, some of my old squad leaders revealed to me that one of my former team leaders was gay. They figured it was safe to tell me, as I was leaving the Army. My first feelings on the matter were, frankly, a little surprised, followed by complete indifference.

I was surprised because I had never suspected the soldier of being gay. But then, I never really had any thoughts about her sexual orientation whatsoever.

When I reflected on it, it didn't make one bit of difference in how she performed her job or how she related to the other soldiers in the platoon. She had the respect of her squad leaders (fairly conservative men, mind you), who kept her secret and continued working with her side-by-side for years.

As an officer, I would have been bound by my position to report such "credible information" that would have led to the discharge of a great NCO. I am glad that I was never placed in the position of having to choose between one of my soldiers and enforcing this terrible law, which I feel is unfair and wrong.

Please, Mr. President – at this critical time – do not allow those serving their country to be forced to choose between good, honorable soldiers, and upholding an unfair law.

Please, do not continue to allow gays and lesbians in the service to have to choose between hiding a part of their identity and continuing to serve their country.

Please, help Congress repeal "Don't Ask Don't Tell" now.

Respectfully,

Former Capt. Rebecca H. Elliott
United States Army

Jesus wept. Yet again.

This is a discouraging start to the Easter season (which is supposed to be a time of joyful celebration of new life and new beginnings):

During Easter Mass in St Peter's Square, Cardinal Sodano expressed solidarity with the Pope, who has himself come under scrutiny for his role in handling past cases of abuse.

"Holy Father, the people of God are with you and will not let themselves be influenced by the petty gossip of the moment, by the trials that sometimes assail the community of believers," the cardinal said.

With all due respect to the dean of the Sacred College, no, the people of God are not with the pope--at least not as long as he continues to pretend that nothing is wrong in the Church, and allows people to speak in his name dismissing the current crisis as nothing more than "gossip" or a "smear campaign." Nor should the people of God be "with" the pope on this. The people of God should be (and many of us are) clamoring for a full and open investigation of this suppurating wound on the Body of Christ, thoroughgoing reforms with real substance behind them, and an institutional change of heart away from the "protect the hierarchy at all costs" model that has been in effect for at least the last two pontificates, and back toward something more closely approximating the approach of John XXIII of blessed memory.

We need more pastors in the Church, and far fewer lawyers and career clerics whose major concern is to keep their noses clean so they can land a plum assignment. The primary duty of the clergy is the cura animarum, the care of souls--and they have been falling down on the job in that respect for decades.

In fairness, I will say that many of the critics of the Church (and of its handling of this latest scandal) are not doing much to help. The level of ignorance of Church doctrine and canon law displayed by many critics (and virtually all media outlets) is simply stunning. The critics, particularly those who are not themselves Catholic, can perhaps be forgiven--but the media should know better, and do better research. (Then again, when has this not been the case for the last couple of decades? Journalism, it seems, is--if not already dead--moribund.)

Were it not that I have a fairly good idea of what he means by "deep change," I could find a tiny crumb of cold comfort in this part of the pope's Urbi et orbi message:

In our days too, humanity needs an "exodus," not just superficial adjustment, but a spiritual and moral conversion. It needs the salvation of the Gospel, so as to emerge from a profound crisis, one which requires deep change, beginning with consciences.

What the pope most likely means by "deep change" is, in my estimation, for more people to adopt the attitude toward the papacy exemplified by the bull Unam sanctam, promulgated in 1302 by his predecessor Boniface VIII ("...Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff."). The correct attitude for him to adopt, just as for anyone approaching the Sacrament of Reconciliation (which the pope should be for the way he has behaved since this latest round of allegations surfaced), is one of deep humility, sincere repentance, and a firm desire to turn away from the mistakes of the past. I have yet to see so much as a scintilla of evidence that such a disposition is present in the pope, or in anyone close to him who has thus far spoken on this matter.

Our Orthodox brethren chanted the Paschal troparion last night:

Χριστὸς ἀνέστη ἐκ νεκρῶν,
θανάτῳ θάνατον πατήσας,
καὶ τοῖς ἐν τοῖς μνήμασι,
ζωὴν χαρισάμενος.

Christ rose from the dead,
Trampling on death with death,
And gracing life
Upon those in the tombs.
(My translation from the original Greek)

It is difficult to see how the attitude displayed by the pope, by Cardinal Sodano, by the Vatican homilist (a Franciscan, no less!) the other day, or by virtually any other member of the hierarchy, constitutes a gracing of life upon those whose "tombs" include surviving abuse by members of the clergy whom they ought to have been able to trust. And therefore, I suspect, Jesus wept again today, for the σκάνδαλον (stumbling-block) placed in the way of τῶν μικρῶν ...τῶν πιστευόντων (the little ones who believe; Mark 9:42).