"More and more the people must be separated from the churches and their organs the pastors . . . Just as the deleterious influences of astrologers, seers and other fakers are eliminated and suppressed by the State, so must the possibility of church influence also be totally removed . . . Not until this has happened, does the state leadership have influence on the individual citizens. Not until then are the people and Reich secure in their existence for all time." - Martin Bormann 1941.
Martin Bormann was the head of the Nazi Party Chancellery and the private secretary to Adolf Hitler. He issued the secret decree that I have quoted on June 6th, 1941. This secret decree was sent to all the Nazi regional party leaders of the Third Reich.
Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?
If only Henry the Second of England could have waited for about 844 years the Department of Justice could have shown Henry how to go about getting rid of a priest that is troublesome to the state. No bloodshed, a compliant media, and no need for penance.
St. Thomas Becket was the turbulent priest that Henry the Second was so upset with in the1100's. He was the Archbishop of Canterbury. Four knights believed that the question of King Henry II; "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?" was a command and hacked Thomas Becket to death as he was on the way to vespers in Canterbury Cathedral.
Henry the Eighth although reigning around 400 years after the murder of St. Thomas Becket in a strange sort of way tried to murder St. Thomas Becket a second time;
"In 1220, Becket's remains were relocated from this first tomb to a shrine, in the recently completed Trinity Chapel where it stood until it was destroyed in 1538, during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, on orders from King Henry VIII. The king also destroyed Becket's bones and ordered that all mention of his name be obliterated. The pavement where the shrine stood is today marked by a lit candle." - from Wikipedia
The priest that the Department of Justice finds turbulent in 2014 is Father Ray Leonard. The DOJ is trying a more indirect way to rid themselves of a turbulent priest. A government agency that was selling guns to Mexican drug cartels would still find it problematic to have a priest hacked to death. Even MSNBC would have to cover that story. The DOJ is using another another tactic from the Middle Ages. They are trying to starve him out of the Kings Bay Submarine Base by withholding his pay. Father Leonard is not a diocesan priest therefore he must rent a house and pay for his utilities and groceries.
"On October 4, 2013, during the Government shutdown, Father Leonard was ordered to stop performing all of his duties as the Base’s Catholic Chaplain, even on a voluntary basis. He was also told that he could be arrested if he violated that order."
Additionally, Father Leonard was locked out of his on-base office and the chapel. Father Leonard was denied access to the Holy Eucharist and other articles of his Catholic faith. The order caused the cancellation of daily and weekend mass, confession, marriage preparation classes and baptisms as well as prevented Father Leonard from providing the spiritual guidance he was called by his faith to provide.
The services of other Christian denominations at Kings Bay were allowed to continue throughout the shutdown. Only Catholics were left without services.
A day after the original federal lawsuit was filed, three attorneys from the Justice Department contacted Erin Mersino by phone and indicated that Father Leonard could resume all his religious duties and that the Chapel would be re-opened for all Catholic activities. Those representations of the Justice Department attorneys were confirmed by orders to Father Leonard through the Navy chain of command. However a week later, the retaliation against Father Leonard began." - Thomas More Law Center
The Navy tried to withhold two months of pay to Father Leonard. He was also told he must renew his contract with the government even though his present contract had not expired.
“The Petition Clause of the First Amendment protects individuals who challenge the unconstitutional actions of the government from retaliation. The Archdiocese for the Military Services confirmed that no other military chaplain contracts were under review or subjected to the same scrutiny as Father Leonard’s. Thus, due to the timing of the Navy’s actions and the information gleaned from the Archdiocese for the Military Services, all signs point to Father Leonard being singled out and subjected to unlawful retaliation for bringing the government’s practices to light.” - Thomas More Law Center
Father Leonard spent 10 years in China ministering to impoverished Tibetans. I believe his affidavit sums up this entire matter rather well.
“In China, I was disallowed from performing public religious services due to the lack of religious freedom in China. I never imagined that when I returned home to the United States, that I would be forbidden from practicing my religious beliefs as I am called to do, and would be forbidden from helping and serving my faith community.”
http://www.thomasmore.org/news/government-retaliates-against-navy-chaplain-who-sued-over-government-shutdown-catholic-mass
http://www.catholicvote.org/is-the-us-government-retaliating-against-the-furloughed-priest-who-filed-a-first-amendment-lawsuit/
http://www.catholic.com/magazine/articles/catholic-martyrs-of-the-holocaust
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Becket
