Fr Richard Chiola has distain for the Military
The first time I spoke to the congregation at St Cabrini Church during our Catholic War Veterans memorial Mass, Fr Chiola looked up and down at my Catholic War Veterans blazer with strange scrutiny. I had a flag, a cross and our CWV patch. It seemed rather peculiar. I kinda understood but brushed it off until other oddities popped up too.
May 8, 2013
Detail Members,
I have retyped and pasted below, a letter I received today from Father Chiola, Pastor, St. Frances Cabrini Church, Springfield.
Rather than highlight the major points of contention with our
service, I will defer to your reading the letter for yourself. Please
"reply to all" with your reactions and comments.
I intend to respond in writing to the author; however, I intend to
talk with members of the Detail on Friday, prior to responding and let
those without email to read a copy of the letter.
My initial reaction is to refute each component of his letter but
may instead merely advise him that we are an all volunteer unit that
performed 315 rituals in 2012 and are free to chose which funerals we
wish to serve and which we won't schedule. As such we chose not to serve
at any funerals presided over by Father Chiola. Our ritual is the one
created by the National VFW and as is over 100 years old. As such we
have no intention of altering it at the request of a priest.
I have been known to overreact especially in the beginning stage of
any negotiations and am advising you of the situation. I will solicit
your opinions and advice before proceeding.
IN THE INTERIM, BOB BEST, PLEASE ASK ANY FUNERAL HOME WHO WILL BE THE
PRESIDING CLERGY AND DO NOT SCHEDULE ANY FUNERALS PRESIDED OVER BY
FATHER CHIOLA UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.
Dear Mr. Kent,
For some time now local Catholic priest have discussed the services of the Sangamon County Inter-Veterans Burial Detail at our Catholic burials. Since I am not empowered to speak for the Catholic
priests of the county’s parishes, I will speak simply for my own
concerns as pastor of St. Frances Cabrini Parish. When I am presiding at
a committal service I ask that the burial detail limit their services
as indicated below.
First,
I want to say that I believe veterans are honored by your presence, and
their families frequently are supported and encouraged by your
services. I am grateful for your devoted serviced to families of my
parish.
My
concern, however, is that your burial detail insists on providing a
complete liturgy of committal in which you duplicate the prayers and
services of our Catholic Church. This is not
done by the active military when the deceased’s proper pastor is present
and provides this service according to the rites of his church.
Additionally, since you do not represent a faith community or another
church, the services of an additional chaplain
and committal rituals do not constitute an ecumenical participation with
our rites and therefore, I believe, should not be used. I ask that you
refrain from duplicating these services when I am present to perform
these rites.
It
is also the case that representatives of your burial detail insist that
they precede my services and then walk away as I begin our Catholic
prayers. Duplicating our rituals and then leaving as we pray is rude,
and on several occasions have been punctuated by loud conversation and
other distractions. I have been a priest for forty-one years and never
acted in as similar manner. In previous times the burial detail always
followed our committal service, and I remained throughout your rites.
Certainly,
the folding of the flag, a rifle salute, and taps are proper military
honors and are appropriately offered by your burial detail. I am asking
the families of veterans in my parish who wish to request your services
to be clear that they want only the flag folded, rifle salute, and taps.
I ask that your burial detail not use any other ceremonies when
assisting at burials of members of St. Frances Cabrini Parish. I
appreciate your cooperation with these requests.
Sincerely,
**** signed ****
Reverend Richard Chiola, Pastor
Cc: Very Reverend John Nolan, Dean of the Springfield Deanery
May 9, 2013
Reverend Richard Chiola, Pastor
May 10, 2013
St. Frances Cabrini Church
1020 North Milton Avenue
Springfield,
Illinois 62702-4430
Dear Father Chiola:
As
I am sure you are aware, the Inter-Veterans Burial Detail of Sangamon
County (the Detail) is an all volunteer unit of approximately
30 active members representing eight nationally chartered military
veteran’s organizations in the county. The Detail is also an Illinois
General Not for Profit Corporation and a 501(c) federal tax exempt
organization. In addition, the Detail must adhere to
the stipulations set forth by the Department of the Army (TACOM Life
Cycle Management Command and the Joint Munitions Command).
As
such, the Detail has always operated under a written Charter and
By-Laws with officers and directors and previously under the dictates
of the Commander. About three years ago major revisions
were made to the governance of the Detail. The authoritarian and
dictatorial governance style was replaced by a collegial and democratic
style. The Detail’s operation is now determined by
the member approved Charter, By-Laws and General Orders. The Commander
is now elected annually and is held accountable for the Detail’s
operation as specified in these agreed upon documents. As a result, the
Detail has been able to continue to field ten to
twenty members consistently for each of the 315 funerals and 12
patriotic ceremonies served in 2012. The order of the service to which
you refer and object is contained in General Order 5.3.1. Its rationale
and logic is too extensive to detail in a letter.
It is our understanding that the Ritual we perform was written and approved by the VFW National
Council of Administration nearly 100 years ago. Its contents can
be found on the Internet. It is a nationally recognized and uniformly
performed ritual. A chaplain is a recognized and integral part of a
nationally chartered military veteran’s organization.
The chaplain opens and closes post meetings and events with prayer. The
Ritual includes Chaplain parts. The recently modified Ritual we use has
reduced those parts to one prayer and the presentation of the shell
casings. As a former
Catholic School teacher and
principal, I am familiar with the Catholic Church’s liturgy and we do
not provide a “complete liturgy of committal” nor “duplicate the prayers
and services of our Catholic Church.” Certainly
you are not demanding that only an ordained clergy be permitted to say a
prayer at a service that includes members of a chartered military
veteran’s organization.
I
agree that loud conversation and other distractions are rude and should
not to be tolerated. I have taken effective steps to correct
that previous unacceptable behavior. When the members of the Department
of Defense leave the service after their presentation of the flag and
before the end of our Ritual, they do so in a quiet, dignified, and
respectful manner. It is my intent that we shall
always do likewise. There are two of them, while we can be as many as
twenty-two; however, we will continue to seek professionalism and
perfection from our members.
As
pastor you are certainly free to advise the family of veterans in your
parish to request that only the folding of the flag, the
rifle salute, and the playing of taps. That however is not the Ritual
that the Detail provides. We too, are certainly free to choose which
funeral to schedule and which to decline and will inform the funeral
directors of our position. While we certainly strive
to provide every honorably discharged veteran with the military honors
and respect they truly deserve, we realize that our time and resources
are limited and that we will not always be able to be of service to all
veterans and their families. Please contact
me if additional specifics are desired in this regard.
Sincerely,
Gael K. Kent, Ed.D., Commander
Inter-Veterans Burial Detail of
Sangamon County
September 11, 2015
March 15, 2016
Bishop Thomas John Paprocki March 15, 2016
Diocese of Springfield in Illinois
Dear Bishop Paprocki,
It has
become too obvious that Fr Chiola has a personal vendetta against the
military. In his sermon this past Sunday,
March 13th, at St Joseph the worker
Church in Chatham,
he went from talking about how Jesus forgave the woman accused of adultery to
pointing out that when the military kill the enemy in war that they are
committing murder. In saying this, he
literarily pointed a finger at the Catholic War Veterans sitting in the front
pew. All the veterans there walked away
feeling we had just been accused of murder.
It reminded me of being called a baby killer back in the 60's. How a priest can use his position to stir up
hatred as he has seemed to be doing just does not seem very priestly.
This was
the Catholic War Veteran's first Memorial Mass at St Joseph the Worker. It's unfortunate that Fr Chiola was
there. There were several parishioners
from Chatham that have talked with
me and apologized for Fr Chiola's remarks and wanted to let me know that they
didn't feel the same way. Also, another
veteran has informed me that he will not attend any Mass conducted by Fr
Chiola. He said that he will go to
Little Flower until Fr Chiola is gone.
As
Commander of the Catholic War Veterans, I not only am upset with Fr Chiola's
remarks; but, I'm concerned that his display of hatred for the military will
actually send the wrong message to some people.
I did not spend a career in the military because I wanted to be a part
of murdering other people. The military
is needed to protect out country from aggressors that might want to take over
our country. We are at the service of
our president and congress. Maybe Fr
Chiola should study a little history instead of trying to psychoanalyze
everyone.
Maybe I
should have waited a month or so before writing to you. At that point in time, I may have been a
little more rational. However, when a priest can openly refuse to conduct
services for the deceased whenever a military ceremony is also to be conducted
and openly criticize the military while at Mass, I think something needs to be
done to put a stop to attitude he is projecting. He has definitely alienated too many people.
Sincerely,
Patrick L. Noel, Commander
Catholic War Veterans Post
1916
Springfield, IL
March 17, 2016
I stopped by my parish office and asked to be removed from
the ministry schedule. I'll come back after we get a permanent pastor.
Last Sunday's memorial mass by the Catholic War Veterans had a most
embarrassing homily just short of accusing veterans of murder in times
of war. Just side stepping a direct accusation by saying that it's a
discussion for another time. Meanwhile staring right at the Catholic
War Veterans in the front row. It reminded our Vietnam Vets of being
called "baby killers". I'll have nothing to do with that. I have had
negative thoughts dwelling in my mind all week. As I look back I have
to ask,
Is this priest feeling vengeful over being call a "pedophile priest"? I plan to go to
Little Flower Catholic Church a little farther away.
Friday evening I went to senior potluck at church and Fr Chiola was
there so I ate and left. That made me dwell more on how much I hated
the man. I've been in tears. So I did some house cleaning and had a glass of wine.
Here's a picture of Fr Chiola in association with a disciplined licensed doctor.
Catechism of the Catholic Church
2310 Public authorities, in this case, have the right and duty to impose on citizens the
obligations necessary for national defense.
Those who are sworn to serve their country in the armed forces are
servants of the security and freedom of nations. If they carry out their
duty honorably, they truly contribute to the common good of the nation
and the maintenance of peace.
2308 All citizens and all governments are obliged to work for the avoidance of war.
However, "as long as the danger of war persists and there is no
international authority with the necessary competence and power,
governments cannot be denied the right of lawful self-defense, once all
peace efforts have failed."
April 21 2016
Pat Noel and I met with Fr Chiola. Fr Chiola started the conversation and our names. He wanted to know how long I was a member of the parish. I said late1999. Pat brought up the problem with the interverterans Burial Detail which is merely second hand info to me above. He gave a lot of quotes which went over my head and that the Macon County did it right and didn't have a chaplain outside the family's own. I told him about the
suicide rate is proportionately higher among
veterans than the regular population and implying their service was murderous
drives a nail in their coffin. They have
already been insulted by people of the Westboro Baptist Church who use the Gospel that our soldiers are fighting for a fag nation. He didn't seem to know much about them. During
Vietnam they were spat upon and called baby killers. This brought back bad memories for two of our CWVs
I brought up the two articles in the Catholic Catechism about war supplied by Bob Best. He asked me to read them since I had them written down.
I really think he didn't know. When I told him he was putting a nail in the coffin of PTSD, I think he got it. In the end he said he was sorry and asked what he could do. Pat said to adjust his sermon for next Sunday (which I'm told he did and said the sermon was misunderstood but I did not witness because I changed parishes). I suggested doing something with the veterans like the Memorial Day ceremony or Honor Flight Welcome home to give the veterans the welcome home they never received. I later boldly approached him and gave him a written invitation to the next 2 honor flights. I wore my Catholic War Veterans attire for easy spotting by him but he never showed.
November 23, 2016
I bumped into Mike
S from church and he asked me if I heard Fr Chiola's sermon last Sunday. I
told him that I was there 2 weeks ago Fr John's absence to my surprise and just pulled out my hearing aids and had my
Communion and left. Last Sunday I went to Mass at the Cathedral because
of the ABATE Thanksgiving dinner for the poor was held there right
after. Well, Mike told me the Fr Chiola said something like "now that
the election is over, how sad for all of us". Yeah, sad indeed that a priest supports liberal party ideals of non-traditional marriage, abortion and the control of our faith based hospitals to the government.
