US CONGRESS APPOINTS CATHOLIC

AS CHAPLAIN AFTER FOUR-MONTH DEBATE

Washington DC (ENI). The historic and unexpected appointment of a Roman Catholic priest as chaplain of the US House of Representatives has brought to an end a four-month controversy in which members of the House openly accused each other of religious bigotry and pandering to sectional religious interests. But the controversy has led to a debate in newspapers throughout the United States as to whether, given the separation of church and state in the US, the House of Representatives should have a chaplain at all. [Ecumenical News International - April 19, 2000 ]

BACK