John Schlageter, General Counsel of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, which provides “the Catholic Church’s full range of pastoral ministries and spiritual services to those in the United States Armed Forces,” writes on their website: “If the government shutdown continues through the weekend, there will be no Catholic priest to celebrate Mass this Sunday in the chapels at some U.S. military installations where non-active-duty priests serve as government contractors.”

He continued: “With the government shutdown, many GS and contract priests who minister to Catholics on military bases worldwide are not permitted to work – not even to volunteer.  During the shutdown, it is illegal for them to minister on base and they risk being arrested if they attempt to do so.”