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Catholic Police Officer Gets Suspended for Going to Church While on Duty
LifeSite News ^ | 12/15/17 | Doug Mainwaring

Posted on 12/17/2017 7:09:48 PM PST by marshmallow

MIDDLETOWN, Pennsylvania, December 15, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – A Pennsylvania police officer has been suspended for ten days for going to Catholic Mass on a day of obligation while on duty and in uniform.

Officer Mark Hovan, a 20- year veteran of the Middletown, Pa., police department, attended Mass in uniform on August 15, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a holy day of obligation for Catholics.

“Hovan, who said he is a devout Catholic, said it was necessary at times because of shift changes for him to go to church while on duty on occasion,” reports the Press & Journal, a local news outlet. “Hovan said he kept his radio with him and that he had never missed a call while attending church on duty in uniform.”

The officer also said that attending Church while in uniform had never been an issue over his two decades of service, until a new Chief of Police took over at the beginning of this year.

According to an earlier report in the Press & Journal, Officer Hovan said, “his constitutional right to practice freedom of religion was being ‘infringed upon’ by the chief, adding ‘they (the department) made no accommodation at all for me.’”

Hovan said he believes this constitutes a violation of his religious freedom, and so he is considering taking legal action.

He also suggested the punishment may be related to his current position as president of the borough’s police association.

Contention regarding church attendance while in uniform evidently began shortly after the new department head, Chief George Mouchette, took over.

Hovan received his first formal reprimand from Mouchette in January for attending Mass on a Sunday morning in uniform. Mouchette’s warning read, in part, “Never conduct personal business on Middletown Police Department time.”

(Excerpt) Read more at lifesitenews.com ...


TOPICS: Catholic; Current Events
KEYWORDS: catholic; christianpoliceman; churchservice; paping; pennsylvania; police; policeman
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To: marshmallow

“Hovan said he kept his radio with him and that he had never missed a call while attending church on duty in uniform.”

If he can go an entire Mass without a call being dispatched to him, the police in the town are being scheduled too many hours.

Go to work and do your job.


21 posted on 12/17/2017 7:47:54 PM PST by Joe Dallas
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To: Joe Dallas

He’d have to be able to leave it on a moment’s notice. Like a donut shop.

If he and the priest are copacetic with that here, fine.


22 posted on 12/17/2017 7:51:08 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Tryin' hard to win the No-Bull Prize.)
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To: marshmallow

I recall from my days on the other side of the Tiber/Bosporus that Catholics are exempt from their obligation to attend Mass if there were compelling reasons. I would certainly consider being a police officer on duty as falling under that heading. The sanction seems a bit harsh though. I’d have given him a reprimand and a two day suspension w/o pay.


23 posted on 12/17/2017 7:51:33 PM PST by NRx (A man of integrity passes his father's civilization to his son, without selling it off to strangers.)
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To: marshmallow

I’m blessed to be equidistant from 5 places I can go to Mass. I would say that the chief has to adjust his schedule so he can go to Mass on Sundays and Holy days and if they don’t adjust his schedule and no other mass is within 20 miles, then he has a case.


24 posted on 12/17/2017 7:51:41 PM PST by Mercat
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To: HiTech RedNeck

God put him on duty to take care of us. He can’t do it in the church. God also put Kapernick on this earth to play football, not kneel. Same thing.


25 posted on 12/17/2017 7:53:54 PM PST by DIRTYSECRET (urope. Why do they put up with this.)
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To: Safetgiver
His time is his own. His time on duty is NOT his own. The cop was wrong.

Seesh, you are the ONLY person to have a rational observation on this entire thread?

I won't bother to say 'shame' on the others, they obviously have none.

26 posted on 12/17/2017 7:55:13 PM PST by Balding_Eagle ( The Great Wall of Trump ---- 100% sealing of the border. Coming soon.)
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To: marshmallow

1) he disobeyed a direct order.
2) he said he didn’t have time to go to church on his time off.

He is trying to make a point, like the homosexual who drives 36 miles to a Christian bakery, etc.


27 posted on 12/17/2017 7:56:57 PM PST by Glennb51
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To: metmom

I have mixed feelings to. What will they do with Muslim police who pray 6 times a day?


28 posted on 12/17/2017 7:57:49 PM PST by Fhios (1987: Where's Waldo -- 2017: Where's Jeff Sessions.)
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To: metmom

If he is available for 911 calls he is working as required.

As long as he answers radio and is in his beat he is doing his job.....mkat likely lroblem is he is the union head and the chief is measin woth him.


29 posted on 12/17/2017 8:00:31 PM PST by TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig (Repeal & replace Obamacare, tax reform, fix infrastructure, fixin military, Israel, kill enemies)
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To: marshmallow

Dunnkin donuts is okay, church is not.


30 posted on 12/17/2017 8:05:33 PM PST by Raycpa
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To: marshmallow

If he skipped lunch and had his supervisor’s approval to use his lunch break as such, then ok. Otherwise its “time theft” if he was on the clock.

This isnt a religion issue.


31 posted on 12/17/2017 8:08:09 PM PST by Noamie
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To: TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig

He is in the right place if someone attacks the church.


32 posted on 12/17/2017 8:08:24 PM PST by taterjay
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To: marshmallow

Typical union featherbedding. Stay on the clock while not working.

Not really any different than spending time with his wife while on the clock.


33 posted on 12/17/2017 8:14:29 PM PST by PAR35
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To: marshmallow

I don’t blame him. Donuts were being served at the church.


34 posted on 12/17/2017 8:21:46 PM PST by adorno
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To: marshmallow

So every working Catholic in the Country should be able to stop his work and head to church during his/her work shift...

Or just cops, you say???

So every Catholic cop in the Country should be able to head for a Mass during his/her work shift...

Doesn’t sound reasonable to me...


35 posted on 12/17/2017 8:23:13 PM PST by Iscool
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To: marshmallow

Churches these days seem to benefit from some active patrolling.


36 posted on 12/17/2017 8:26:05 PM PST by Paladin2
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To: HiTech RedNeck

How long was the church service?

The quick-stop into donut shops and back out (with coffee, etc.,) became something of a tradition due to brevity of the visit?

The news article linked to from what was posted from 'LifesiteNews' article at heading of this thread;

has additional info.

It would be difficult for me to single out only a few paragraphs to re-tell the story as it's laid out in that article.

But after reading it, I can see better how the suspension came about.

The details, for me, raise this question;
How to open things up where an officer could attend a few(?) masses a year without opening a door that would be used, then eventually abused (by other officers doing whatever -- "hey-- I had to go home and mow my yard" etc.,) ?

How to keep from paying an officer to attend church (any church, anywhere) for that matter?

For religious purposes, could there be a carve-out? A way for say, an officer to pre-declare days and times when he would be officially "off" duty for around an hour, or a little more -- while stipulating too where he would be --- and be still fully available to respond to official calls of duty at a moment's notice? Perhaps an officer's pay could be officially adjusted to reflect the time spent "off" being more fully "on duty" compared to being in effect, possibly "on-call" and available for duty?

If that could be worked out )shssh( quietly now... how to keep muslims from making that kind of thing into a great big pain in the neck?

37 posted on 12/17/2017 8:27:28 PM PST by BlueDragon
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To: HiTech RedNeck

The officer was probably in the back pew, radio on but volume turned down, mike/speaker clipped to his shoulder so not to be disruptive. If the priest has no problem with him leaving in the event of an urgent call (when I was Catholic, I was on the volunteer fire department and the monsignor was one of the chaplains for the department), then I see no problem.


38 posted on 12/17/2017 8:31:18 PM PST by Fred Hayek (The Democratic Party is now the operational arm of the CPUSA)
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To: KC Burke

Considering all the crazy anti-christian violence that exists, I think a cop with a gun in church is being on duty.


39 posted on 12/17/2017 8:35:37 PM PST by cpdiii (DECKHAND, ROUGHNECK, GEOLOGIST, PILOT, PHARMACIST, LIBERTARIAN The Constitution is worth dying for.)
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To: BlueDragon

The Cop could’a been there to insure compliance to the separation of Church and State rules (preaching) and to surveill potential domestic terrorists...


40 posted on 12/17/2017 8:49:23 PM PST by Paladin2
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