The government is said to have “shutdown” on 1 October 2013
because the continuing resolution to fund some or all of the new fiscal year
could not be agreed to by members of Congress and the Senate. There is still a
mass amount of confusion for how much of the government still somehow
operating.
As a result of this, some news articles have circulated that
say that the priests who are contracted to give mass and perform priestly
duties for military personnel cannot volunteer. These reporters have projected
the idea that the priests cannot perform Mass at all. In order to understand
how we got here, a few things have to be noted about fiscal law, and how
volunteering is illegal according to our laws.
Few have the training and knowledge of how fiscal law works
within our government. In the fiscal law there is what is referred to the “color
of money” in which fiscal appropriations have three parts, 1) time, 2) purpose,
and 3) amount. This means that the particular pool of money given to a
department or agency of the government cannot be used in such a way that
violates these three given limitations. For example, the government might allot
$2 million to the FAA for Operations and Maintenance, which is good for that
purpose (2), for 1 year (1), and cannot exceed the appropriation of $2 million
(3). A violation would occur if the money was used to purchase a new construction
project (violates purpose) that cost $2.4 million (violates amount) and was to
start in the next fiscal year (violates time). These are violations of the Antideficiency
Act, which disallows the government to obligate the appropriation for use and
amount outside its “color of money”.
Further, our government has outlawed the hiring of
volunteers for any scope of work unless authorized by statute. To hire, say, a
fireman without pay is hiring a volunteer and is a violation of the Economy Act.
There is a real need for this sort of law. If it did not exist the government
could influence contractors to work for free on future promises, to gain merit,
or any other number of reasons. The bottom line is, the government is limited
in this capacity for a good reason.
This is hardly an introduction to fiscal law that would be
worthy of the training necessary for those who are charged with the responsibilities
of handling and spending these appropriations in accordance with the law, but
for all intents and purposes, this gives you the understanding to better appreciate
the situation with the priests who are “not able to volunteer”. As much as I
agree with the enthusiasm for the writers covering the situation with the
priests, I cannot speak well of the credibility of their portrayal of the
facts. The fact is, these priests are contracted employees of the government
when they perform within the scope of work given in their contract. It has been
illegal at all times, funded or not, for the government to hire a volunteer since
the Economy Act was penned into law after the Civil War. So the notion that the
priest can’t volunteer because the government is shutdown, is a
misrepresentation of the facts.
Does this mean a priest cannot offer Holy Mass? No. It would
be volunteering if the given priest were to perform Mass in the capacity of their
given contract though. Many have asked, “what if someone was dying? Would the
priest be able to perform the Anointing of the Sick?” I would answer, does not
being on duty stop a lifeguard from saving a life at the beach? The key factor
would be intent. Because it is a regular duty of the priest to perform these
actions, their actions are not tied to their government contract. In other
words, their contract is not what makes them a priest. The meaning of the “priest
cannot volunteer” is a real stretch, you see, because the real law means they
cannot willfully perform their contractual duties in the capacity of the
contractor.
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