{"id":13537,"date":"2012-05-24T06:43:51","date_gmt":"2012-05-24T12:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=13537"},"modified":"2016-09-30T17:08:27","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T21:08:27","slug":"chaplain-removed-for-bringing-wine-into-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/05\/chaplain-removed-for-bringing-wine-into-prison\/","title":{"rendered":"Chaplain removed for bringing wine into prison"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/p>\n

It happened in South Carolina: <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

For a quarter century, Monsignor Ed Lofton has served as one of 86 volunteer chaplains at the Charleston County jail. Bringing calm to inmates and jailers alike is considered essential to his mission.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

But carrying wine into a facility where alcohol is labeled as contraband hasn\u2019t come without controversy. He has fought and won that battle before.<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

For 15 years, he has consumed 1 ounce of sacramental wine during Mass without incident. Inmates partake only in the bread.<\/p>\n

But this week he lost a fight.<\/p>\n

Chief Deputy Mitch Lucas, the jail\u2019s administrator, has told Lofton to replace the wine \u2014 brought to the jail in a TSA-approved container designed for holy water \u2014 with grape juice.<\/p>\n

He booted the chaplain Tuesday after he refused to do so.<\/p>\n

Lucas said the move was necessary because Lofton had threatened to sue on the basis of a civil-rights violation. He didn\u2019t want the chaplain to continue visiting the jail and \u201cgathering evidence\u201d for a court claim, Lucas said.<\/p>\n

The action has denied inmates a First Amendment right and a religious rite that\u2019s \u201cat the heart of what the Catholic Church is all about,\u201d Lofton said. He added that he would ask for Lucas\u2019 firing during a meeting today with Sheriff Al Cannon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey pull this on me after I\u2019ve been doing this for years,\u201d said Lofton, who leads St. Theresa the Little Flower Catholic Church in Summerville. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty bad that I have to fight for something the Constitution allows. But this is religious freedom, and I\u2019ll fight for it again.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read more. <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It happened in South Carolina: For a quarter century, Monsignor Ed Lofton has served as one of 86 volunteer chaplains at the Charleston County jail. Bringing calm to inmates and jailers alike is considered essential to his mission. But carrying wine into a facility where alcohol is labeled as contraband hasn\u2019t come without controversy. He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[223,42,46],"tags":[11196,1137],"class_list":["post-13537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chaplains","category-priests","category-sacraments","tag-sacraments","tag-south-carolina"],"yoast_head":"\nChaplain removed for bringing wine into prison<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It happened in South Carolina: For a quarter century, Monsignor Ed Lofton has served as one of 86 volunteer chaplains at the Charleston County jail.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/05\/chaplain-removed-for-bringing-wine-into-prison\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" 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