I have advocated for Veterans at the Southern Arizona VA Healthcare System (SAVAHCS) to have access to their chapel for over six years as a VA chaplain and then, after retirement, as a former VA chaplain. While on staff, I was threatened with a Letter of Admonishment from my supervisors if I continued to advocate for Veterans for this one privilege. Since my chain of command did not back me up, I backed off. I knew that I would retire in two years and could then take this up as an administratively unfettered Veteran. Since retiring, I have written to the VA OIG, Office of Special Counsel, Congressman Grijalva, Senators Kelly and Sinema, and the Vice President and President of the United States about this privilege for Veterans. Nothing has changed.



The director of SAVAHCS, which is in Tucson, Arizona, has mandated that all conference rooms be reserved by authorized VA staff members. This policy essentially bans all non-Christian Veterans from using the "Chapel and Conference Room" (Building 4, Room 110) since there are only Christian VA chaplains on staff at SAVAHCS who are authorized to reserve this room for their worship services. VHA Directive 1111 (July 21, 2021), Chapter 9, a. (6), clearly states that, "Chapels must remain available at all times for use by Veterans and their families.”



Congress sets the budget for the VA and therefore ostensibly condones this, restrictive at best and prejudicial at worst, “Chapel and Conference Room'' reservation policy. The other VA Medical Centers in Arizona, which are in Phoenix and Prescott, allow Veterans and their families to have access to their chapels at all times. Why won’t upper management at SAVAHCS not give Veterans a decent place to pray and meditate? Instead, they get two poorly repurposed “Meditation Room(s).”



In light of the horrendous suicide rate of Veterans, why not do something that says Veterans and their families are important instead of catering to upper management’s dubious need to have one more conference room — when they already have over sixty other conference rooms to choose from? There is no shortage of conference rooms at this VA medical center (VAMC).



This conference room policy violates the First Amendment to the US Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof …” Congress approves SAVAHCS’s budget therefore tacitly approves the banning of Non-Christians using the “Chapel and Conference Room” for their prayers and meditations and religious practices, while Christian Veterans are allowed limited access. This violates the First Amendment.



The “Chapel and Conference Room” at Tucson’s VAMC is used for less than four hours on Sunday mornings as a chapel. Four hours equates to 2.4 % of the hours in a week. In the other 97.6 % of the week, this room is treated exactly like any other conference room by VA staff. Why do Christian Veterans and their families get the extremely short end of the stick in this so-called "dual purpose" deal? “Dual purpose,” meaning that this room serves as both chapel and conference room. Worse still, why do non-Christian Veterans and their families get no access whatsoever to their chapel?



The "Chapel and Conference Room" at the Tucson VAMC has a vestry, an altar, a massive church organ, and a chancel; which makes this space more a chapel than a conference room by anyone's estimation. Why relegate Veterans to meditation rooms when there is a perfectly good chapel on this VAMC campus they can pray or meditate in?



This top-tier VA Medical Center receives over half a billion dollars of taxpayer money annually to provide healthcare for over 170,000 Veterans, yet Tucson VA upper management refuses to provide this one privilege for Veterans, a privilege that would honor Veterans and cost the taxpayers nothing since the chapel already exists.



During my entire military career, my commanders never let anyone use the chapel as anything but a chapel. The chapel was available for military members and their families at all times. Even in Afghanistan, when we only had a tent as a chapel, that tent was treated as sacrosanct. This draconian conference room policy at Tucson’s VA Medical Center does not honor those who “... have borne the battle …”



This Southern Arizona VA Healthcare System (SAVAHCS) conference room policy: 1) violates VHA Directive 1111 (July 21, 2021), Chapter 9, a. (6); 2) prohibits non-Christian Veterans and their families from having any access to their VAMC chapel; 3) disregards what other VA medical centers do concerning chapel management; 4) contradicts the VA mission of being Veteran-centric; 5) needlessly relegates Veterans and their families to inferior meditation rooms; 6) does not honor what Veterans experienced during their time in military service — having access to their chapel; 7) does not follow the ethic “service before self” in that upper management blatantly puts their interests before the interests of Veterans and their families.



Another issue: There are six-inch steps in the chancel and vestry areas of the Tucson VA Medical Center that make it unsafe for those who have ambulatory challenges. This violation is covered in multiple, federal regulations for VA hospitals. I have complained repeatedly to the Congressional Oversight Committee, the VA OIG, and the Office of Special Counsel. Nothing has been done so far to make the chancel and vestry areas safe for those who have ambulatory challenges. VHA Directive 1111 (July 21, 2021), Chapter 9, a. (4 ) clearly states that: “All spaces to be used for spiritual purposes must be fully accessible to persons with disabilities.” Veterans and their families set up, participate in, and neutralize worship services in the “Chapel and Conference Room” by walking back and forth from the chancel and the vestry area.