{"id":46529,"date":"2026-02-04T12:31:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T20:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=46529"},"modified":"2026-02-04T12:31:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T20:31:18","slug":"va-chaplains-in-massachusetts-told-not-to-mention-slain-nurse-alex-pretti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/va-chaplains-in-massachusetts-told-not-to-mention-slain-nurse-alex-pretti\/","title":{"rendered":"VA Chaplains in Massachusetts Told Not to Mention Slain Nurse Alex Pretti"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by\u00a0Frederick Clarkson<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Feb 3, 2026\u00a0|\u00a0Analysis<\/a> (goodfaithmedia.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Stock Photo Illustration (Credit: Darth Stabro\/Wiki Commons\/https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/yx64tn4e)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse at a veterans hospital in Minneapolis, was killed by officers of the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol last month. He is being memorialized nationwide, but chaplains at Veterans Affairs facilities in Massachusetts have been barred from mentioning his name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chaplains of all faiths were told \u201cnot to mention VA nurses at all, let alone the name Alex Pretti, at worship or gatherings,\u201d according to The Republican newspaper<\/strong><\/a> of Springfield, Massachusetts. Emails containing this directive were sent to chaplains at the end of January by the state office of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The emails also instructed clergy not to offer counseling or support to VA nurses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is inhuman, unconscionable, and unconstitutional to silence VA chaplains,\u201d Mikey Weinstein, president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation<\/strong> <\/a>(MRFF), said in an interview. \u201cThis is propelling the Constitution into a woodchipper.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since its founding in 2005, the MRFF has represented more than 100,000 service members and veterans opposing religious intimidation and coercion within the military and the VA. The organization is currently suing the VA over alleged Christian nationalist contracting favoritism, as well as Freedom of Information Act violations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weinstein says that \u201c95% of our clients are Christians being attacked by fundamentalist Christian superiors for not being Christian enough.\u201d Several have been chaplains, and some of those who have not gone along with religious bullying have had \u201csenior chaplains essentially make them go sit and color in the corner.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VA Response<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Pete Kasperowicz, press secretary for the VA, said the silencing was not national policy. \u201cAll VA employees, including chaplains,\u201d he wrote, \u201care welcome to memorialize Alex Pretti in their own way as long as they are respectful and it does not interfere with their work duties.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the Massachusetts VA policy appears to have been implemented at the Edward P. Boland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Northampton. Several chaplains at the facility spoke anonymously with veteran reporter Jim Kinney out of fear of reprisals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One \u201cfeared losing the ability to minister at all at the VA.\u201d Another said they were \u201cordered to cease and desist in offering Pretti-related support and counsel to VA nurses. The chaplain was told he can only offer Mass.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A clergyperson said a supervisor claimed that Pretti\u2019s death was political, and so chaplains were given copies of the Hatch Act, which outlaws partisan activity by government employees. VA chaplains are government employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weinstein served for seven years<\/strong><\/a> as a military lawyer in the Air Force Judge Advocate General\u2019s Corps and later as a lawyer in the Reagan White House. He said this invocation of the Hatch Act was an egregious abuse and a willful misinterpretation of the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you intentionally intimidate chaplains as to what they can and cannot counsel and pray about for fear of violation of the Hatch Act, it\u2019s just bullshit,\u201d Weinstein said. \u201cRestricting the First Amendment rights of VA chaplains is what you would expect from a full-throttle fascist regime,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The anonymous chaplains told The Republican they believed the directive was coming from \u201con high\u201d in Washington. Weinstein agreed that it was probably so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Washington Post reported that VA officials in Washington initially blocked Minneapolis VA employees from holding a memorial for Pretti, a decision later reversed. Staff members were also initially told not to leave messages of support for Pretti in some of the center\u2019s public spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The VA has barely acknowledged Pretti\u2019s death<\/strong><\/a>, except in a social media post in which Doug Collins, the secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, sought to blame the death on state and local officials who were not involved in the killing. In contrast, Pretti, who was Catholic, is being honored by the Church<\/strong><\/a> for his \u201ckindness and gentleness to patients.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Union Response<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Pretti\u2019s union, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), has been outspoken<\/strong><\/a> in expressing its grief, outrage and support for his family. AFGE issued a statement and has participated in vigils honoring Pretti\u2019s memory as a dedicated nurse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Massachusetts Nurses Association organized candlelight vigils in his memory<\/strong><\/a> in Leeds and Worcester, two of the facilities in the state where staff members have been silenced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the VA, chaplains are there to \u201cserve people of all faiths and denominations as well as patients and families looking for non-denominational support. They are here to listen and offer spiritual and emotional support as you struggle with tough questions and ethical decisions.\u201d Unless, of course, they have anything to do with Alex Pretti or, under the current policy, anything at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source of Abuse<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The censoring of VA staff and chaplains may seem surprising, given that Secretary Collins is a chaplain and a colonel in the Air Force Reserve. But Weinstein was not surprised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe primary animating jet fuel of the rise in religious abuses in the armed forces and the VA,\u201d Weinstein said, \u201cis Christian nationalism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cService members and VA personnel call me up every day, desperate for help,\u201d he said, and they wonder what they can do. \u201cAction is the antidote to despair,\u201d he tells them, quoting folk singer Joan Baez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hope that people will take action,\u201d Weinstein concluded, \u201cbecause silence is collaboration. We must prioritize chronicling and exposing this tyranny as a powerful way to resist this unconstitutional darkness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n