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Photo By Jennifer Leggett | Sgt. Brian Bills, religious support specialist with the PoM Religious Support Office,…… read more read more
Photo By Jennifer Leggett | Sgt. Brian Bills, religious support specialist with the PoM Religious Support Office, introduces incoming service members to the office’s diverse spiritual resources and services during a Joint Service In-Brief at the Presidio of Monterey, Monterey, Calif., Dec. 10.  see less | View Image Page
PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY, Calif. (December 20, 2024) – The Religious Support Office at the Presidio of Monterey plays a vital role in supporting the spiritual well-being and resilience of the Monterey military community.

Sgt. Brian Bills enjoys his work as a religious support specialist because of the meaningful connections that he makes with service members daily. In carrying out his duties to provide religious support and advisement to all service members who seek it, Bills says bigger topics often begin with basic introductions and simple conversations.

“I’ll set up video games on the projection screen in the chapel and people will stop by and play and then they just start talking and sharing what’s stressing them and we’ll all just talk,” Bills said. “Being available and present in the moment is sometimes just what’s needed.”

The PoM RSO currently coordinates the general protestant service, Catholic mass and confessions, Buddhists meditations, Islamic Jum’ah, and transportation to Jewish and LDS services in the Monterey community. There are even target language Bible studies, offering both opportunities to build community and practice their language of study.

Ken Mehmet Stewart, a retired Army officer and a distinguished religious group leader for the Islamic faith at PoM emphasized the importance of inclusivity and creating a space where people from all backgrounds and faiths feel welcomed and included.

“Islam is a very big tent, and there’s room underneath that tent for everybody,” Stewart said. “Regardless of their individual faith journeys that brought them, I want them to feel at home and welcome.”

While RSO is a small team, they remain flexible and provide solutions to meet the needs of the community. When Bills learned that a group of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints soldiers were missing out on the tradition of watching the church’s general conference broadcast, Bills invited them over for a viewing party and provided snacks.

“It really made us feel like we were still part of a bigger community, even when we were stuck on base, said Pfc. Kyle Zierow of the 229th Military Intelligence Battalion. “It was a small act of kindness that made a huge difference, and I’m grateful for his care and support.”

Beyond religious support, the RSO serves as a hub for connecting people with other resources at PoM like financial counseling, run clubs, jujitsu groups, MWR activities and B.O.S.S activities.

“We want to meet with people as much as they need, but we also work closely with the other support services at ACS and look to connect service members with specialists who can provide on-going and practical support,” Bills said.

The RSO is a vital part of Army life and promotes a sense of community and belonging through worship services and additional activities. By collaborating with other support services to provide comprehensive care, the RSO helps the Monterey military community navigate the challenges of military life.

The RSO invites all service members to participate in the diverse offerings of faith communities at PoM. Christmas season services will be in the PoM chapel. The general protestants service will be Tuesday, Christmas Eve, at 6 p.m. The Catholic Christmas Mass will be Wednesday, Christmas Day, at 11 a.m. For more information, service members can contact the office at (831) 242-5281 or (831) 242-5233.
This work, Presidio of Monterey’s Religious Support Office fosters spiritual resilience, by Jennifer Leggett, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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Dec 21, 2024 | Press Releases
Washington, D.C. – Congressman Clay Higgins (R-LA) announced today that H.R. 82, the Social Security Fairness Act (SSFA), is headed to the President’s desk to be signed into law following passage in the House and U.S. Senate.

 
“Fairness for our elders at last, praise God fairness for our beloved elders at last. We have broken the yoke of unrighteous law and followed God’s Commandment to honor our Mothers and Fathers,” said Congressman Higgins.

 
Congressman Higgins has been one of the strongest and most vocal advocates for the bill, which repeals the unjust Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) that penalize millions of public workers across the United States.

For seven years, Congressman Higgins has advocated for passage of the Social Security Fairness Act. He has been a co-sponsor of the legislation in every Congress that he has served.

 
His efforts include:

Additionally, Congressman Higgins has published dozens of press releases, emails to constituents, and social media posts reaching millions of viewers explaining the SSFA and encouraging support, including unique videos updating the American people on the bill.
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Everything is one and interconnected.
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For the past 50 or so years, Richard Rohr has impacted Christian spirituality in North America and worldwide. He has published 37 books on spirituality, is loved by Protestants, Anglicans and Catholics, and has hundreds of thousands of followers who receive his meditations in their email every day.

Those who know him acknowledge him as one of the world’s wisest teachers.
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Rohr is an American Franciscan priest, and his main influences, besides Jesus, have been Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk, and Saint Francis of Assisi. He is 81 and lives in Albuquerque, N.M., where he founded the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC) in 1987, which will carry on his legacy.

Recently, the staff of CAC asked him to identify the key themes, values, principles or overarching ideas in his work so they could use them to guide the center when he is gone. After several months, he taught them seven key themes, which I will paraphrase.

A Benevolent universe. If Jesus is God incarnate, he repeatedly shows us by his words and deeds that God is purely good, loving and merciful. This being so, God has created a universe which is geared to help human beings, and all creatures, to thrive. Although it may seem otherwise on the surface, we can trust that things are fundamentally “very good,” as it says in the first chapter of the Bible (Genesis 1:1-31).

Everything is sacred. There is no secular-sacred split. Religions often have taught that only the synagogue, church, temple or mosque are sacred places, and the rabbi, priest, minister, guru, imam or saint are the only sacred people. Nature is sacred, or, as Matthew Fox, an Episcopal priest and another great interpreter of Christianity, says, “Nature is grace.” Rohr, Fox and Indigenous Peoples would agree, if nature is grace, we must not abuse it. Not emphasizing the sacredness of nature has caused our present climate crisis.

Everything and everyone belongs. The title of Rohr’s most popular book says it all: Everything Belongs. It follows from the second theme that if everything is sacred, then there is nothing and no one people should exclude from their lives. All people of all countries, races, genders, sexual orientations and financial levels should be welcomed in all political, health care, educational and religious organizations.

Individualism is a problem. All world religions recognize that the ego, the small, false self that thinks it is separate from everyone else, superior to everyone, and wants to lord it over others, is problematic. We are, by nature, communal, social beings; we all need love, and social justice is the proper distribution of love in society. Therefore, community and social justice are integral to the spiritual life, not an afterthought.

Personal experience must be checked against scripture and tradition. Experience is the front wheel of Rohr’s tricycle analogy. You first must ask, “Does this teaching make sense to me, given my life experience so far?” If yes, you need to check it against the back wheels of communal wisdom. “Is it congruent with my tradition’s sacred writings and history?”

Descent, not ascent, is the way of transformation. When we run into problems, obstacles, and suffering, we grow the most spiritually. When everything is sunny, believing is easy. However, when you are like the prophet Job, who lost everything – his family, health, and wealth – or like Jesus on the cross, you find out if you really have faith or not. Another popular Rohr book, Falling Upward, goes into depth about this.

Nondual consciousness is the goal. Realizing everything is one and interconnected ties together all the other themes. The goal is to be fully united in love with God, your true self, others and nature.

Let us all try living these themes, values, and principles at Christmas and in 2025!

Bruce Tallman is a spiritual director and educator of adults in religion. brucetallman.com

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By Lauren Taylor (Anchor), Roey Hadar (Producer), Harry Fogle (Video Editor)
President Joe Biden may commute the sentences of most or all of the 40 men on death row, according to a Wall Street Journal report. If Biden commutes the sentences, the men would stay in jail on life sentences without the possibility of parole.
It would create an early hurdle for President-elect Donald Trump. He wants to resume federal executions and expand the use of the federal death penalty.
Attorney General Merrick Garland halted federal executions in 2021, during the early months of the Biden administration.
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The Journal reports Garland is one of several key voices in the White House’s death penalty debate. They said the attorney general recommended Biden commute most sentences, except for a handful of cases involving terrorism and hate crimes.
Three possible exceptions include Dzokhar Tsarnaev, convicted of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings; Robert Bowers, convicted of the 2018 Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue shooting; and Dylann Roof, convicted of the 2015 shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
Biden is weighing the move amid pressure from civil rights groups and religious leaders. Pope Francis prayed for commutations for Americans on death row in his weekly address earlier this month.
Biden, a devout Catholic, spoke with Francis on Thursday, Dec. 20, and will head to the Vatican next month before leaving office.
The move would override Justice Department prosecutors under both Democratic and Republican presidents who asked for death sentences.
DOJ prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for the perpetrator of the 2022 shooting at Tops supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y.
Republicans condemned the prospect of Biden commuting most or all federal death sentences. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., warned the move would weaken the government’s condemnation of harsh offenses.
“It would mean that society’s most forceful condemnation of white supremacy and antisemitism must give way to legal mumbo jumbo,” McConnell said. “The irony of claims of systemic racism causing the president to spare Dylann Roof is ludicrous, ludicrous to the point of tragedy.”
It’s unclear whether any of Biden’s commutations would affect the four inmates on the military’s death row.
The move would also not affect any death sentences in states that use the death penalty for state-level crimes.
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LAUREN TAYLOR: President Joe Biden may soon take the highly consequential – and controversial – step of commuting the sentences of most – and possibly all – the 40 men on death row… according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.
If Biden commutes the sentences, the 40 men, all convicted for murder, would still be held in jail on life sentences with no possibility of parole.
It would create an early hurdle for President-elect Donald Trump, who wants to resume federal executions and expand the use of the federal death penalty to include migrants who kill U.S. citizens, child rapists and people convicted of drug or human trafficking.
Attorney General Merrick Garland halted federal executions in 2021, in the early months of the Biden administration.
The Journal reports Garland is one of several key voices in the death penalty debate in the White House, and that the attorney general recommended Biden commute most sentences, except for a handful of terrorism and hate-crime related cases.
Three possible exceptions whose sentences Biden may *not* commute are Dzokhar Tsarnaev, convicted of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, Robert Bowers, convicted of the 2018 Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue shooting, and Dylann Roof, convicted of the 2015 shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
Biden is weighing the move amid pressure from civil rights groups and religious leaders, includinh Pope Francis.
The pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church prayed for the commutation of the sentences of the Americans on death row in his weekly address earlier this month.
President Biden, a devout Catholic, spoke with Francis Thursday and will head to the Vatican next month before leaving office.
The move would override the decisions of Justice Department prosecutors under both Democratic and Republican presidents to ask for death sentences.
The Justice Department is currently seeking the death penalty for the shooter convicted in state court for the 2022 shooting at the Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York.
Republicans condemned the prospect of Biden commuting most or all federal death sentences, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell warning the move would weaken the government’s condemnation of some of the worst offenses possible.
Sen. Mitch McConnell / (R)-KY – Senate Minority Leader: “It would mean that society’s most forceful condemnation of white supremacy and antisemitism must give way to legal mumbo jumbo. The irony of claims of systemic racism causing the president to spare Dylann Roof is ludicrous, ludicrous to the point of tragedy.”
LAUREN TAYLOR: It’s unclear whether any commutations by President Biden would affect the four inmates on death row in the military’s court system.
The move would also not affect any death sentences in states that use the death penalty for state-level crimes.
For Straight Arrow News, I’m Lauren Taylor.
And for all the latest updates on this and other top stories, download the Straight Arrow News app or visit SAN.com.
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SAN FRANCISCO, California — Google late Friday countered a US call to sell its Chrome browser, suggesting a judge address antitrust concerns by barring the firm from making favorable treatment of its software a condition of licensing.
Google filed a 12-page proposed order banning the internet giant from requiring favorable distribution or treatment of its software on mobile devices as a condition of licensing popular apps like Chrome, Play or Gemini.
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