At the stated communication of the Naval Lodge #4, on Thursday, October 17th, 2013 at 6:30pm, The Naval Lodge Hall in Washington DC the Chaplain of the U.S. Senate, Rear Admiral Barry C. Black (Ret.) held a speech on the topic of charity.
The stated communication was an open event attended by members of the Craft and friends. Rear Admiral Barry C. Black was elected the 62nd Chaplain of the United States Senate. He began working in the Senate on July 7, 2003. Prior to coming to Capitol Hill, Chaplain Black served in the U.S. Navy for over twenty-seven years, ending his distinguished career as the Chief of Navy Chaplains.
Rear Admiral Barry C. Black, USN (Ret.) (born November 1, 1948) is the 62nd Chaplain of the United States Senate. He was elected to this position on June 27, 2003, becoming the first African American and the first Seventh-day Adventist to hold this office. The Senate elected its first chaplain in 1789. He served for over 27 years as a chaplain in the United States Navy, rising to the rank of rear admiral and ending his career as the Chief of Chaplains of the United States Navy, the senior chaplain of the United States Navy Chaplain Corps. He officially retired from the Navy on August 15, 2003.
During the 16 day United States federal government shutdown of 2013, his invocations began to garner widespread national attention. On Oct. 1, the first day of the shutdown, he prayed for divine guidance to, “strengthen our weakness, replacing cynicism with faith and cowardice with courage.” On Oct. 3, he prayed, “Save us from the madness. We acknowledge our transgressions, our shortcomings, our smugness, our selfishness and our pride... Deliver us from the hypocrisy of attempting to sound reasonable while being unreasonable.”
