A Christian Cross in the chapel at Beckley VA Medical Center was uncovered Wednesday, but it will soon go back behind a curtain when not be used for services.
BECKLEY, W.Va. — Although the controversy over the cross behind the curtain at the VA Medical Center’s chapel has died down some, the hospital’s public affairs director said this week that more information about the reasons it is covered could raise awareness.
Debbie Voloski said the hospital’s chapel must be “religiously neutral” so that veterans of all faiths can feel comfortable using it for prayer. That’s according to the VA’s Spiritual and Pastoral Care Procedures, guidelines that have been in place since before 1945, Voloski said.
In 2007, the hospital found it was not in compliance with those guidelines, and Voloski said an employee built a shadowbox for the cross that hangs in the chapel. That allowed curtains, which can be opened for Christian worship, to be hung in front of the cross…
