US Senate chaplain Barry Black hospitalized after brain bleed

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Chaplain Barry Black has been hospitalized after suffering a bleed on his brain and is expected to have a “smooth recovery,” his office said.

Black, 76, suffered a subdural hematoma earlier this week and is at a local hospital and under the care of the Capitol’s physician, said Rev. Lisa Schultz, Black’s chief of staff. A subdural hematoma is when blood builds up between the skull and the surface of the brain, increasing pressure on the brain.

A familiar bow-tied presence in the hallways of the Senate, Black has been the chaplain since 2003. He opens the proceedings each day with a prayer and counsels senators and staff through prayer groups and one-on-one meetings. He was previously the chief of the Navy’s chaplains.

Black is well known for his booming voice and his often prescient and timely opening prayers in times of political tension. During an extended government shutdown in 2013, he prayed to “deliver us from the hypocrisy of attempting to sound reasonable while being unreasonable.” During former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment in 2019, he asked in a prayer that “our senators not permit fatigue or cynicism to jeopardize friendships that have existed for years.”

In the early morning of Jan. 7, 2021, after supporters of Trump had attacked the Capitol and Congress had certified Democrat Joe Biden’s victory, he closed a joint session in the middle of the night with a call for unity.

“We deplore the desecration of the United States Capitol building, the shedding of innocent blood, the loss of life, and the quagmire of dysfunction that threaten our democracy,” he prayed.