Frist's firsts

New U.S. Senate chaplain Barry Black this month delivered his first prayer in Congress. Within the two minutes allowed for each day's opening prayer, he prayed for his predecessor, retired Presbyterian minister Lloyd Ogilvie, the lawmakers he'll serve, and America's armed forces.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) selected Rev. Black, the first African-American and first Seventh-day Adventist (he's a vegetarian) to hold the post. He recently retired as Navy Chief of Chaplains with the rank of Rear Admiral. In that job, he spent a lot of time trying to reinforce ethical standards for the chaplains under him. A study made public last month found the Navy punished more than 40 chaplains over the last decade for offenses that include adultery, homosexual assault, child molestation, and downloading pornography on Navy computers-a misconduct rate more than 20 times higher than that of other naval officers.