5 facts on Covington Catholic School boys, Nathan Phillips and Hebrew Israelites

By Brandon Showalter, Opinion writer and social commentator Thursday, January 24, 2019

3. Phillips tries to disrupt Catholic mass; lies about being a Vietnam veteran

As the particulars of what happened were beginning to be sorted out, Phillips tried to enter the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception Saturday while an evening mass was occurring.

Along with a group of approximately 20 people, Phillips "tried to enter the church while playing drums and chanting, and were prohibited from entering the building by security personnel, who locked the main basilica doors with the congregation still inside," the Catholic News Agency reported Tuesday.

A security guard told the told the Catholic outlet: "It's a house of worship, a place of prayer where people come to celebrate. All this anger is so against what we are all about here."

"I don't know the details of what happened on Friday [after the March for Life], I wish I did. All I know is it’s a shame, and it’s got nothing to do with why people were here."

Adding to the outrage of many who were angered by the chants from the Covington Catholic High School students was the reporting that Phillips was a Vietnam War veteran, when he was not. The Washington Post issued a correction to their Sunday report, noting that while Phillips served in the U.S. Marines from 1972-1976 he was never deployed to Vietnam.

Phillips described himself in a CNN interview as a "Vietnam-times veteran.”