diff --git a/CONTRIBUTORS b/CONTRIBUTORS
index 28eb009d1..643e5e07c 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTORS
+++ b/CONTRIBUTORS
@@ -241,6 +241,7 @@ Stephen Goetze
 Steve Cohen
 Steve Loughran
 Steve Morin
+Steve Wadsworth
 Steven E. Newton
 Takashi Okamoto
 Taoufik Romdhane
diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index 32ef229b9..fe809e29c 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -29,6 +29,9 @@ Other changes:
 * add dtd to javadoc for junit.
   Bugzilla 40754.
 
+* add quiet attribute to loadfile/resource.
+  Bugzilla 38249.
+
 Changes from Ant 1.7.0Beta3 to Ant 1.7.0RC1
 ===========================================
 
diff --git a/contributors.xml b/contributors.xml
index 8ee588813..0824884c9 100644
--- a/contributors.xml
+++ b/contributors.xml
@@ -960,6 +960,10 @@
     <first>Steve</first>
     <last>Morin</last>
   </name>
+  <name>
+    <first>Steve</first>
+    <last>Wadsworth</last>
+  </name>
   <name>
     <first>Steven</first>
     <middle>E.</middle>
diff --git a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/loadfile.html b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/loadfile.html
index 711045a3f..97c12a195 100644
--- a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/loadfile.html
+++ b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/loadfile.html
@@ -59,6 +59,17 @@ current locale is used.
     <td valign="top">Whether to halt the build on failure</td>
     <td align="center" valign="top">No, default "true"</td>
   </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">quiet</td>
+    <td valign="top">Do not display a diagnostic message (unless Ant has been 
+    invoked with the <code>-verbose</code> or <code>-debug</code>
+    switches) or modify the exit status to reflect an error. Setting this to 
+    "true" implies setting failonerror to "false".
+      <em>Since Ant 1.7.0.</em>
+    </td>
+    <td align="center" valign="top">No, default "false"</td>
+  </tr>
+
 </table>
 <p>
 The LoadFile task supports nested <a href="../CoreTypes/filterchain.html">
diff --git a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/loadresource.html b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/loadresource.html
index 627bc77ea..033d3ad4a 100755
--- a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/loadresource.html
+++ b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/loadresource.html
@@ -58,6 +58,15 @@ element resource collections.
     <td valign="top">Whether to halt the build on failure</td>
     <td align="center" valign="top">No, default "true"</td>
   </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">quiet</td>
+    <td valign="top">Do not display a diagnostic message (unless Ant has been 
+    invoked with the <code>-verbose</code> or <code>-debug</code>
+    switches) or modify the exit status to reflect an error. Setting this to 
+    "true" implies setting failonerror to "false".
+    </td>
+    <td align="center" valign="top">No, default "false"</td>
+  </tr>
 </table>
 <p>
 The LoadResource task supports nested <a href="../CoreTypes/filterchain.html">
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/LoadResource.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/LoadResource.java
index dd2b68647..500b857a6 100755
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/LoadResource.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/LoadResource.java
@@ -50,6 +50,12 @@ public class LoadResource extends Task {
      */
     private boolean failOnError = true;
 
+    /**
+     * suppress error message if it goes pear-shaped, sets failOnError=false 
+     */
+    private boolean quiet = false;
+    
+
     /**
      * Encoding to use for filenames, defaults to the platform's default
      * encoding.
@@ -100,7 +106,18 @@ public class LoadResource extends Task {
     public final void setFailonerror(final boolean fail) {
         failOnError = fail;
     }
-
+    
+    /**
+     * If true, suppress the load error report and set the
+     * the failonerror value to true.
+     * @param quiet The new Quiet value
+     */
+    public void setQuiet(final boolean quiet) {
+        this.quiet = quiet;
+        if (quiet) {
+            this.failOnError = false;
+        }
+    }
 
     /**
      * read in a source file to a property
@@ -116,12 +133,16 @@ public class LoadResource extends Task {
         if (property == null) {
             throw new BuildException("output property not defined");
         }
+        if (quiet && failOnError) {
+            throw new BuildException("quiet and failonerror cannot both be "
+                                     + "set to true");
+        }
         if (!src.isExists()) {
             String message = src + " doesn't exist";
             if (failOnError) {
                 throw new BuildException(message);
             } else {
-                log(message, Project.MSG_ERR);
+                log(message, quiet ? Project.MSG_WARN : Project.MSG_ERR);
                 return;
             }
         }
@@ -175,13 +196,14 @@ public class LoadResource extends Task {
             if (failOnError) {
                 throw new BuildException(message, ioe, getLocation());
             } else {
-                log(message, Project.MSG_ERR);
+                log(message, quiet ? Project.MSG_VERBOSE : Project.MSG_ERR);
             }
         } catch (final BuildException be) {
             if (failOnError) {
                 throw be;
             } else {
-                log(be.getMessage(), Project.MSG_ERR);
+                log(be.getMessage(),
+                    quiet ? Project.MSG_VERBOSE : Project.MSG_ERR);
             }
         } finally {
             FileUtils.close(is);