DUBLIN, October 15, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An Irish politician representing the governing Fine Gael party was told by his parish priest that he could not continue to act as an “extraordinary minister of Communion” because he had voted in favour of the government’s bill legalising abortion, the Irish Independent reported this weekend.
TD Derek Keating, whose pastor is Father Peter O’Reilly at St Mary’s in Lucan, also complained that another priest had told him the government acted like the “Nazi regime” in pushing the bill through.
Keating blamed the “attempts to intimidate him” on “ultra right-wing elements in the church”.
“I should not have to leave my [parish] ministry,” he said, “which is deeply important to me. I don’t want to be doing this, raising this issue in this manner, but I feel it is very important I take a stand. There remains in the church a small element within that threaten, bully and abuse and it is totally unacceptable.”
LifeSiteNews.com spoke with Fr. Vincent Twomey, a professor of moral theology, who countered that, far from the objection coming from “ultra right-wing elements” the priest was simply acting in accordance with the law of the Church. Canon 915 requires that the Eucharist be withheld from “manifest grave sinners” and public support for abortion by politicians has been defined as a “grave sin” by the Church’s highest authorities.
Fr. Twomey, who completed his doctoral studies under the supervision of the then-Professor Joseph Ratzinger, said that whatever Mr. Keating may believe, the issue is no longer political.
“The bill is passed,” he told LSN by phone. “There’s no using the Eucharist to persuade the government to change the bill now, so that doesn’t apply.”
“The priest is simply carrying through the logical implications that follow when one votes for a law that is unjust,” Fr. Twomey said.
“The fact is that if one voted freely for that bill, it is incompatible with acting in public with the Church.”
While the Church’s own statistics show that knowledge and practice of the Catholic faith has deteriorated significantly among Irish lay people in recent decades, the public influence of the Church remains significant. With most politicians being at least nominally Catholic in Ireland, mainstream media outlets are alert to instances of priests refusing Communion or issuing other sanctions against politicians who supported the bill.
To the Independent, Keating described himself as a “committed Catholic” and complained that another parish has rescinded permission for him to use the parish hall for constituency meetings. The Independent quoted a letter to Keating by Fr. Anthony Reilly, the pastor of St. Philomena’s Parish in Palmerstown. The priest said the Fine Gael party had perpetrated a “terrible deception” to get the bill passed.
“What we have witnessed over the past while is certainly not democratic but more akin to a Nazi regime,” the letter said. “There has been a terrible deception from your party in referring to directly procured abortion as protection of life when directly procured abortion will be permitted until virtually the time of birth.”
Reilly told the TD that, although he had been a Fine Gael supporter since 1977, he would “no longer be in a position” to vote for the party “and will do all in my power to keep the events of 11/12 July present in people's minds in the future.”
In September, Journal.ie quoted a spokesman for the Irish Bishops’ Conference who responded that there is “no central diktat” to refuse pro-abortion politicians Communion or the use of parish facilities. He said it is “not the case” that the Catholic Church has told priests to refuse Communion to politicians who supported the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill.
“If individuals have concerns in relation to their relationship with the church they should speak to a priest who will guide them in relation to these concerns,” the spokesman said.
The statement, while in line with previous comments by various Irish bishops, is not supported by the Church as a whole, however. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke, the Prefect of the Vatican’s Apostolic Signatura, the “Supreme Court” of the Catholic Church and its highest juridical authority, has repeatedly insisted that politicians who publicly support abortion “must” be refused Communion, in part for their own spiritual protection. The Catholic Church teaches that reception of Communion while in a state of mortal sin is itself a grave sin.
“The priest has a responsibility to his own congregation,” Fr. Twomey said. “If there is someone who has publicly supported the law, that is objectively wrong. Acting publicly as a minister of the Church, therefore, is a contradiction.”
“All he’s saying is, ‘We cannot allow this, because of the public nature of your actions,’” in having voted for legislation legalising abortion, Fr. Twomey said.
The centrality of this issue for Irish politicians was highlighted by the Independent when it reported in September that Prime Minister Enda Kenny, who ignored all calls from senior prelates to shelve the bill, was “awarded” Communion at a funeral Mass.
Niamh Uí Bhriain, the head of the Life Institute and one of the principal opponents of the government’s bill, told LSN that the incident was a calculated insult and provocation to the Church. She said the Fine Gael politicians at the funeral knew that the priest would not want to disturb grieving families by “making a fuss at Communion time.”
Highlighting the lack of unity on the issue among Irish clergy, the Independent noted that the same funeral had been attended by the Bishop of Dromore, John McAreavey, the Bishop of Down and Conor, Noel Treanor, and the Bishop of Elphin, Christy Jones, none of whom made any objection to Kenny receiving. Even the heavily secularist Independent commented that this act of defiance by Kenny, who has frequently publicly attacked the Church in recent years, was in direct contravention of the Church’s Code of Canon Law.