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A Waterford priest has criticized as selfish the behavior of Catholics demanding Communion on the language despite Covid-19 restrictions.
Father Liam Power, a former communications officer for the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore, said these people do not seem to “respect the danger this poses to others” and are a cause of “very serious embarrassment to the priests, many of the which are elderly “.
While the number that made such demands “was not huge, the reports were pretty consistent from parishes across the country,” he said. It was also the case that the people involved “were not open to negotiation.”
Father Power referred to an incident at a Waterford church recently.
“A member of the congregation crossed from a section of the church, climbed a barrier that separated the two pods of 50, and then demanded Holy Communion on the tongue.”
The priest refused.
“It was an embarrassing situation when the congregation witnessed this confrontation during the most sacred moment of the service. When questioned later, the person refuted the constitutionality of the Covid-19 regulation, inferring that the right to religious freedom was being undermined ”.
A similar incident occurred with an elderly priest with underlying health problems. He also refused.
“In none of these incidents did the protesters show concern for the health and safety of others. Priests and other communicants could have been exposed to Covid infection, ”said Fr Power.
‘Aggression’
More generally, he referred to the “aggression” of these people and their growth in the Catholic world, with an apparent determination “to undermine Vatican II and eliminate Pope Francis.” It is the first time in my life that I have heard of a campaign to eliminate a Pope from within the Church. It’s very unsettling for Catholics, ”he said.
He agreed with those who felt that the attention that the ecclesiastical authorities in Ireland pay to far-right groups as elsewhere is now “reaping a bitter whirlwind.”
Fr Power recalled how, when the Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin attended the Eid celebrations in Croke Park last July, “he encountered protesters shouting, his car surrounded and beaten, and people yelling traitors and other abuses.”
There was also the recent “torrent of insults leveled at Father Stephen Farragher, pastor of Ballyhaunis in Co Mayo, during protests over his decision to allow two members of the Muslim community to say the final blessing and prayer in a Sunday ceremony at the church “.
“The blessing was planned to show solidarity with frontline workers and pray for the eradication of Covid-19.”
It so happened that those people also “are opposed to vaccines and refuse to wear masks and deliberately contravene other HSE guidelines,” he said.
His “toxic political-religious cocktail” was “symptomatic of what is happening on a more global level, particularly in the United States.”
“Far-right media groups that claim total allegiance to the Catholic Church (such as Church Militant, Lifesite News, Breitbart, and the most influential of all Catholic media, EWTN), are blatantly partisan in their support of the politics of extreme right ”, Fr. Power said.
Regarding the Catholic bishops of Ireland, Fr. Power considered that “in its attempt to accommodate the Catholics of the extreme right, the hierarchy needs to appreciate the political implications of extreme points of view that, in my opinion, serve to undermine the pontificate of Pope Francis ”.
“There must be limits to appeasement.”
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