03-16-2006, 05:50 PM
The Catholic Diocese of Phoenix told the parents of a 10-year-old autistic boy that because the child is not consuming the host he cannot receive Communion.
According to a letter from Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix, delivered to the Lake Havasu City, Ariz., family on Feb. 12, the boy cannot accept Communion until he can "actually receive the Eucharist, actually take and eat."
Because of his condition, the parents of Matthew Moran said that he cannot swallow foods with certain textures.
The boy, who received First Communion nearly three years ago in Pennsylvania, had taken part in receiving the Eucharist by placing it in his mouth and then allowing his father, Nick Moran, to remove it and consume the host himself, according to a March 4 report in the Arizona Republic.
Otherwise, the paper reported the father said, Matthew would spit it out.
He told the Phoenix paper that the bishop's letter has caused anger, anxiety and frustration in his home. He and his wife, Dr. Jean Weaver, have two other children, one of them also disabled.
The child and his family members belong to the 2,500-family Our Lady of the Lake Parish in Lake Havasu City, which is about 200 miles from Phoenix.
Phoenix Diocese officials contend that Matthew has not been prohibited from Communion, only that the bishop is "not able to approve the present practice," according to his letter.
The bishop offered the assistance of the diocesan Office of Disabilities and Pastoral Care Ministries and Office of Worship, which has already provided various hosts for Matthew to try, educational material and other recommendations for the parents.
In a guest editorial that appeared in the March 16, 2006, issue of The Catholic Sun, the official publication of the Diocese of Phoenix, Ariz., Rosalind Gutierrez, director of the Office of Worship, and Isabella Rice, director of the Office of Disabilities and Pastoral Care Ministries, praised the parents for “their desire to see their son receive the sacrament of the Eucharist” and noted that “as a church, we are deeply committed to the goal of providing Matthew with the full reception of the Eucharist.”
Yet at the risk of “possibility of losing Matthew at the table of the eucharistic banquet,” the diocesan officials stressed that the issue hinges on receiving Communion being a free and active choice of a Catholic.
“The decision to receive the Eucharist is our own. No one can receive on our behalf – it is an act of our free will to approach the blessed sacrament,” they said.
“The reception of the Eucharist is an objective, grace-filled reality at which the consumption of the consecrated host brings the communicant into a oneness with Jesus Christ and his church,” they said. “The present practice of just touching the consecrated host to Matthew’s mouth or tongue does not amount to his receiving Holy Communion; it is, in fact, only simulation.”
They noted that the permitting of that practice might serve as “an impediment to working with Matthew to consume Holy Communion.”
The officials noted that, contrary to reports that the 10-year-old was unable to receive the sacrament on his own, the Diocese of Pittsburgh reported that in preparation for reception of First Communion he was able to consume sacramental wine and the host.
“The question now becomes, what happened? The documents from the Diocese of Pittsburgh clearly prove that Matthew is able to receive the Eucharist in the manner prescribed by the church and in the manner in which he received at his First Holy Communion,” Gutierrez and Rice said in the guest editorial.
Further, the Phoenix diocesan officials said, the Pittsburgh Diocese “never endorsed the present practice of just touching the consecrated host to Matthew’s mouth or tongue.”
“Bishop Olmsted is seeking to return Matthew to the fullness of reception that he previously experienced,” they said. “Bishop Olmsted is asking that Matthew again receive the Eucharist in ways that are consistent with church teachings and the documents. The reception of the Eucharist is not ‘in the eye of the beholder.’”
“Continuing to deny Matthew the fullness of the grace of the Eucharist,” they added, “would be unconscionable.”
Autism, a neurological disorder, manifests its symptoms in a variety of ways. Verbal skills and social interactions often are affected, and its symptoms can range in severity, with each sufferer of the disorder possibly affected in different ways.
According to a letter from Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix, delivered to the Lake Havasu City, Ariz., family on Feb. 12, the boy cannot accept Communion until he can "actually receive the Eucharist, actually take and eat."
Because of his condition, the parents of Matthew Moran said that he cannot swallow foods with certain textures.
The boy, who received First Communion nearly three years ago in Pennsylvania, had taken part in receiving the Eucharist by placing it in his mouth and then allowing his father, Nick Moran, to remove it and consume the host himself, according to a March 4 report in the Arizona Republic.
Otherwise, the paper reported the father said, Matthew would spit it out.
He told the Phoenix paper that the bishop's letter has caused anger, anxiety and frustration in his home. He and his wife, Dr. Jean Weaver, have two other children, one of them also disabled.
The child and his family members belong to the 2,500-family Our Lady of the Lake Parish in Lake Havasu City, which is about 200 miles from Phoenix.
Phoenix Diocese officials contend that Matthew has not been prohibited from Communion, only that the bishop is "not able to approve the present practice," according to his letter.
The bishop offered the assistance of the diocesan Office of Disabilities and Pastoral Care Ministries and Office of Worship, which has already provided various hosts for Matthew to try, educational material and other recommendations for the parents.
In a guest editorial that appeared in the March 16, 2006, issue of The Catholic Sun, the official publication of the Diocese of Phoenix, Ariz., Rosalind Gutierrez, director of the Office of Worship, and Isabella Rice, director of the Office of Disabilities and Pastoral Care Ministries, praised the parents for “their desire to see their son receive the sacrament of the Eucharist” and noted that “as a church, we are deeply committed to the goal of providing Matthew with the full reception of the Eucharist.”
Yet at the risk of “possibility of losing Matthew at the table of the eucharistic banquet,” the diocesan officials stressed that the issue hinges on receiving Communion being a free and active choice of a Catholic.
“The decision to receive the Eucharist is our own. No one can receive on our behalf – it is an act of our free will to approach the blessed sacrament,” they said.
“The reception of the Eucharist is an objective, grace-filled reality at which the consumption of the consecrated host brings the communicant into a oneness with Jesus Christ and his church,” they said. “The present practice of just touching the consecrated host to Matthew’s mouth or tongue does not amount to his receiving Holy Communion; it is, in fact, only simulation.”
They noted that the permitting of that practice might serve as “an impediment to working with Matthew to consume Holy Communion.”
The officials noted that, contrary to reports that the 10-year-old was unable to receive the sacrament on his own, the Diocese of Pittsburgh reported that in preparation for reception of First Communion he was able to consume sacramental wine and the host.
“The question now becomes, what happened? The documents from the Diocese of Pittsburgh clearly prove that Matthew is able to receive the Eucharist in the manner prescribed by the church and in the manner in which he received at his First Holy Communion,” Gutierrez and Rice said in the guest editorial.
Further, the Phoenix diocesan officials said, the Pittsburgh Diocese “never endorsed the present practice of just touching the consecrated host to Matthew’s mouth or tongue.”
“Bishop Olmsted is seeking to return Matthew to the fullness of reception that he previously experienced,” they said. “Bishop Olmsted is asking that Matthew again receive the Eucharist in ways that are consistent with church teachings and the documents. The reception of the Eucharist is not ‘in the eye of the beholder.’”
“Continuing to deny Matthew the fullness of the grace of the Eucharist,” they added, “would be unconscionable.”
Autism, a neurological disorder, manifests its symptoms in a variety of ways. Verbal skills and social interactions often are affected, and its symptoms can range in severity, with each sufferer of the disorder possibly affected in different ways.