San Francisco, Calif., May 2, 2004 / 22:00 pm
It is “equitable and just” to refuse Holy Communion to Catholics who contradict the fundamental Church teachings on human life, said the rector of St. Patrick’s Seminary in the Diocese of San Francisco. Fr. Gerald Coleman expressed this view in an article that he wrote, which was published in the diocesan paper.
Fr. Coleman’s article, entitled “Why pro-abortion Catholics can't take Communion: Dignity of human life and participation in Holy Communion”, appeared in the latest issue of Catholic San Francisco.
“The Church already excludes from Communion persons remarried without an annulment. Such persons are seen to be in contradiction to the Church's teaching on the sanctity and permanence of a valid marriage,” Fr. Coleman wrote.
“Extending this prohibition to include any Catholic who stands in unambiguous contradiction to fundamental Church teachings on human life thus seems equitable and just, but more importantly and hopefully, a call to conversion of heart and thinking,” he continued.