Church Denies Autistic Boy Commumion

What Would Jesus Do?

I recently had the opportunity to speak at length with the parents of Matthew Moran, a 10-year old autistic boy from Lake Havasu City, Ariz. The conversations I had with Dr. Jean Weaver and Mr. Nick Moran were both moving and shocking.

The Morans, who recently moved to Arizona from Pittsburgh, have come from generations of Catholics and felt strongly about raising their family, including Matthew, Catholic. Mr. Moran explained how he and Matthew made the commitment to attend two years of religious instruction in order for Matthew to be eligible to receive the sacrament of Eucharist. Upon completion of the classes complete with a letter in hand from Bishop Donald Wuerl authorizing the Holy Communion of young Matthew Moran, the family cheerfully recalled his first communion on Sunday, May 2, 2004, at Saint Bernard Church in Pittsburgh.

In June 2005, the Morans moved to Lake Havasu and found their new parish, our Lady of the Lake, the only Catholic Parish in Lake Havasu, a small town nestled on the western border of Arizona. Attending Mass weekly, the Morans remained pleased that young Matthew was able to not only attend Mass, but take communion as well. As Mr. Moran explained, his son, due to his autism, is unable swallow foods of certain textures and the communion wafer, which Catholics believe to be the consecrated body of Christ, happened to be one of those items. Dating back to Pittsburgh, and with the knowledge of the Diocese there, Matthew would place the wafer in his mouth and then place it in his father’s hands who would then consume the host.

This was their practice, until recently when Father Deptula declined to serve Communion to Matthew at Our Lady of the Lake and the Bishop of the Diocese of Phoenix, Bishop Thomas J. Olmstead, followed up with a letter to the family that clearly states, “ I am not able to approve the present practice.” Like most parents, Dr. Weaver and Mr. Moran felt betrayed by their church, betrayed by their faith, and angry with Diocesan officials. “Matthew was upset and crying on the Sunday he was not allowed to receive Communion,” Dr. Weaver told me. Holding back his tears, Nick Moran, a dedicated former engineer turned stay-at-home father, shared with me how generations of his family have been Catholic and “there are no other Catholic parishes in our town and even if there were, they would still be in the same Dioceses.”

In denying the Sacrament of Holy Communion to Matthew Moran, the Bishop seems to contradict a report from the U.S. Catholic Conference of Catholic Bishops entitled “Guidelines for the Celebration of Sacraments with Persons with Disabilities.” In this report, it states “cases of doubt should be resolved in favor of the right of the baptized person to receive the sacrament.” At the heart of the matter is this next statement; “the existence of a disability is not considered in and of itself as disqualifying a person from receiving the Eucharist.” Bishop Olmstead, in his letter to the family on Feb. 3 states that he is “unable to approve the present practice of only touching the consecrated host to his (Matthew’s) mouth or tongue and the removing it before the Blessed Sacrament is consumed.” The letter goes on to say, “the practice of just touching the consecrated host to your son’s mouth or tongue does not amount to his receiving the Holy Communion.” The Bishop then quotes John 6:55: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” He concludes by adding, “Just to touch one’s tongue is not to take and eat.”

While the Dioceses has offered the help of the Office of Disabilities, it would seem that the case of young Matthew Moran is sad one. Sad for the Church, sad for the family and most of all, sad for Matthew who only wants to receive Communion with the rest of his family the way he learned from several years of Catholic instruction.