The Church has to take a stand on the issue of abortion as the number of babies killed rises, Cork-based priest Fr Gabriel Burke has said after it emerged that he denied Minister of State Colm Burke communion over his support for repealing the Eighth Amendment.
Curate of Blarney parish, Fr Burke confirmed that he had refused Mr Burke the Eucharist at a funeral mass in St Patrick’s Church in Whitechurch on Friday because of “his support for abortion”. According to Fr Burke, it is the third time he has denied the Fine Gael politician communion since the 2018 referendum took place.
Minister Burke voted in favour of repealing the Eighth Amendment, which opened the door to the legalisation of abortion in Ireland.
“It’s very simple: Catholic politicians are to fight as well as they can for the dignity of the human person, born and unborn,” Fr Burke told Gript, adding that he’s not denying the Eucharist “out of spite”.
“We want these fellas to realise the damage they’ve done,” he said.
“Colm Burke has been on the radio, making out that he’s the victim. The victims are the 39,000 babies killed since the legislation was changed. Over 10,000 alone last year. That was 1/6 of the babies conceived in Ireland last year, ended in abortion. Those are the victims. And Colm Burke was there whinging about the decisions he had to make – you didn’t have to make that decision.”
Minister Burke told The Neil Prendeville Show his version of events:
“He gave me blessing. I advised that I was here to receive Holy Communion. He said ‘You’re not getting Holy Communion’. And I said, I’m here to receive Holy communion . He then leaned forward and advised that you’ve been excommunicated. So in front of the family, I decided that there was no point in having any further discussion there. Wasn’t appropriate. So I moved off at that stage”.
The Irish Times reports that Minister Burke has contacted the Diocese of Cloyne to seek clarification regarding his status within the Church, and whether he is excommunicated over his support for abortion.
“There’s a document from the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith in 2002, and as Archbishop Eamon Martin said a few years back, that anybody – he was talking about the TDs and that – who voted for abortion was cooperating with evil, and therefore should not present themselves for communion,” Fr Burke said.
Just because the majority of people voted for abortion “doesn’t make it right,” Fr Burke said, adding that abortion is a topic the Church ought to take a stand on.
“Really, we have to defend the children. Abortion is so high in this country that we have to as a Church make a stand. And if we don’t make a stand for the very dignity of a human person, who are we going to do it for?”