Irish politician denied Communion over support for abortion

A Fine Gael politician, Colm Burke, has revealed that he was refused Communion at a recent funeral due to his support for the abortion referendum in 2018. 

Colm Burke, the Minister of State at the Department of Health, said he was "taken aback" when he was denied Communion by Fr. Gabriel Burke during the funeral of a long-time friend at St. Patrick's Church, Whitechurch, in the parish of Blarney. 

Burke revealed that the priest told him he had been "excommunicated" over his "support for abortion". 

Explaining his decision, Fr. Gabriel Burke said he was acting per a statement from Archbishop Eamon Martin, in 2013. 

Speaking in August 2013 after the Dáil passed the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act, which allowed abortion when the mother's life was in danger, Martin said politicians who supported the act would be excommunicated or denied Communion. 

Ireland subsequently legalized abortions following a landslide vote to repeal the 8th Amendment in 2018.

"Colm Burke voted for abortion and he knows the teaching of the [Catholic] Church that any politician who voted [for] abortion cannot receive communion — Archbishop Eamon Martin made that very clear before the vote on abortion in 2013," Fr. Gabriel Burke said. 

"Archbishop Martin said that any politician that voted for abortion in Dáil Éireann was ‘co-operating with evil’ and should not present for Communion and Colm Burke knew that because he was here twice before, and he’s been refused Communion on both those occasions." 

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Crowds at Dublin Castle following a "Yes" vote for 2018 abortion referendum.

Colm Burke said he has been a mass-goer all his life and said he was "very taken aback" by the incident. 

"I thought it (the priest’s stance) wasn’t the way to deal with it," Burke told the Irish Examiner. 

“The incident that occurred must not deflect from the purpose of the funeral mass to support the family of the person who has died, to celebrate that person’s achievements and the valuable contribution he made to both his immediate family and the wider community of Whitechurch throughout his life." 

The Association of Catholic Priests "unambiguously condemned" Fr. Burke for refusing to give Communion, stating that it is "not the role of the priest to judge the conscience of another person". 

"Like every member of the Catholic Church, public representatives must act in accordance with their conscience," the Association said in a statement. 

"The priest does not own the Eucharist and would do well to ponder the statement of Pope Francis that he has never refused the Eucharist to anyone." 

In 2021, Pope Francis said that denying Communion to people who support abortion must be handled in a pastoral manner and not by public condemnations that seek to "excommunicate" Catholics. 

"If we look at the history of the church, we can see that every time the bishops did not act like shepherds when dealing with a problem, they aligned themselves with political life, on political problems," Pope Francis said in September 2021.