{"id":1280,"date":"2008-12-30T11:01:00","date_gmt":"2008-12-30T11:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2008\/12\/denying-communion-down-under.html"},"modified":"2008-12-30T11:01:00","modified_gmt":"2008-12-30T11:01:00","slug":"denying-communion-down-under","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/12\/denying-communion-down-under.html","title":{"rendered":"Denying communion Down Under"},"content":{"rendered":"

This happens so rarely, you can’t help but sit up and take notice. <\/p>\n

A government official in Australia was denied communion on Christmas Eve. And, it seems, it was all a big mistake. <\/p>\n

From the local press<\/a>: <\/p>\n

<\/a>Attorney-General Rob Hulls was refused communion in a Catholic church over the State Government’s Bill to legalise abortion.<\/p>\n

A minister assisting the priest refused to serve communion to Mr Hulls, placing his hand over the communion cup during a children’s mass, the Herald Sun has been told.<\/p>\n

The incident happened at St Monica’s Church in Moonee Ponds on Christmas Eve.<\/p>\n

Churchgoers said Mr Hulls walked up to the altar with his children in his arms, but was refused communion.<\/p>\n

An embarrassing stand-off lasted more than a minute until Mr Hulls moved to a second queue, where parish priest Fr Peter Kenny gave him the sacrament.<\/p>\n

Sources said Mr Hulls felt humiliated by the snub.<\/p>\n

Mr Hulls voted against the abortion Bill, and his wife, Carolyn Burnside, is a pro-life lawyer.<\/p>\n

As Attorney-General, Mr Hulls had referred the proposed legislation to the Law Reform Commission.<\/p>\n

Last night Fr Kenny described the incident as a misunderstanding.<\/p>\n

“Mr Hulls is here regularly. I know his children. It was my understanding that he was waiting for me to give his children a blessing, which I did.<\/p>\n

“I had no hesitation in giving him communion.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This happens so rarely, you can’t help but sit up and take notice. A government official in Australia was denied communion on Christmas Eve. And, it seems, it was all a big mistake. From the local press: Attorney-General Rob Hulls was refused communion in a Catholic church over the State Government’s Bill to legalise abortion.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":365,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,23,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-liturgy","category-politics-and-politicians","category-sacraments"],"yoast_head":"\nDenying communion Down Under - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/12\/denying-communion-down-under.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Denying communion Down Under - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This happens so rarely, you can’t help but sit up and take notice. A government official in Australia was denied communion on Christmas Eve. And, it seems, it was all a big mistake. 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