AN MP who has been denied communion by his local Roman Catholic priest over his stance on assisted dying has described the choice as “utterly disrespectful”.
On Sunday, the priest of St Joseph’s, Dorking, Fr Ian Vane, told congregants on the 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. masses that the Liberal Democrat MP for Dorking and Horley, Chris Coghlan, could be refused communion, after he’d voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. Neither Mr Coghlan or his family were on the services.
According to a report in The Observer, Fr Vane had previously written to Mr Coghlan warning that a vote in favour of the proposed laws could be “obstinately persevering” in sin, and that he could be refused communion if he did so.
In social media posts on Sunday afternoon, Mr Coghlan said that Fr Vane’s public announcements were “utterly disrespectful to my family, my constituents including the congregation, and the democratic process”. He said that his religion would “proceed to have zero direct relevance” to his work as an MP, which entailed “representing all my constituents without fear or favour”.
“It is a matter of grave public interest, the extent to which religious MPs got here under pressure to represent their religion and never necessarily their constituents within the assisted dying vote,” he said.
On 20 June, Mr Coghlan voted for the Bill, which was introduced as a Private Member’s Bill by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater. It passed its Third Reading within the House of Commons by 23 votes (News, 20 June).
Ms Leadbeater described Fr Vane’s decision to publicly deny communion as “totally unacceptable”, but said that “religious leaders and folks of religion have every right to speak their views to their MPs and to parliament as a complete”, a report in The Observer said.
A spokesperson for the RC diocese of Arundel & Brighton said that the vote was “a fancy one for all involved and while many in our society are deeply saddened by the result, we recognise the difficult task faced by MPs in in search of to represent their constituents.”
The spokesperson said that, before the vote, the Bishop of Arundel & Brighton, the Rt Revd Richard Moth, had “encouraged members of clergy and lay faithful to jot down to their MPs in a personal capability to specific their concerns in regards to the Bill, and to ask them to vote against the proposed laws.
“Bishop Richard spoke to Mr Coghlan earlier this week and has offered to fulfill him in person to debate the problems and concerns raised. Our prayers remain with all those impacted by the passing of this Bill, and the peers within the House of Lords who’re engaged in the following stage of this debate,” the spokesperson said.
