Debates about Catholic priests denying Holy Communion to U.S. pro-choice politicians or public officials have been around for more than a decade; indeed I covered that exact issue back in 2009. It was quite the raging issue in 2004 as well when the archbishop of St. Louis refused Communion to Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry.
The issue hasn’t faded at all; in fact this Washington Post piece, published a few months ago, notes that Democratic politicians are still being denied the sacrament if they have come out in favor of abortion.
Now there’s a priest in East Grand Rapids, Mich., who is doing something similar — not about abortion, but same-sex marriage. Here is how one TV station covered it. It happens to be the local NBC affiliate.
EAST GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Judge Sara Smolenski, chief judge of the Kent County District Court, has been denied Communion at the church where she has been a parishioner for more than six decades because she is married to a woman.
It is a move that for many was the final straw in a pattern of behavior that has them calling for the removal of a priest — a priest who came to St. Stephen Catholic Church about three years ago.
Right there you can see where this article is a set-up. The second paragraph could also read that: “It is a move that several in the parish applauded because they felt it was high time St. Stephen’s took a stand on crucial Catholic doctrines.”
Instead, you hear the dissidents’ point of view for the entire first half of the story.
In 1966, under the leadership of Rev. Msgr. Edward N. Alt, St. Stephen Catholic School became the first integrated Catholic school in Metro Grand Rapids and had a student body that was nearly 40 percent non-Catholic.
This tradition of inclusion and acceptance would be the essence of the school and the church for 50 years.
But now, some here say that is changing.
The story talks about the judge’s family roots with that parish and then:
News 8 featured Smolenski in March of 2016, when she became the first Kent County elected official to marry someone of the same sex.
But it was just last Saturday that Smolenski got a call from the parish priest, Father Scott Nolan.
“The way he said it was ‘because you’re married to Linda in the state of Michigan, you cannot accept communion,’ that’s how he said it,” Smolenski explained. “I try to be a good and faithful servant to our Lord Jesus Christ. My faith is a huge part of who I am, but it is the church that made that faith, the very church where he is taking a stance and saying ho-ho, not you.”
The report tells how Nolan has brought in other changes, such as freezing gay teachers out of the parish school and denying Communion to other same-sex couples in the parish.
It also says there are parishioners who agree with the priest, but none wished to be quoted. With the invective floating about Grand Rapids this past week, one can understand why they’d be frightened. Have we entered the age when defending Catholic doctrines could cost people jobs?
News 8 reached out to the Diocese of Grand Rapids who would not address the issue of whether Nolan’s actions are supported by the bishop.
A spokesperson did issue this terse statement presumably about what happened with Judge Smolenski: “This is a spiritual matter between her and her pastor.”
Now anyone with the slightest knowledge of how parishes and dioceses operate would know that no priest goes up against a local judge without his bishop knowing –- and approving -– of it. The tone of the original news report was definitely on the side of the judge with the banner “Sacrament Denied” in the background during the newscast and all the quotes were from people who supported Smolenski.
A follow-up Nov. 27 report did get the priest’s response and that of the bishop. A couple of things were interesting here: The 33-year-old priest just got ordained three years ago. The bishop is backing this guy.
What kinds of conversations went on behind the scenes before the priest called the judge and told her not to take Communion? Would’ve liked to have been an ant on the wall during that conversation. And there’s lots of other history to take into account (including a highly relevant document), according to Rod Dreher at The American Conservative.
Look how full St. Stephen’s church in Grand Rapids, MI, was with local Catholics showing support for priest embattled by gay activists and media for acting like a faithful Catholic priest. Good on you, Grand Rapids Catholics! https://t.co/mkvJeGCBPW
— Rod Dreher (@roddreher) December 2, 2019
Since the 26th, a number of parties have jumped into the fray, including Rod Dreher, who revealed that Smolenski has been after this priest for some time, especially after he denied Communion to two other lesbians who were attending their child’s First Communion service.
Then Lifesite News wrote that “hundreds” of Catholics attended a Thanksgiving Eve Mass at St. Stephen’s in support of the priest and that Smolenski might have started this mess by wearing a gay pride pin to Mass. The priest gave her Communion that day, but phoned her later to tell her that if she was going to pull such stunts, stay away from the Communion rail.
Although a lot of folks have found fault with how News Channel 8 has reported on the story, I can see why the folks there are confused, especially if they have no meaningful religion-news background. The message coming from the Catholic Church is very mixed these days. You’ve got Pope Francis saying one thing (maybe) and this local priest saying another. Sure, they should have researched this story better and worked harder to get quotes from both sides. But Catholics aren’t of one mind these days from the top on down, hence the weird press coverage.
Other media, such as CNN have covered the matter, although the CNN report is warmed-over material from News Channel 8. The Associated Press did a short on it.
Obviously this judge is making the rounds of the media to express her distaste of this priest, which she has every right to do. But journalists covering this story must make sure she doesn’t drive the narrative.
There are journalism questions: What are the events that led up to the priest lowering the boom on this judge? Why did he wait three years? Aren’t there any parish leaders who will go on the record about this? This is not a small parish but the story requires reporters to invest some shoe leather in making phone calls and actually researching what’s going on.
Instead, we hear angry statements from the judge, measured press releases from the diocese and one interview with the priest. I’d be interested to know if this prohibition on Communion extends beyond abortion and same-sex marriage. What else might priests find so objectionable that they’ll tell a parishioner to stay away from the Communion rail? And will this only involve public figures? To date, it’s been limited to them, as far as we know. After all, politics equals news.
Some news reports criticize the church for offending a major donor like this judge who recently gave $7,000. An opposite view might be pointing out that the priest wasn’t afraid to after a major giver to the parish, which will for sure affect the church financially down the line.
I wish reporters would just try, for once, to look at how the opposite side might view this story and ask why a priest took a stand on principle that he knows will cost him.
The photo of the Communion chalice and rainbow flag is courtesy of Unsplash.
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