by Sean Walsh, TCW
Nobody does performative indignation like a slighted leftist politician, especially when God is thrown into the mix. The Liberal Democrat MP and hour-a-week Catholic, Chris Coghlan, has been refused Communion by his parish priest over his support for the assisted dying bill. Mr Coghlan has declined to turn the other cheek, choosing instead to play the martyr on X and to notify the relevant bishop of this egregious persecution.
Coghlan described the decision of Father Ian Vane, pastor of St Joseph’s Church in Dorking, as ‘utterly disrespectful’ and insisted that ‘my private religion will continue to have zero direct relevance to my work as an MP’.
That this might be the problem seems to have escaped him. It’s all very well voting with your conscience, but if that means you find yourself walking through the division lobby in company with the weirdly bloodthirsty Kim Leadbeater, whatever your ‘private religion’ is, it’s probably not the Catholic one.
Coghlan cannot be so inadequately catechized that he doesn’t know the Church teaching on faith and morals in respect of assisted suicide. To help somebody take their own life isn’t to acknowledge their vulnerability, but to exploit it. You quite possibly facilitate the commission of a mortal sin. As the Catholic Herald put it, ‘the Church teaches that publicly legislating [for assisted suicide] prevents politicians from receiving Communion until they have repented’.
So, how is it that Coghlan believes that his private conscience allows him to pick-and-mix Church teachings? And why does he feel the need to compel Father Vane to set aside his priestly obligation to administer the Eucharistic sacrament according to his vows?