Catholic priest bans abortion-rights lawmakers from communion says ‘pedophilia isn’t as bad because it doesn’t kill’
A Rhode Island priest is drawing national attention after moving to bar lawmakers who voted to protect abortion rights under state law from participating in Catholic sacraments at his parish.
Father Richard Bucci of Sacred Heart Church in West Warwick issued a directive banning all state legislators who supported the 2019 law aligning Rhode Island with the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling from receiving communion or serving in any public religious role. His announcement, which was published in the church’s weekly bulletin, named dozens of state representatives and senators, stating they could no longer act as lectors, godparents, or marriage witnesses at any church event.
The move came just days after the 47th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and has since ignited controversy across the state and beyond.
“If they are proud of what they have done, why do they want to keep it a secret?” Bucci told the Providence Journal, defending the decision as consistent with Church doctrine. Democratic Representative Justine Caldwell (East Greenwich), one of the lawmakers publicly named, pushed back on the announcement and criticized Bucci’s defense.
“None of our votes are hidden,” she tweeted. “I campaigned on this issue! If they just wanted to do a PSA, they didn’t have to say we couldn’t be godparents or receive communion. No one has a problem with their votes on the record. They have a problem with the lack of respect for the separation of church and state, and for our votes on behalf of our constituents being punished by a church who protected child abusers.” Representative Carol McEntee, whose sister was allegedly abused by a priest, also condemned the move, calling it retaliatory.
“I feel that this notice is harsh and retaliatory especially toward me as well as the other elected officials.
Although I have long ago left the Catholic Church, they continue to berate and diminish the reality of what my sister and my family have endured because of their criminal behavior and lack of remorse or contrition,” she told The Public’s Radio.
Bucci, however, has remained firm, even taking aim at critics who point to the Church’s child sex abuse crisis as a counterargument to the parish’s anti-abortion stance.
“We’re not talking about any other moral issue where somebody’s making a comparison between pedophilia and abortion,” Bucci told WJAR. “Well, pedophilia doesn’t kill anyone, and this does.” He went on to express confusion over the backlash, stating the Catholic Church’s pro-life position has never been unclear.
“I don’t know what else I have to say about this, that this is the teaching of the Church, the Canon Law of the church, the Second Vatican Council and the first Catechism of the church. I don’t know what more evidence I should have to present. Doesn’t anybody realize that once you say an innocent life isn’t worthy of living—a child in the womb—then other life becomes meaningless?”
As the debate continues, the priest’s decision has reignited discussions about the role of religious doctrine in public policy—and the limits of the Church’s power over elected officials.
