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‘Murderous act’: UK Priest bars MP from Communion over assisted suicide vote

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June 30, 2025
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(LifeSiteNews) — A self-described “liberal Catholic” British MP has been publicly barred from Holy Communion following his support for assisted suicide.

Chris Coghlan, the Liberal Democrat MP for Dorking and Horley, supported the “Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life)” bill. The vote was a free (or conscience) vote, meaning MPs were not required to vote along party lines.

The bill passed in the House of Commons by 23 votes on June 20.

Two days later, Father Ian Vane, pastor of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Dorking, announced at the Sunday Masses that Coghlan would no longer be admitted to the Eucharist.

Vane had previously written to Coghlan, warning that such a vote would constitute “obstinate public sin” and complicity in a “murderous act,” and that Communion would have to be withheld to avoid public scandal.

Coghlan denounced the email as “outrageous,” and warned of a “conflict of interest” caused by religious “coercion.” Despite the public nature of his own parliamentary vote, he objected to Vane’s public announcements, noting that the congregation included his children’s school friends, and that the priest is responsible for signing his children’s school admissions forms.

The MP has insisted that his “personal faith does not – and will not – have any relevance to [his] parliamentary responsibilities.” He cited the example of President John F. Kennedy, and argued that his duty, especially in a conscience vote, was to represent his constituents, rather than his religion.

According to Catholic teaching, the grave immorality of assisted suicide is a matter of the natural moral law, rather than religious doctrine. Because of this, public advocacy for its legalization – even on the grounds proposed by Coghlan – is also gravely immoral.

It is the Church’s responsibility to proclaim these tenets of the moral law, and to safeguard the dignity of the sacraments from sacrilege.

This includes the sacrilegious reception of Holy Communion by those who make themselves publicly unworthy. Canon 915 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law states that those “obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin” are to be denied Communion.

Although Coghlan has emphasized his duties and conscience, Cardinal Raymond Burke offered a different emphasis in 2008:

That right of the minister to refuse to give Holy Communion to someone who persists in public and grave sin is safeguarded in the Code of Canon Law, under canon 915.

Otherwise the minister of Communion would be put in the situation of violating his conscience regarding a most serious matter, when he sees a notorious sinner coming to receive Holy Communion to the scandal of everyone, and he is somehow told he does not have the right to refuse to give Holy Communion, in such a circumstance. That simply would be wrong.

The Diocese of Arundel and Brighton confirmed that Bishop Richard Moth had contacted Coghlan and offered to meet. In a statement, the diocese reaffirmed the Church’s opposition to assisted suicide while acknowledging the pressures MPs face.

Several British priests have expressed their support for Vane, including Father Thomas Crean, O.P., Father David Palmer, and Father Alexander Lucie-Smith:

Meanwhile, the bill now moves to the House of Lords. Coghlan has since stated that he is “strongly reconsidering” whether to remain a Catholic.




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