Abortion supporters disrupt Mass at Cathedral of Managua, attempt to receive Communion

Managua, Nicaragua, Oct 1, 2007 / 09:51 am

Just yesterday, feminists and pro-abortion supporters interrupted Mass at the Cathedral of Managua in Nicaragua and attempted to receive Holy Communion.  When they were refused, according to church law, they reacted violently and forced the celebrant to end the Mass.

The decision by the celebrant, Father Bismark Conde, to deny them Communion bothered the women, some of whom are members of “Catholics for a Free Choice.”  They remained in the church and demanded to receive the Eucharist.

According to the Nicaraguan daily “La Prensa,” the others in attendance at the Mass began to demand out loud that the women leave the church, while Father Conde attempted to maintain calm and prevent a confrontation.  Many began to call the women “killers” and “baby killers,” shouting, “God will punish you for what you are doing.

“At that moment the police were not inside the church, because the police agents were on guard outside the cathedral, where another group of women were protesting in favor of therapeutic abortion,” the newspaper reported.  Police eventually forced the women inside to leave the church.

Father Rolando Alvarez, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Managua, said the incident sent a “negative message to the people, especially to the country’s children,” as the feminists’ attitudes “only display harmful elements, when civil conduct is what should prevail in society.”
 
People are able to sense when something isn’t right, Father Alvarez noted.  “The people are the ones who end up passing judgment on these types of situations.  We do not need to condemn an act of this nature because the people know what is good and what is bad,” he said.

One of those in attendance at the Mass, Maria Emilia Paredes, told La Prensa that the women “were profaning the house of the Lord, a protest that should have taken place outside, because as Christians, as Catholics, we should be respectful.  They do not yet know the Lord.  If they did, they would not have done this.  They provoked what happened from the moment they came in with the phrases on their t-shirts.”

Ofelia Palacios, who was also in attendance, said the women who came into the church wearing shirts that read “Yes to Abortion” were committing a sacrilege.  “They want to be famous,” she said, “but they should protest somewhere else.”

Current Nicaraguan law punishes the disruption of religious services recognized by the state with five to forty-five days in prison.

If the disruption is accompanied by threats, violence, insults or displays of scorn, the punishment can be increased to forty-five to ninety days.