Mom fights church ban on her autistic son -- Family, Minnesota

Carol Race thinks it's important for her 13-year-old son to be in church for Mass on Sundays.

[Ron]

What about the majority. The child is disruptive and potentially dangerous. I realize he has a medical condition but if he knocks down someone with brittle bones and puts them in a wheelchair, what then. I am sorry.
Political correctness is ruining what was once a great country.

[SAD]

Autism is very sad for everyone. I think the parents need to come to realize that the baby they have raised is no longer a child and maybe needs to be in a safer place for everyone. Why make people who want to be in church suffer with this. If there is a GOD he will surely understand why the kid is not at church. I think the prents just don't want to let go of a hope he will change and become normal. Hopefully some day there will be a cure.....

[Absentee Ballot]

If mom would join a pentecostal fundamentalist speaking-in-tongues rattlesnake handling congregation then junior would fit right in.

[RACE]

While I feel empathy for the family, they need to accept that their child is a disruption. It does not mean the church and parishioners dont understand the childs problems and are not sympathetic to the family, but the family cannot expect every other person in the church to bend over backwards. I would believe that maybe the priest can hold a small mass for the family either before or after the regular mass.

Hey maybe there could be an entire church of autistics and they can all meet and have mass togther?

[Very Tired]

The right’s of the one does not out weigh the right’s of the many. “The child”, all six feet of him, does have rights to celebrate his faith. So do all the others attending Mass. If he disrupts their rights to attend, then he gives up his right to attend. This also is true for the child, of the parents that are trying to get him declared autistic, which was voted out of a school class. Just because this kid has a right to attend class, it does not give him the right to damage the learning experience for the other children attending class.

[Marie]

The catholic church finds yet another way to drive people out.

[Boca]

I have good news for this woman. It is not a sin if you don't attend church every Sunday. This is where Catholic's go wrong with their belief in "Works" salvation. Jesus went to the cross to pay the full price for our sins so that no person can boast and think they can work their way into heaven.

[Richard Long]

only 9 posts? Where's all the support? Seems like discrimination to me.

[basher]

Ah!. Churchgoers, always SO compassionate!. Hypocrisy at work.

[ElizabethJoy]

I feel horrible for this young man and his family. I have to say that the mother sounds more like she is trying to prove a point than she is trying to ensure religious experiences for her son. I think she is being arrogant. She doesn't care about the multitude of parishioners and their families, all she care's about is her son. For goodness sakes, he urinated in the church, he pushes people over, those things are just unacceptable and at 225 lbs. they are dangerous.
I think she she needs to come to the painful realization that her son cannot partake in the world the same way that the majority does. It is unfair and cruel but true. She better learn to deal with that for his sake.

[Reality]

If the grown autistic child has become a danger to not only himself but others around him, then they should not be in that positition. Just because you had him, it doesn't mean that other's lives should be impacted in that way by him. While I feel for the mother, that's just common sense and respect for others. Life is not all about you. Be considerate. Maybe once a week, she could go to an evening mass that is less crowded or make arrangements of other sorts. But let others have things the way they are supposed to be rather than making it all about her and her grown autistic son. Compassion can only go so far when dealing with someone who is all about themselves and doesn't have the compassion for all those other people to attend mass properly.

[Smita]

The church is doing them a favor, stay away from churches, they're cults.

[Fort Lauderdale]

I'm with Marie,....
By the way ...is Joey from Lake Worth, the same Joey from PJS-Long Island?

[Parishoner]

The mother is being obstinate - maybe for media attention. This "child" can not behave in church, that's obvious. Therefore he shouldn't be there.

If a person with Tourette's Syndrome kept blurting out profanities and vulgarities during the Mass he or she wouldn't be allowed to do that. It would ruin the Mass for everyone else. This boy is spitting and urinating in a church? He doesn't belong there!

[BASIC TRUTH]

basher wrote:

Ah!. Churchgoers, always SO compassionate!. Hypocrisy at work.

Here we go; one who doesn't regularly attend church, trying to make himself feel better by stating that all church goers are hypocrites and are no compassionate.

Who are you to judge others?

[In the pew]

It must be very difficult for this family.

However, the fact that at home they have to sit on their 6 foot, 200 lb child to control him; says the child is out of control.

Perhaps, that are also refusing meds for their son?

Side with the church on this issue.

[Mari]

Look you do not have to go to church every week to prove you are a devout Catholic. There is a church channel down in Broward County and you can work out a plan with the Catholic Church to have a special phone set up in your home so that you will not miss the church sermon. They do that for the elderly. They can do it for you and your son.I wouldn't want anyone telling me that I couldn't bring my child to church,it is just something to think about.But some children can be totally disruptive. They can not sit still for an hour.I would do it that way and than there is no embarasssment. And you can make your donations in the little envelopes thru the mail.God Bless you and have a good day.

[comeon]

Religion is the root of all evil and a crutch for the weak! That right I said it now get over it.

[cabrpt]

How about using "people first language" Someone with a cold would not be called a "cold person", the same goes for someone with autism. He is not an autistic child but rather a child with autism. Let's have some respect here.

[OMG]

Just put him in restraints