Was anyone denied Confirmation?

Read the initial post on this story here.

According to the website LifeSiteNews, Father LaMoine denies that he refused to confirm Lennon Cihak.  Instead, Father LaMoine says that Mr. Cihak decided not to be confirmed.  However, Father LaMoine goes on to say that had Mr. Cihak chosen not to be confirmed, Father LaMoine would have refused to confirm him.  The story quotes Father LaMoine as saying, “You can’t have people out there saying things that are so contrary to the central teaching and doctrine of the Catholic faith, and going through Confirmation.After he put it out in the public, we would have looked like a bunch of hypocrites in confirming him.”  So if one believes Father LaMoine's version of events, Father LaMoine would have denied Mr. Cihak confirmation if Mr. Cihak had let him.  Decide for yourselves whether this is an improvement.

I want to assure our Reader(s)™ that the Catholic Church is not monolithic on this point.




Yesterday, I went to Mass at St. Frances Cabrini Church in Minneapolis.  The pastor of that church, Father Mike Tegeder, was recently profiled in the Star Tribune and I wanted to see him and his congregation in person.  During the announcements portion at the end of the service, Father Tegeder told the congregation about how Mr. Cihak had been denied confirmation.  Apparently most of the folks in attendance do not read our blog as there were a number of gasps from the congregation when they heard the story.  Father Tegeder said the parish was sending Mr. Cihak a card of support and suggested that those who wished to could sign the card.  It did not feel like Father Tegeder was being a hypocrite.  So perhaps Father LaMoine was wrong on that it would have been hypocritical for the Mr. Cihak to be confirmed.  Maybe what Father LaMoine really meant was that Father LaMoine was afraid that he--and not the Catholic Church--would have looked like a hypocrite.

I am not an expert but I am pretty sure that none of the Gospels has a story in which Jesus fretted that ministering would make others view him in a negative light.