HILLSIDE, N.J. (WABC/CNN) - A New Jersey mother says she’s leaving the church she’s attended for most of her life after her 7-year-old son, who has autism, was kicked out of his baby sister’s baptism.
The Vicidomini family attended a private ceremony Saturday for their youngest child’s baptism at Christ the King Church in Hillside, New Jersey. Because there would be no crowd, mother Julia Vicidomini says she felt comfortable bringing her 7-year-old son, Nicky, who has autism and is nonverbal.
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As the Grandfather of a severely autistic non verbal Grandson, I can tell you these parents never catch a break. God bless the Vicidomini family and my daughter and son in law for still being together. It's a tough life, and most couples don't make it.
ReplyDeletethe priest was mad, the autistic boy was the one that got away
ReplyDeleteThere's always at least one asshole who comments like this.
DeleteNope. Baptism is the first and foundational Sacrament for Catholics. It's so important, Catholics recognize other religion's baptisms, and even non-believers can administer baptism in times of need.
ReplyDeleteThe parents didn't let the priest know in advance that their son has special needs. The priest acted to preserve the dignity of their younger child's baptism. If apologies are needed, the parents should apologize to their priest and their son.
But, the kind of people who contact the TV news with their upset aren't really worried about their church home.
Kennymac, I wish all good things for your children and grandchildren. It is a tough road.
-ThinkingOutLoud
I call Bullshit on your comment, priest who put themselves above their flock are nothing more than wanna be dictators. When my brother in law, younger sister's husband passed away with cancer she unfortunately ended up with one of those mini tyrants. During the funeral service he stopped to admonish the mourners because they didn't repeat the prayers his way. Obviously somewhere along the years the prayers had changed wording, crowd of mostly older folks prayed the way they had for decades not the new fangled way. Everyone was shocked at his nonsense and several of us met him after the service to tell him in no uncertain terms what we thought of his bullshit.
DeleteJD
There are good and bad priests. It's especially tough when a bad priest shows his ass at a time when the family needs support and comfort. It sounds like your sister had a bad priest at a terrible time, and that is an awful thing for her, and for all of you.
DeleteThere are standards of behavior in a Catholic church. Tossing a ball and walking around during a service is distracting, and never really ok in a Catholic church - unless the family has let the priest know that the person involved has special needs. The family didn't, and the priest reacted.
There were several youth and adults with special needs in our nearest congregation. They generally sat in the back, where they weren't as distracting to others, and could slip out quietly if they became overwhelmed. Everyone was tolerant because we knew what was going on. People can't expect exceptions to the rules if they don't explain the situation in advance. When people know, they can be understanding. When they don't, they can't.
-ThinkingOutLoud
I think a huge problem with the catholic church, one of many, is the members of the church are stuck with whatever the archdiocese sends them. Unlike the baptist church, I'm not baptist but have attended many different ones, I know of no catholic denomination that can go looking for, hire or fire their priest. The denomination will never own the church building or property and have little to no input into the financial control even though they are required to pay for it. The local catholic church is part of a hierarchy controlled by archbishops who are not accountable to the people of the church. I'm not going to go into the sex abuse scandals, the communist pope, the corruption in the church or the hording of the riches of the catholic church among other things. It may have started with good intentions but lost then a long time ago.
DeleteJD
My son is moderately autistic and somewhat verbal. It took awhile for us to find a church that would be understanding. It is truly a blessing to find one.
ReplyDeleteMy son is taking piano lessons and the pastor has him to play one song at the beginning of the service.
Will be a lot more of this when Kill Gates gets his vaccines out.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, but I'm on the side of the priest here.
ReplyDeleteFirst, the parents didn't think to have the common courtesy to inform him before the ceremony.
Second, did you see the video? It appears that they let the kid run amok in the church - no parental control whatsoever. It looked to me like the kid was about to knock over the votive candles. Yeah, that would have been great - NOT! Another adult - not the parents - had to take control over there. Sheesh, maybe they should have given him a paint set and let him paint on the walls.
One of the most annoying things about church services are those parents who REFUSE to remove a child crying, acting up, etc. I've been in services where a toddler is literally screaming to the point no one can hear the message, yet the parents do nothing.
ReplyDeleteIt is common courtesy that if a child is disruptive in any way, mom or dad need to remove the kid for a timeout. I had my butt dragged out of church a time or two.
Granted, this situation is different with an older, special needs child, but the parents should have brought someone along to watch him either in the sanctuary or in another room in the church. The priest is trying to do his job. Total parent fail.