Harper and Transubstantiation
2009/07/08At a recent funeral for a Canadian dignitary, Prime Minister Stephen Harper was televised at the altar of a Roman Catholic church about to take the Eucharist. Instead of ingesting the host, Harper slipped it into his pocket. This created a furor amongst leading Canadian Catholics.
My hope is that it was Harper’s Protestant convictions that led him to do this – he’s apparently an evangelical. I hope it wasn’t out of ignorance! {HT: Torontoist}
Here’s the video:
Sad to say, according to the Toronto Star, Harper did eat the wafer – http://is.gd/1rmEH
This to me is the saddest statement in the article: “Soudas [Harper's spokesman] explained that while Harper is a Protestant, “who is the prime minister to question a priest offering him communion.”
Just looks like a protocol snafu on a slow news day: http://www.benedictionblogson.com/2009/07/08/damned-if-he-does-or-doesnt-stephen-harper-at-romeo-leblancs-funeral-mass/
Just saw the raw video. The priest is primarily to blame here; he should have known better than to give the PM, whose non-Roman Catholicism isn’t any kind of secret, communion. But Harper really should have known better than to accept the wafer, and pocket it (a major sacrilege according to the RCC)! It’s a matter of respectful conduct, even if the reason why the PM did not ingest the wafer was probably out of respect for RCC rules.