A WESTMINSTER priest has criticised the new Code of Canon Law for its attitude to the handicapped.
Fr David Wilson, director of St Joseph's Centre, the pastoral office for the handicapped, in Hendon, is critical of canon law's use of the concept of "use of reason", in that thost: who lack the use of reason are to be regarded as infants.
Writing in the journal All People, which he edits, Fr Wilson says: "The assumption is that mentally handicapped people are like very young children, and that the use of reasion is the criteria by which a person is to be assessed. Educational psychology has long since gone beyond this. The person is not the sum total of mental age."
This week, Fr Wilson commented: "A few priests still take a hard line in giving the sacraments to the handicapped, and they can hide behind canon law. There will always be a small number who will say 'Sorry, your child cannot understand what is happening, and I have looked at Canon law".