Sacramental handicapped

THE mentally handicapped have a right to receive the Sacraments, Bishop McClean of Middlesbrough says in a letter to all his priests this week.
Some mentally handicapped people "Are being deprived of lloly Communion" Bishop McClean says, and he tells priests to instruct the mentally handicapped about the meaning of Communion according to their mental capacity.
In some cases, however, where no instruction seems possible "the faith of family and friends can supply it" Bishop McClean says.
Bishop McClean is the first Bishop in Britain to introduce "the faith of family and friends" as sufficient.