Posted on 04/29/2026 2:05:17 PM PDT by ebb tide
GREENSBORO, North Carolina (LifeSiteNews) — Bishop Michael Martin of Charlotte reportedly refused to give Holy Communion to families who knelt at an altar rail during a recent Confirmation Mass.
The two or three families who approached the rail were passed over for Holy Communion during the Mass at Our Lady of Grace parish in Greensboro, North Carolina, according to a report by AdVaticanum.
One father who attended the Mass with his family told the outlet about Martin: “He was sitting in front of us when we went to the rail and he simply ignored us. All the priests turned their backs on us.”
“Everyone else communicated and we were denied. To be frank, it was very humiliating,” he added.
“Attempts were made to speak to Bishop Martin about incident after the Confirmation Mass, but he did not respond in detail,” AdVaticanum said.
Martin, who Pope Francis appointed to lead the conservative Diocese of Charlotte in 2024, has become notorious for his crackdown on the Latin Mass, altar rails, and kneelers.
He decreed in December that all parish churches in the diocese must stop using altar rails and remove kneelers for the reception of Holy Communion.
That order has faced widespread backlash, and, in January, 30 priests – around 40 percent of Charlotte’s diocesan priests – submitted a dubia to the Vatican’s Dicastery for Legislative Texts challenging the ban.
Last fall, under Martin’s direction, a high school in Charlotte had already removed the kneeler from its chapel, added projector screens for school Masses – defying the U.S. bishops’ liturgy guidelines – and introduced two student extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion.
Martin notably also mandated that the Latin Mass must cease at all four parishes in the Diocese of Charlotte that had continued to offer it, prompting indignation among the faithful.
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Ping
Extremely strange and not exactly conducive to a unified communion.
I get the argument that we should stand and be joyous, and I get the argument we should kneel and be reverential.
This solidly falls under “reasonable minds can differ” and this guy needs to stop being difficult.
The video screens are tacky (and actual a violation of Church rules). If I wanted a “hip church” I’d go the non-denominational with the awful praise band and the tatted up preacher.
Why isn’t Charlotte Bishop Martin refusing to force Communism on the populace?
Second Vatican Council and modernism or bust. Start a new “Protest” and break away rather than be the “angry Traditionalist” is my take. Pope is just a glorified Patriarch from the high profile city of Rome anyway, and the local Bishop an authoritarian, “It is what it is” now.
At a weekday Mass I attended recently, a Priest made a point at the end to admonish the Latin Rite (No amen by communicants). Through me for a loop due to the yelling.
I bet this dirtbag gave Communion to abortion supporters!
Before anyone says, how would one know these things, congregations know things, and so does a Priest, about their fellow congregants!
If this parish was strong, they should drag him out and lock the door behind him!
Absolutely abhorrent behavior from
Of all things, a Bishop!
There was a similar case in Canada years ago, that got appealed all the way up the chain to the Vatican, which ruled that Holy Communion is not to be denied for some who is kneeling.
He has exceeded his authority in many ways, but this one is cut and dried.
Those who kneel on the bare floor are not denied Holy Communion.
Don’t get This Guy wrong. Can not stand what Bishop Martin is doing. But he’s still giving the runner a little bit of the plate (Yogi Berra reference).
Everybody who approaches the priest in the normal Communion procession should drop to their knees when they get to him. We need a lay movement to end receiving standing, whether standing and in the hand, or standing and on the tongue. Only receive kneeling and on the tongue.
It goes without saying that nobody should receive from the unconsecrated hands of a so-called Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist, regardless of species. If nobody approaches them, they will go away.
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