Father of autistic boy denied communion speaks out — hear the interview

A lot of people were livid about the decision of Rev. John Bambrick to deny an 8-year-old boy with autism his first communion at St. Aloysius Church in Jackson. Anthony LaCugna is non-verbal and Bambrick's reasoning was that he could not tell right from wrong and therefore could not receive the sacrament. Funny thing as you'll hear in this interview with the boy's father Jimmy LaCugna, Bambrick never even met the boy. We also learned in this interview that this kind of discrimination is apparently common.

As the father of two little boys with autism this story had my blood boiling. I find it despicable that someone from the same Catholic Church that for years allowed known pedophile priests to remain priests would tell an autistic child he wasn't good enough to receive first communion. Talk about knowing right from wrong.

Fortunately this case does not represent the entire Catholic Church as many other parishes offered the family the sacrament after this story exploded on social media.

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