11k Sign Petition Protesting Priest's Communion Ban for Abortion-Rights Lawmakers: 'You Are Making the Name of Christianity Repugnant'

Thousands of people have signed a petition urging a Catholic priest in Rhode Island not to turn communion into a "political weapon" after he barred lawmakers who supported the state's abortion protection bill from his church's activities.

Reverend Richard Bucci, of the Sacred Heart Church in West Warwick, banned dozens of legislators who voted in favor of enshrining abortion protections under state law last year from receiving communion at his parish.

Bucci also prevented the 44 legislators from acting as witnesses to marriages, becoming godparents or performing any reading at a wedding or funeral. Bucci listed the names of all those who will no longer be allowed to receive communion in the weekly bulletin of Sacred Heart Church.

Bucci has also been condemned for his comments defending the decision, after some of the lawmakers who were on the reverend's blacklist claimed hypocrisy over the Catholic Church's anti-abortion stance while being involved in the mass cover-up of child abuse.

"They have a problem with the lack of respect for the separation of church and state, and for our votes on behalf of our constituents being punished by a church who protected child abusers," tweeted Democratic state representative Justine Caldwell.

"We're not talking about any other moral issue where somebody's making a comparison between pedophilia and abortion," Bucci told WJAR. "Well, pedophilia doesn't kill anyone, and this does."

In response to the communion ban, nonprofit Christian social justice organization Faithful America created an online petition urging Bucci to honor the separation of church and state and "stop denying the sacraments to lawmakers with whom he disagrees."

The petition adds: "Communion, a sacred form of worship started by Jesus Christ himself, should never be turned into a political weapon. We need to show Bucci and [Providence] Bishop Thomas Tobin that Catholics and other Christians are outraged whenever worship is hijacked for political purposes.

"Pope Francis has made clear that mercy, welcome, and pastoral sensitivity should be hallmarks of the church—which are all the exact opposite of publicly turning people away from worship. We should never play politics with Holy Communion, during this or any election."

According to a release, Rhode Island residents also expressed their dismay at Bucci's decision while signing the petition.

"If the Catholic Church is going to keep behaving like a right-wing political organization—ending the separation of Church and State—then it is time to start taxing them and to stop exempting them from secular legislation," wrote Ann in Cranston.

"You make me ashamed to live in Rhode Island," added Nadine from Newport. "You are making the name of Christianity repugnant."

At the time of publication, the petition has attracted more than 11,000 signatures.

"While it is heartening to see so many signatures on this petition so quickly, it is also not surprising," Reverend Nathan Empsall, campaigns director for Faithful America, told Newsweek.

"Christians know that Jesus loved everyone, broke bread with sinners and outcasts, and is never recorded turning anyone away from his table. Rejecting someone in the name of Jesus Christ simply because of their voting record is such an incredible distortion of the Gospel."

Empsall added that Bucci "could not be more wrong" with his pedophilia comments.

"Clergy abuse has been the cause of far too many suicides. There should be no place in God's house for disrespecting and dismissing the victims of pedophilia the way that Bucci has done."

State Representative Carol McEntee was one of those who voted to pass the abortion bill last year. She also campaigned to extend the statute of limitations for child abuse survivors in Rhode Island along with her sister Anne Hagan Webb, who was sexually abused by a former parish priest.

Speaking to CBS News, McEntee said Bucci "clearly doesn't understand" what he is saying when he claims that pedophilia doesn't kill people.

"He should've come to the statehouse and listened to the testimonies because there are a lot of victims who are no longer with us," she said. "The injured voices that I heard—they've stolen their childhoods. They've practically destroyed their lives.

"And the ones we still hear from are the lucky ones because they're the ones who are still alive; they didn't die of an overdose or suicide. You know, there's plenty of those that never made it long enough to come forward."

The Sacred Heart Church and the Diocese of Providence have been contacted for comment.