A New Zealand political leader has labeled restrictions on Communion wine being taken into prisons – and therefore the celebration of Catholic Mass – "another appalling example of political correctness gone mad."United Future New Zealand party leader Peter Dunne made the comments in response to an article by the NZ Catholic, the national Catholic newspaper of New Zealand, outlining the enforcement of a ban on alcohol in prisons, even for eucharistic purposes.
In the NZ Catholic article, Harry Hawthorn, the head of the Public Prisons Service, confirmed that Communion wine cannot be taken into prisons and said the department has "no discretion" in allowing an exemption to the Corrections Act 2004.
The act prohibits unauthorized items, including "any drug, alcohol or other intoxicating substance," from being taken into prisons.
"The last thing Parliament had in mind when passing the legislation in 2004 was banning the celebration of Mass in prisons, and it is stretching logic and common sense beyond any reasonable bounds to imply otherwise," Dunne said.
"The Bill of Rights upholds all New Zealanders' rights to freedom of worship, wherever they may be, and to deny prison inmates the opportunity to go to Mass if they wish is a denial of their basic human rights," he said.
"I will be raising the matter with the Human Rights Commission,” Dunne said. “If this decision is allowed to stand it will make a complete mockery of the recent statement on supporting religious diversity."
An Auckland priest, who has celebrated Mass at Auckland Central Remand Prison for more than two years was recently stopped from taking wine into the facility, and thereby not being able to celebrate Mass.
In 1999, the head of the Corrections Department granted an exemption to the ban on alcohol in corrections facilities, allowing up to 250 ml of wine to be taken into prisons for eucharistic purposes only, the NZ Catholic revealed in the story that appeared in its April 22 issue.
New Zealand's Catholic bishops are set to discuss the current ban on prison Masses at their biannual conference in Auckland, New Zealand, during the last week of April
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