Communion ruling distressed Childers

Mr Erskine Childers, a former president of Ireland, was "always very distressed" that he was not allowed to receive Communion at Roman Catholic services, and that his wife, Rita, who is a Catholic, could not take Communion with him at Church of Ireland services. Mr Childers was a member of the Church of Ireland.

Recalling conversations with him about the matter, the Very Rev Victor Griffin, former dean of St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, said last night Mr Childers could not understand why ecclesiastical regulations should prohibit individuals who wanted to from receiving Communion.

Mr Childers believed Christians should never forget that it was the Lord's service and the Lord's table, and that the invitation to take Communion came from the Lord and not from ministers or priests of any denomination.

Dean Griffin said it was "the height of presumption" on the part of any priest or minister to judge who should receive. It was a matter for the individual to decide who should come forward. That was the Anglican position, he said.

In his book The Mark of Protest, Dean Griffin recalled how at his inauguration in 1973 the president was anxious there should be a Eucharist at St Patrick's to mark the occasion. It was "a source of great sadness" to Mr Childers that he had to take Communion on his own.