Chicago City Wire

Some Catholics are asking why Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a non-Catholic Christian, was mistakenly given Holy Communion during funeral Mass for veteran city police officer Ella French.

“Why did you allow non-Catholic Lori Lightfoot to receive Our Lord in Holy Communion,” Catholic Family News managing editor Matt Gaspers posted on Twitter.  “Do you believe 1 Coronthians 11:27-29, Your Eminence?”

In the comments section, Lepanto Institute, a research and education organization that touts itself as “dedicated to the defense of the Catholic Church,” added, “Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a member of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion church, was sacrilegiously provided Holy Communion today, at a funeral Mass celebrated by Cdl. Cupich.”

Since the mishap, the Reverend Dan Brandt has stepped forward to take responsibility for the error.

"You know something, I am to blame for that and I am mortified," Brandt told the Catholic News Agency. "The whole weekend was a blur. I'm making excuses but yes, she came up, and I put the sacred host in her hand and I was like 'Oh dear God, have mercy.'"

 According to Brandt, just moments before the Communion at St. Rita of Cascia Catholic Church, he was asked by Cardinal Blasé Cupich to step in for him in distributing the Eucharist. Brandt admits he became “flustered” when he saw Lightfoot, also in a same-sex marriage, as the first one in the line to come forward.”

Brandt insists none of what happened was intentional, extending an apology to anyone who may have been offended for the controversy that has ensued.

"I can't apologize enough for anyone who's upset by the fact that she received the Eucharist,” he added. “That is totally on me and I own it. And it was an honest mistake and I pray that your readers have the same mercy that I hope the Lord gives me."

Catholic canon law only allows for non-Catholic Christians to receive Communion in circumstances deemed to be of a “grave necessity.”

In becoming the city’s first African-American female Mayor, Lightfoot bagged nearly three-fourths of the vote (73.79 percent) in her 2019 run against then Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. With her victory, Lightfoot made Chicago home to the largest U.S. city with an openly gay mayor.