Catholic Mass Outside Abortion Center by Pro-Life Priest Prohibited Because of Wine in Public

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado, November 25, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Catholic priest is asking for an exception to a city ordinance prohibiting alcohol in an open container in public. Father Bill Carmody was warned by Colorado city police about saying mass in front of an abortuary because the two ounces of wine used during consecration was in violation of the bi-law.

Father Carmody has said mass in front of the Planned Parenthood facility every Saturday for the past 10 years. He has asked city officials to overlook the ordinance in his case. "I do not want to break the law. I'm simply asking for a variance," he said at a City Council meeting Tuesday, as reported by the Associated Press. "This is a religious ceremony."

Fr. Carmody said he believed the complaint was an attempt by Planned Parenthood to bully him and other pro-lifers who participate.

Fr. Carmody was in the news in September for telling legislators to be "the antithesis of John Kennedy" -- to oppose the separation of church and state by allowing their religious beliefs to guide their legislative decisions. The address to the State House was made during the daily invocation.