Bishop Michael Martin of Charlotte has refused Holy Communion to a Catholic family who approached the altar rail during a Confirmation Mass, in an AdVaticanum exclusive report.

The incident took place on April 29 at Our Lady of Grace parish in Greensboro, North Carolina. While the Confirmation ceremony took place as usual, during Communion only two or three families approached the altar rail to receive the Eucharist. 

One father who brought his family said to AdVaticanum: “He was sitting in front of us when we went to the rail and he simply ignored us. All the priests turned their backs on us,” he said. “Everyone else communicated and we were denied. To be frank, it was very humiliating.”

The same witness said that while the wider congregation received Communion, those kneeling at the rail were passed over. Attempts were made to speak to Bishop Martin about incident after the Confirmation Mass, but he did not respond in detail.

The claim comes amid the current liturgical dispute in the Diocese of Charlotte. Bishop Martin has introduced norms governing the reception of Holy Communion, emphasising that the “normative posture” in the United States is to receive standing, following a bow of the head.

The controversy unfolds alongside involvement from the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, which has acknowledged receipt of a formal “hierarchical recourse” concerning Bishop Michael Martin’s handling of liturgical matters in the Diocese of Charlotte.

In a letter dated February 16 and signed by Fr Pierre Paul, the dicastery confirmed that the case had been registered under protocol number 369/25 and would be examined in accordance with canonical procedures.

The acknowledgement signifies that the Holy See has formally taken cognisance of the complaint, although such steps are procedural and do not in themselves indicate that any corrective action will follow.

Previously, in a pastoral letter issued on December 17, he wrote, “The liturgy of the Church is the work of God and the work on behalf of God in the life of the Church. These norms for our diocese move us together towards the Church’s vision for the fuller and more active participation of the faithful.”

In this pastoral letter of December 17, Bishop Michael Martin set out specific norms concerning the manner of receiving Holy Communion in the Diocese of Charlotte, including explicit reference to altar rails.

He added that “our unity as believers in Holy Communion is expressed through our postures and gestures that reflect our mystical communion and unity as fellow believers,” stressing that the Eucharist is “a communal act of worship, not only an individual act of piety.”

The same directive instructed parishes that had reintroduced altar rails or kneelers for the distribution of Communion to discontinue the practice and remove any such furnishings, describing them as “a visible contradiction” of the prescribed norm. It stated that Holy Communion should be received as the faithful “go in procession, witnessing that the Church journeys forward and receives Holy Communion as a pilgrim people on their way.”

At the same time, the bishop’s letter reiterated that individuals are not to be denied Holy Communion on the basis of posture, even if they choose to kneel. “Clergy and catechists,” he wrote, “are to instruct communicants according to the normative posture in the United States” and “are not to teach that some other manner is better, preferred, more efficacious, etc.”

AdVaticanum asked the diocese for comment, but at the time of publication it has not responded.