1 /5 M K: Oh where do I start...lets see. My son attended church with my mother in Orlando every Sunday. He loves church. Hes also 7 and on the spectrum. I decided "hey lets check out this church" while my mom was in town. So we go in and it was nice but surprisingly very little people in attendance. But thats fine with me. There were a few things I noted which the service was going way too fast. Barley sat down and 10 min in I felt like we were wrapping up. Okay fine. Moving along to the communion. My son always goes up BUT crosses his arms to NOT receive communion. He is baptized but does not have the cognition yet to understand communion and the reasons behind it. However, he is in front of me and the priest hasnt blessed him yet and is literally trying to put the communion bread in my sons mouth. My son has a gag reflex and sensory issues plus he doesnt take communion for reasons previously stated. The priest doesnt know that and my son is definitely in a position of feeling awkward so I put him to the side and he is standing there with the bread half hanging out of his mouth about to throw it up. To prevent this from happening and creating a scene, I remove it and place it in my bag so I can give it back later. Then he tells me he has to go to the restroom. Okay fine. Being a mom, you adjust. I ask politely where the restroom is located and Im told outside. Okay fine. Im heading out there and a woman comes up behind me "excuse me, excuse me" and confronts me as if I just committed a horrid crime. She very nastily "why didnt he take communion? He NEEDS to take communion." I already know where this is going and say, "he has autism and there was some confusion so he cant take it. He needs to use the restroom so thanks". Heading out to the restroom, out the door about to go down some stairs a man literally stands INCHES away from my face making me feel accosted and threatened "why didnt he take communion? He needs to take it".Again I state he has autism and cannot. This man says "well I am the deacon here and I am saying he has too. And if he doesnt then you do. Where did you put it? You need to take it". Okay so this man clearly has some issues and he thought putting me in a corner and making me threatened was going to get his way. So I responded, "sir he doesnt have to do anything and neither do I. I already took my communion and if you want it back this very second then here you go but you will not tell me or my son what we NEED to do. Now if you will excuse me we are headed to the restroom and my son will urinate himself if I dont hurry Bc of this. It could have waited". So I give him back the communion bread which I was going to give back to the priest anyway Bc why do I want it in my purse?? We go to the restroom and Im feeling all kinds of negative inside and feeling belittled and threatened and saddened and angry. Just too many negative emotions from these encounters. They made me feel like my son or I committed an actual crime. I never felt so unwelcomed in my life. Mind you, I went to a private school most of my childhood where we attended churchs DAILY. Not once as a child or as an adult have I ever gone to any church that made me feel that way. I wanted to cry. Well, because I stood up for myself, after the mass the woman came back to me to apologize but I was so hurt by then my guard was up and I decided this was not the church nor the people for me. However, here go her list of excuses for their behavior: 1. She is a grandmother and has grandchildren on the spectrum and understands.....(not sure what she understands or if she thought we would bond?), and 2. That the reason they basically chased me was Bc they have had people come into the church and steal communion to leave with it and use it in an evil way against the church....yes. You read that right. I proceeded to remove her hand from my arm and tell her, "yup. Thanks. First and last experience here. Have a nice day". Do what you want but I will NEVER go here again. And I share this so that people can understand where this church stands.
