The Government has asked the Corrections Department to review a ban on communion wine in prisons, saying legislative change is not needed for inmates to celebrate mass.
Prisoners are not allowed wine, which is classed as a banned drug under the 2004 Corrections Act.
But from 1999 Catholics
were granted an exemption to bring communion wine into prisons, but that was recently revoked as it was deemed to be inconsistent with the new Act.
The ban has outraged Catholics, who say it is a denial of religious freedom.
Public Prisons Service head Harry Hawthorn told the NZ Catholic newspaper the Act allowed no discretion.
But Corrections Minister Damien O'Connor today said he had been told legislative change was not necessary to achieve a solution.
NZPA understood a possible solution was Catholic priests being allowed to bring communion wine into prisons and drink it to celebrate mass, so long as prisoners did not partake of the wine.
"The ban is clearly an unintended consequence of the Act. I understand a legislative change is not required and I hope we can continue to accommodate the invaluable services of the church through the prison system," Mr O'Connor said.
He had asked the department to "reassess its interpretation of the rule".
Catholic Church spokeswoman Lyndsay Freer said such an arrangement would be acceptable.
Eating the bread -- "the host" -- was sufficient for people to partake in mass, as long as the priest celebrating the mass was able to drink the wine.
United Future leader Peter Dunne last week said the ban was a denial of prisoners' legitimate right to practise religion and he would raise the matter with the Human Rights Commission.
- NZPA
