New Jersey Priest 'Kicked Out' 7-Year-Old Boy With Autism Out Of Church, Mother Claims

A New Jersey priest was accused of kicking out a 7-year-old boy who has autism for being a "distraction" during a private baptism in a church. The mother of the child shared about the incident on Facebook Sunday with a video.

"It was shocking to say the least," Julia Vicidomini, the boy's mother, told NBC News. "We're still hurt and upset about it, and it shows there is still much to be done to educate others of those with disabilities."

Vicidomini said she and her family members attended Christ the King Church in Hillside, New Jersey, on Saturday for the baptism of her daughter, Sofia, when the priest booted her son, Nicholas, out of the church.

"Yes, he was playing with a toy where he should not have been, however, the way the priest kicked him out of the church was completely rude and disrespectful," she wrote on Facebook.

"I was told it would, in fact, be a private celebration for just our family, no one else," Vicidomini explained. "With this information, I felt more comfortable taking Nicky as he doesn’t do well with a full Mass and large group settings."

Vicidomini, 38, said she'd been attending the Roman Catholic church since she herself was a child and that her two other children had been baptized there. She added that she did not disclose that her son had autism because she didn't think it was necessary.

Vicidomini said that while her son was playing with the toy, it fell on the floor and clattered, upon which the Rev. Luke Duc Tran asked Nicholas to leave.

"Out," the priest said, according to a video posted to Vicidomini's Facebook page. "This church is not for play."

Vicidomini and her husband, Marc, decided to leave the church, where she grew up, she wrote.

"My husband told him that he thought a priest, of all people, would be more sympathetic to a child with special needs, that he was completely unprofessional and ruined our celebration. He told him our family deserved an apology... The priest came outside to speak to our family but instead of apologizing he began to try to justify the reason he kicked our child out, again saying he was distracting him."

"This could [sic] been handled in a different way," Vicidomini said. "We don't speak to Nicholas that way and it was unprofessional and unkind for the priest to do so. He should have addressed us as the parents, not Nicholas."

The Archdiocese of Newark apologized to the family on behalf of the church, acknowledging in a statement that the priest was "regretful."

"The pastor was unaware that the sibling playing in a nearby candle room during the ceremony has autism," the statement read. "The pastor did not understand the child’s behavior, he felt unprepared to respond appropriately, and his reaction to the situation was not pastoral."

The archdiocese also said that its Office for Pastoral Ministry with Persons with Disabilities is working with the Vicidomini family "to ensure that there is greater awareness in working with individuals with disabilities."

While Vicidomini said she appreciates that the archdiocese reached out, she no longer plans to attend Christ the King Church because of the incident.

"The Bible speaks of welcoming all God’s children, but there was no compassion in this instance," Vicidomini said. "Since sharing our story, others have shared stories of their own family members with special needs being shunned from the church. We want to continue spreading awareness that this is just not right."