Lesbian Woman Denied Communion at Mother’s Funeral

[BAMAPHIN 22]

As her elderly mother was dying, Barbara Johnson lay next to her on the hospital bed, reciting the “Hail Mary.” Loetta Johnson, 85, had been a devout Catholic, raising her four children in the church and sending them to Catholic schools.At her mother’s funeral mass at the St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Gaithersburg, Md., a grieving Barbara Johnson was the first in line to receive communion.What happened next stunned her. The priest refused Johnson, who is gay, the sacramental bread and wine.
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[tylerdolphin]

Being gay, not sure why she would walk into a Catholic church and expect to take communion.

[Gonzo]

What an idiot. I'm not Catholic, but the Catholic Church has been very clear on it's stance, right or wrong.

[tylerdolphin]

What an idiot. I'm not Catholic, but the Catholic Church has been very clear on it's stance, right or wrong.

Yep. I dont agree with it, but they have every right to carry out their religious practices as they see fit. Communion is pretty holy for a Catholic and Christians in general. If they feel being gay is a sin then thats their business. Not sure why a presumably non-Catholic woman would want to partake in that event anyway. If they told me I couldnt I wouldnt be mad because I dont particularly want to anyway.

[Gonzo]

Yep. I dont agree with it, but they have every right to carry out their religious practices as they see fit. Communion is pretty holy for a Catholic and Christians in general. If they feel being gay is a sin then thats their business. Not sure why a presumably non-Catholic woman would want to partake in that event anyway. If they told me I couldnt I wouldnt be mad because I dont particularly want to anyway.

I agree. I have to go to Christmas mass every year with my wife's family (well don't have to, but her grandparents are awesome, so I don't mind doing it for them). I can't take communion and I'm not offended.

If she feels like pushing the fight with the Catholic Church, she can, so long as the government doesn't get involved. Plenty of people have fought for changes within their respective churches. I don't see why this should be any different.

Unless, of course Santorum somehow magically wins and allows the church more say in government.

[Vaark]

For an organization that has routinely for generations, moved its own Choir Boy diddlers from one parish to another to prey on a new crop of fresh young buttcheeks rather than than fire and prosecute them, IMO, it's pretty hypocritical for them to deny a grieving daughter this gesture considering the legions of pederasts they've employed, sheltered and enabled themselves.
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(disclaimer: on record as not being a fan of any of 'em, I can and would draw corollaries to all organized religions)

[WVDolphan]

What an idiot. I'm not Catholic, but the Catholic Church has been very clear on it's stance, right or wrong.

That stance of course being that homosexuality is only ok if it deals with preists and young boys.

[Gonzo]

That stance of course being that homosexuality is only ok if it deals with preists and young boys.

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Sandusky wouldn't be denied communion.

[BAMAPHIN 22]

A priest who denied communion to a lesbian at her mother's funeral has been placed on leave, according to the Roman Catholic archdiocese. A letter from an archdiocese official said that the Rev. Marcel Guarnizo was placed on leave for engaging in intimidating behavior, according to NBCWashington.com. The archdiocese had previously apologized for Guarnizo’s behavior.
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[TheWalrus]

Yep. I dont agree with it, but they have every right to carry out their religious practices as they see fit. Communion is pretty holy for a Catholic and Christians in general. If they feel being gay is a sin then thats their business. Not sure why a presumably non-Catholic woman would want to partake in that event anyway. If they told me I couldnt I wouldnt be mad because I dont particularly want to anyway.

It's not the fact that she's "sinning", it's that she's sinning in a way the Church doesn't particularly like. Or do you really think this priest would have denied communion to someone engaging in a sexual relationship outside the holy sacrament of marriage?

For instance, most of the German high command during the Nazi era were confessing Catholics. Yet only one of them was ever excommunicated, and that was Josef Goebbels. His crime? No, not being a Nazi. He married a protestant woman. That's priorities for you. Hitler, by the way, was not a confessing Catholic -- and despite ordering the deaths of millions was never excommunicated. Given that he married Eva Braun -- a Catholic -- one has to assume the Church would never have found cause to excommunicate him, though the fact that they married outside the Church certainly would have been met with a stern rebuke.

Anyway, the way it technically works in Catholicism is that you're not supposed to receive communion at all if you've sinned since your last confession. This counts for even fairly menial and ordinary sins, like cursing at bad drivers or lusting after big titted nuns. Unless you catch the priest in the confession booth before the service, you're required to abstain.

This is the way Church doctrine is written in the book. However, like many laws it's only there as a backstop for when they decide to enforce it (as it's, of course, ridiculous to enforce and anyway an obviously cynical rule, designed to make people dependent on the Church as the means for salvation). I went to Catholic middle school and high school and no one I knew ever went to confession and despite that the priests knew this and knew we were rank and file sinners, they never made a move to stop anyone -- ever -- from receiving communion.

It's a subjective and punitive system, designed not to punish uniformly based on the rules but to exclude certain people because of institutional and individual bigotry and/or hatred, nothing more. That's the real issue here. Now, I'm all for freedom of religion, so far as it goes (and there are times when it goes too far, imo). But let's not make this some sort of simple system where she was denied communion on the basis of being a "sinner." They denied her communion because she's a lesbian, just as politicians who support abortion are sometimes denied communion -- not for any reasons of conscience, but as a form of bullying.