[Practicing, Poorly Catechized] Lesbian Denied Communion at Mother's Funeral

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A lifelong Catholic and former Catholic school teacher, Barbara says she hadn’t even considered that her sexual orientation would be a problem with Father Marcel until she stepped forward to take communion.

“He said, ‘I can not give you communion because you live with a woman,’” Barbara says.
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In a written statement, the Archdiocese of Washington conceded that Father Marcel had acted improperly, saying, “Any issues regarding the suitability of an individual to receive communion should be addressed by the priest with that person in a private, pastoral setting.”
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Full article here:
wusa9.com/news/article/193305/373/Lesbian-Barbara-Johnson-Says-Father-Marcel-Guarnizo-Denied-Her-Communion-At-Her-Mothers-Funeral

My head is spinning with all the points to be made with this :banghead: , but I’ll just post the link for now.
 
I don’t see any reason why the priest could not have ridden with the body or stayed for the eulogy. Frankly that seems pretty insensitive to me and completely unnecessary unless he really was sick.

However, I don’t see how else he was supposed to handle the issue with communion. If he had truly just learned about her sexual orientation then he had no opportunity to handle it in private ahead of time.
 
Way to go Father Marcel!👍

I am assuming that she is a practicing lesbian. If so, Father is absolutely right in denying her Communion. No different than denying an adulterer Communion.
 
A lifelong Catholic and former Catholic school teacher, Barbara says she hadn’t even considered that her sexual orientation would be a problem with Father Marcel until she stepped forward to take communion.
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:eek: She was a Catholic school teacher and she didn’t even **consider **that this would be a problem. :eek:

I am not sure if that is a worse indictment of her intellectual ability or the moral compass of the Catholic schools where she taught.
 
I agree that the priest should have informed the woman of her inability to receive communion before the service. However, the woman knew very well her standing and the priest did part of what he was supposed to do.
What amazes me that such a little piece of news ended up on a TV station, this sounds like another GLBT shtick to support an agenda. If you do not want the name of your mother to be dragged in the mud you should keep the story out of the news.
 
jwinch2 said:
…However, I don’t see how else he was supposed to handle the issue with communion. If he had truly just learned about her sexual orientation then he had no opportunity to handle it in private ahead of time.
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Either he heard it directly from the source and then I should have pulled her on a side for a few minutes or he did not hear it from the source and then he should have given her the benefit of the doubt because he could not know the state of her soul.
 
I agree pretty much with everything that was said above. I read the article, but it seemed awful one-sided. It’s a shame Barbara Johnson is such a common name. I googled her along with the word lesbian and got far too many results, so there’s no way of knowing if she’s prominent or if only the family knew. If she’s the Barbara Johnson who co-wrote Bell, Book and ****: New Exploits of Magical Lesbians I can see why the priest was forced to act!

It just seems like a setup to me. C’mon, how many people get newspaper coverage for something like this? At my wedding, the priest announced that only practicing Catholics may receive Communion. He didn’t tell us beforehand, he just did it. Nobody whined to us, nobody got snarky with him, and nobody went crying to the newspaper.
 
Don’t some Catholic elected officials who not only facilitate…legalize…subsidize…encourage…justify…but revel in abortion, receive Holy Communion?:confused:
 
Corki said:
…I am not sure if that is a worse indictment of her intellectual ability or the moral compass of the Catholic schools where she taught.
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Some people get so caught up in their cause célèbre that they begin to believe their own propaganda.
 
In other equally unsurprising, and perfectly correct news, insane Gentile armed with cigar cutter barred from performing circumcisions in hospital despite repeated warnings to stop.
 
jwinch2 said:
I don’t see any reason why the priest could not have ridden with the body or stayed for the eulogy. Frankly that seems pretty insensitive to me and completely unnecessary unless he really was sick.

However, I don’t see how else he was supposed to handle the issue with communion. If he had truly just learned about her sexual orientation then he had no opportunity to handle it in private ahead of time.
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My experience with priests (from the sinners’ seating) is that they can barely perform all their duties without a bi-locational body!

There are fewer of them than before, and if anything, the need for priestly services has increased.

And given that he should have, but for whatever reason missed, telling this lady about The “rules” for Communion in a private setting, there really was nothing else he could have done. Sensitivity does not come before our LORD.

God bless all concerned, and ICXC NIKA
 
“Any issues regarding the suitability of an individual to receive communion should be addressed by the priest with that person in a private, pastoral setting.”

Since when? Where would the rules be for this matter, does anyone know? I know of plenty of priests outside of the US who do not think twice to deny a person communion and even comment after communion for the reason if it helps the congregation. It’s a pity that the Archdiocese did not support Father Marcel. How can Father Marcel give the communion to a practicing lesbian?

It is hard to understand how a ‘lifelong Catholic and former Catholic school teacher’ did not know that she could not receive communion as a practicing lesbian. How can she not know?!?

God bless you Father Marcel! Keep up the good work! May God bless us with more priests like you. 👍
 
GEddie said:
My experience with priests (from the sinners’ seating) is that they can barely perform all their duties without a bi-locational body!

There are fewer of them than before, and if anything, the need for priestly services has increased.

And given that he should have, but for whatever reason missed, telling this lady about The “rules” for Communion in a private setting, there really was nothing else he could have done. Sensitivity does not come before our LORD.

God bless all concerned, and ICXC NIKA
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I don’t believe it was insensitive to handle the communion situation in the fashion that he did. I do question the need to leave during the eulogy and not riding with the family to the burial.
 
Luigi_Daniele said:
Way to go Father Marcel!👍

I am assuming that she is a practicing lesbian. If so, Father is absolutely right in denying her Communion. No different than denying an adulterer Communion.
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How do you presume to know the state of that woman’s soul? She may have gone to confession with another priest. Same with an adulterer. How does the priest know that a person hadn’t gone to confession? 😦
 
Exactly - he does not know the state of her soul as he does not know if she attended confession or not without having a private, pastoral talk with her. Also, in a separate matter with a very knowledgable priest this is what I have learned on denying of the Eucharist, that there is a public admonishment required before simplying denying someone Eucharist. Many on these forums would have people believe that it is this simple; it is not. There are steps in place by Canon Law to be followed. These steps come from Scripture and Tradition. I am not sure which level that public admonishment needs to come from.
 
Rich_Olszewski said:
How do you presume to know the state of that woman’s soul? She may have gone to confession with another priest. Same with an adulterer. How does the priest know that a person hadn’t gone to confession? 😦
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Yeah, I’m sure in the midst of kissing her girlfriend goodbye to attend her mother’s funeral she went to confession.

Sheesh. Do you actually sit there and think up the most fantastical bits of illogical defense available? I suppose it is what they teach in law school.

No reasonable doubt needed, counsel. Practicing lesbian = no communion.
 
What else could he have done. A priest can’t walk around pulling people aside all the time telling them they can’t have communion. I don’t think it would be far fetched for a priest to assume a catholic school teacher would know better.
 
Rich_Olszewski said:
How do you presume to know the state of that woman’s soul? She may have gone to confession with another priest. Same with an adulterer. How does the priest know that a person hadn’t gone to confession? 😦
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I could be wrong but I don’t think a confession is valid if you don’t have any intention on changing. She was still living with her girlfriend. I really thing telling her is the compassionate thing to do. This might get her thinking on the state of her soul.
 
Rich_Olszewski said:
How do you presume to know the state of that woman’s soul? She may have gone to confession with another priest. Same with an adulterer. How does the priest know that a person hadn’t gone to confession? 😦
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Let’s flip it another way. Why should she be given extra consideration just because she is publically living as a lesbian? Other Catholics who are publically living in sin are routinely denied Communion.
 
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