Sorry, but I disagree. The Priest was correct in saying that a Homosexual who consistly and continuely do homosexual acts should NOT receive the Eucharist. The Bishop was wrong for suspending the Priest. This Priest did NOT go overboard in speaking the truth. He did nothing wrong but spoke the truth. Unfortunately the truth hurts, especially to those who do such acts.
We don’t know exactly what the priest said; at the moment our only source is an agenda-driven website.
That said, what you say is wrong on so many levels I’m not sure where to start. But I’ll attempt to do so with this. All of us, and I mean
all of us are manifestly stubborn in sin. Without exception. By your understanding, none of us would ever be admissible to the Eucharist. And this makes a mockery of God’s infinite grace and mercy available at all times to all of us as often as we need it.
Let’s remove the word “homosexual” from the discussion for a moment. Let’s replace it with, oh, say an alcoholic who gets into a barroom brawl every Friday night. Nobody will argue with the “truth” that getting drunk is evil and a “grave disorder”. Nobody will argue with the “truth” that beating the snot out of someone every Friday night is gravely disordered.
However, if the alcoholic regrets his act and drags himself to confession before Mass, with a firm purpose of amendment, and asks for forgiveness, he WILL be forgiven, and absolved. Even if by next Friday his resolve crumbles and he starts all over again. Is he notorious? Yes. Does he cause scandal? Yes. Is he sinning
mortally? Probably not, but only his confessor can say for sure. But he sure as heck can confess, get absolution, and go up to communion on Sunday and nobody has the right to deny him.
Now we, and this particular priest, simply do not know what inner struggles a homosexual is going through with his (or her) condition. We do not know if that person goes regularly to confession trying to overcome their sin, but fails occasionally or even repeatedly. All I can say for sure is that we
all struggle with stubborn, habitual sin, and that we have to charitably, assume that the homosexual who turns up in the communion line has in fact received absolution before Mass, or is working with a good solid confessor to overcome his sin, on a regular basis.
Speaking the truth, if it is not done charitably and with love, is not Truth at all because that is not what Jesus taught. Yes He forgave the adulteress and told her to stop sinning. But He did forgive her, and we are taught to forgive how many times exactly? Seventy times seven, i.e. infinitely. Yes it is truthful to say that homosexual acts are sinful, just as it is to say that stealing, lying, cheating, and beating someone up in a bar are sinful, and it is truthful to say that the homosexual lobby is tempting people into a dead-end. But it is wrong to lump all people with same-sex attraction into the category of people unfit for the Eucharist, just as it is wrong to lump all people with alcoholism into the category of people unfit for the Eucharist just because some of them have not been able to master their addiction.
Calling someone to chastity implies fostering real transformative healing into that person, something that fear-mongering, anger, and spite have proven time and again to be of limited, if any, value. It implies understanding the current state of the sinner, putting him on a path of transformation, and making effort and progress. God rewards the effort. Trust me He will reward a promiscuous homosexual more for abstaining once, than for someone who doesn’t face that temptation never committing homosexual acts. He asks that we try our best; nobody can be perfect. But with effort, a good honest and charitable confessor willing to work with a penitent, the alcoholic may eventually end up at AA and sober up for the rest of his life, and the person guilty of sexual sin may be convinced to give up a life of promiscuity and if necessary seek psychological help to do so.
But every journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step as the saying goes, and for a sinner, that first step of recognizing that God calls us to something greater is a joy to be encouraged no matter the state in life of the penitent. The Eucharist should not be withheld as a punishment, but rather, held out as not only a reward but an important component of obtaining God’s healing grace; it is when we are worthy of it least, that we need it most.
