Posted on 10/31/2010 2:24:53 PM PDT by markomalley
St. Paul, Minn. — Church officials denied communion Sunday to a small group of Catholics who wore rainbow sashes to mass at the St. Paul Cathedral.
The sashes were meant to send a statement of support for same-sex marriage. The protest has been an annual event for a decade. Each year organizers ask the archbishop in a letter for permission to participate in the eucharist while wearing a rainbow sash.
A St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese spokesman said it would be sacrilege to give the eucharist to people who are using communion to make a political statement.
"There's no question that they're free to receive communion without the sash. But they're wearing the sash to advance their own protest," said archdiocese spokesman Dennis McGrath. "And communion time must never be used for a political or protest statement. It's that simple."
Brendt Vanderlinden was among those who wore a rainbow sash. He said church officials politicized the eucharist with a recent mailing of anti-same-sex marriage DVDs to thousands of church members.
"We're saying that by sending out the DVD and taking a strong stand on something that is really a civil political issue," Vanderlinden said. "You know, whether the state is going to legalize gay marriage is a civil political issue. The church doesn't have to take any stand on that."
Vanderlinden said he and his wife wore sashes to show support for their son, who is gay.
ping!
Good! I wish all Bishops had his guts!
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funny, St. Paul’s is the rainbow parish in NYC, too.
FINALLY!!!
Take the sash off and you can receive communion? What about the heretic receiving the communion, sash or not?
Wearing of the sash says nothing about when (or whether) they sinned; it's indeed a political statement. The article says that some non-gay people were doing that to support their gay son.
As I understand, gays are not heretics; but they committed a grave sin and must confess before receiving communion. Exceptions from this rule are possible.
I don’t hate homosexuals but using communion as a political tool is indeed inappropriate. Funny how the progressives bleat about separation of church and state but have no problem staging their POLITICAL protests at a church.
An Archbishop with a spine!
An activist wearing the sash is a political statement. But the same activist coming back 5 minutes later to receive communion without a sash should make everything okay? That's the point I'm making.
“Vanderlinden said he and his wife wore sashes to show support for their son, who is gay.”
They would be better served to spend that time in prayer for their son to repent and come away from that life style. Nothing is impossible with God.
“The church doesn’t have to take any stand on that.”
The Church can take a stand on anything they want. They have First Amendment rights. Take your gaily covered sash and go home.
That latter part would be a matter of private conscience, whereas receiving Eucharist with a sash for the express purpose of making a political statement is not.
The thing of it is, it is conceivably possible for one of the protesters to not be conscious of any grave sin. It is also possible that some of those very protesters to be heterosexuals supporting a homosexual agenda.
The line is best drawn with those wearing the sash, because it would be a sin to receive Eucharist while wearing it.
No, the sash in and of it self is nothing. It's the heart of the communicant which matters. The choice to wear it is fundamental, not the actual wearing of it. If he says, "ok, I'll take it off, but I still believe in 'gay marriage' within the RCC," nothing has fundamentally changed.
I'm no Catholic, and I may be speaking out of turn for this reason, but the judicial act of judging someone for outward symbols alone without looking at motives is ludicrous.
Right dicicsion, wrong reason. Anyone who is a known supporter of same sex marrgaige should be denied communion. The fault is not that they are supporting what has been deemed a political message as there are many political messages that are at the same time right and holy but that they are believing in and advocating known sin that is clearly an obamantion to all that is holy.
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...but the judicial act of judging someone for outward symbols alone without looking at motives is ludicrous.Absent the outward symbol, how would you judge?
The wearing of a rainbow sash publicly declares they are supporting homosexual behavior. Homosexual behavior is a mortal sin. Those who commit it will not get to heaven (unless of course they truly repent and sin no more)
Why someone is wearing the sash is immaterial. Supporting wrong is wrong. It doesn't matter why you are supporting it.
They just want one picture of a priest giving the Eucharist to someone wearing the sash. That is how Satan weaves his tangled web, one person at a time. “See, it’s okay, look this priest is fine with it.”
Satan wants us to be comfortable in sin.
We don’t have a communion police. We are on the honor system when we receive. But, the sash is a public statement of dissent and should be rejected.
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