[sydney smith]

How do we know that the poor chap didn’t first confess his sins and receive absolution? We are all assuming quite a bit here. Even the priest, no?

[agere_contra]

In this case, the guy seems to have pranced up to the front of the Church claiming that his intrinsically disordered life was in fact good and holy: refusing him Communion would have been perfectly defensible even if he had just stepped out of the confessional.

[NYer]

We are all assuming quite a bit here. Even the priest, no?

He would have had to approach the priest for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, no?

[newguy357]

How do we know that the poor chap didn’t first confess his sins and receive absolution? We are all assuming quite a bit here. Even the priest, no?

I sincerely hope you're joking.

Ye shall know them by their fruit.

In this case, the man himself was a fruit, and the fact that he managed to raise a stink about this afterword is evidence of his unrepentant heart--i.e., he did not confess his sins.

[Scotswife]

The carnival prince?

Or the pleasant man who attempted to hijack the mass?

It seems the priests knew beforehand they were being targeted by activists.