delenda est...
Posted on 07/10/2012 8:31:31 AM PDT by marshmallow
A priest who denied communion to a lesbian at her mother's funeral is no longer in ministry with the Archdiocese of Washington, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese said Monday.
Rev. Marcel Guarnizo, who served at St. John Neumann parish in Gaithersburg, Md., was placed on leave in mid-March for engaging in intimidating behavior, NBC Washington.com reported at the time, and now he is leaving for good.
“Fr. Marcel Guarnizo is a priest of the Archdiocese of Moscow, Russia, who was given a temporary assignment at St. John Neumann parish,” Chieko Noguchi Scheve, director of media and public relations at the Archdiocese of Washington, wrote in an email to msnbc.com. “That assignment period has ended and Father Guarnizo is no longer in ministry in the Archdiocese of Washington.”
When reached by telephone, Scheve declined further comment on the matter.
Barbara Johnson, the woman who was refused communion, had been asking the archdiocese to remove the priest. A Washington Post reporter first noted on Twitter that Guarnizo’s assignment was over.
Johnson, a 51-year-old founding director of a small art center, attended her mom's funeral with her partner of nearly 20 years at St. John Neumann on Feb. 25. When it came time for communion, Guarnizo “issued a strong admonition that only Catholics in a state of grace can receive communion,” Johnson told msnbc.com.
“I went up. I was standing next to my mother’s casket and he covered the bowl, and said, ‘I cannot give you communion because you are with a woman, and in the eyes of the church, that is a sin.’ I stood there with my mouth open in a state of shock for -- I don’t know how long,” she said.
Guarnizo also didn’t attend her mother’s burial, Johnson said. She told msnbc.com on Monday that she was relieved..........
(Excerpt) Read more at usnews.msnbc.msn.com ...
lesbians 1, Catholic church 0
There is a lot of this story missing from this account
Like the report she pulled the priest aside before the funeral to introduce her homosexual lover and he advised her not to seek communion without repentance
lesbians 1, Catholic church 0
There is a lot of this story missing from this account
Like the report she pulled the priest aside before the funeral to introduce her homosexual lover and he advised her not to seek communion without repentance
Wow. Lemme get this straight. An non-Catholic lesbian has more power within the Church than an ordained Priest? She wanted him gone and the Church got rid of him. Well, at least he now knows who does and doesn’t have his back. Simply amazing!
Source: MSNBC
‘Nuff said...
But bugger little boys, and it’s perfectly okiley-dokiley.
Do you work for MSNBC?
she cared about Church authority- she chose her mother’s funeral as an occasion to challenge Church authority
and apparently she won
I agree, and the missing parts tell a different story than the woman presented. At least the priest's response was included where he defended his actions.
“Knowing that he will not be able to visit such pain on another family in the Washington archdiocese gives me and my family a lot of comfort.”
She may find God's 'pain' far superior.
“Our primary job is to teach and try to convince people. The tradition in our country has not been in the direction of refusing Communion, and I think it’s served us well.”
—Archbishop Wuerl
You have to hand it to him, the last 40 years really highlight this winning strategery. I mean it has served us all well, like he says. Someone should let him manage the all star game. Trying to convince without public discipline is maybe the best way to convince, like he says.
Freegards
@dfwgator: How about you keep your predilections to yourself?
You deny they canned this priest a heck of a lot quicker than those accused of molestation?
Excuse me? Sez who?
Barbara Johnson and her family are not members of the parish and they are not Catholics. In fact, they are bigoted anti-Catholics who have recently made several hateful statements about Catholics. However, when it was requested that the parish provide a funeral for the family the parish graciously did. Father Marcel officiated though he was sick that day.
Neither Barbara Johnson or her lesbian lover showed any appreciation for the people of the parish and father providing a service for her mother. They entered the church in a confrontational attitude, were very rude and tried to provoke Father.
Father quietly counseled her that Holy Communion was only for Catholics in the state of grace. So quietly that the lay Eucharistic minister standing close by did not hear him. Ms. Johnson took communion from the Eucharistic minister. Father was accused of walking out on the eulogy. This was a lie. Father was accused of not attending the burial. The burial was held many miles from the church. Father arranged for another priest to preside at the burial because he was not feeling well.
Barbara Johnson immediately went to the media and lied repeatedly about what happened. The TV news and the Washington Post printed her story without checking the facts.
The parish and pastor received hundreds of abusive, insulting and obscene phone calls and emails in the weeks following the incident. Father Marcel was asked to leave the parish.
Now the lies are repeated again by the media.
Who asked him to leave? You don't fire a priest based on false accusations.
I know someone who was present at the funeral, knows Ms. Johnson and her family, and I can pretty much confirm everything you have posted.
sitetest
Father was not fired. He was officially part of the Diocese of Moscow and visiting the Diocese of Washington. He took a short leave from duties after the incident but remained in the parish. A couple of weeks later he left the parish. It was not said who asked him to leave. It was said he was relieved of responsibilities while an investigation was ongoing. It was said this was no reflection on his performance at the funeral.
You do fire him if you are a spineless weasel more afraid of unrepentant sinners than of following God’s Word.
Sadly, in today’s America ,the perverts are celebrated while the righteoous are punished.
The laws that attempted to force business owners to treat blacks well are used to force everyone to accept perverts.
As the song says”Satan is laughing in delight...”
56
Message to anyone who believes the lies of this article or who uses it as a pretext for piling on — think twice cause they’ll get around to trashing your church soon
The Catholic church should have more priests like Fr. Guarnizo.
Even though most of my family is Catholic, I am not. When I attend a family funeral I do not attempt to participate in their communion.
Seems pretty obvious these people chose their mothers funeral to make a political statement. I find that ghastly.
What do you mean "us," Cardinal Wuerl?
"His traditions." Yeah. As opposed to the New Testament, and as opposed to Canon Law.
He's one of the big spokesmen for "Religious Liberty," the Church's right to conduct its own institutions according to Catholic religious law --- a law he doesn't actually care to practice, in this case as others.
"The doctrine means nothing if the practice can be anything."
““I went up. I was standing next to my mother’s casket and he covered the bowl, and said, ‘I cannot give you communion because you are with a woman, and in the eyes of the church, that is a sin.’ I stood there with my mouth open in a state of shock for — I don’t know how long,” she said. “
Can someone please explain to these fdrq’s what a “sin” is?
Oh wait never mind. It won’t do any good.
From chapter 1 of Romans...
20
Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made. As a result, they have no excuse;
21
for although they knew God they did not accord him glory as God or give him thanks. Instead, they became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened.
22
While claiming to be wise, they became fools
23
and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for the likeness of an image of mortal man or of birds or of four-legged animals or of snakes.
24
Therefore, God handed them over to impurity through the lusts of their hearts 15 for the mutual degradation of their bodies.
25
They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and revered and worshiped the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26
Therefore, God handed them over to degrading passions. Their females exchanged natural relations for unnatural,
27
and the males likewise gave up natural relations with females and burned with lust for one another. Males did shameful things with males and thus received in their own persons the due penalty for their perversity.
28
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God handed them over to their undiscerning mind to do what is improper.
29
They are filled with every form of wickedness, evil, greed, and malice; full of envy, murder, rivalry, treachery, and spite. They are gossips
30
and scandalmongers and they hate God. They are insolent, haughty, boastful, ingenious in their wickedness, and rebellious toward their parents.
31
They are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
32
Although they know the just decree of God that all who practice such things deserve death, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
http://old.post-gazette.com/localnews/20030615wuerl0615p2.asp
In most dioceses (like mine:Knoxville) an accused priest will be removed from the active priesthood instantly when the bishop becomes aware that there is a factual basis for the accusation.
I am not a reflexive defender of "my bishop right or wrong" and there exists a whole list of objectionable items which ought to be brought up against Cardinal Wuerl to his face (see other posts). But you should be precise about who-did-what and who didn't: blanket accusations and generalizations concerning sex abuse are scurrilous.
That's generally true, with some exceptions.
However that doesn't mean that molestation is or was "OK". In many cases it was a reflection of the prevailing belief that a mere time out or counseling was sufficient to put homosexual child molesters on the straight and narrow, after which they could be returned to ministry. Half-baked modern psychoanalytical claptrap which was swallowed hook, line and sinker by many bishops.
This priest was indeed treated shamefully and there has long been a double standard in the way heretics and dissenters are treated compared to faithful priests who are accused of wrongdoing.
We soldier onwards.
I probably exaggerated a bit, I am actually Catholic myself, but I probably just was more upset at how this priest was canned.
Not only that but read back stories of this. She is not Catholic she is a Buddhist.
I hear you.
Being canned is the spin put on this by MSNBC. He was not under the jurisdiction of this Diocese but rather was on temporary assignment. That assignment has ended and he is returning to his home Diocese. He was on loan. The complaints about behavior were about matters not pertaining to his refusing Communion to a Buddhist lesbian.
We have offended a Buddhist lesbian...fire the priest!
/s
delenda est...
No such thing as a "lay Eucharistic Minister".
Only a validly ordained Priest can be referred to as a Eucharistic Minister.
A member of the laity deputed to distribute Communion is an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion.
Please make an honest effort to stop confusing the two and to correct those who make the same mistake.
More than likely she'll have the same reaction during her particular judgment, although she won't be standing around for very long.
bull...when Wuerl was bishop of Pittsburgh, he pretty well ignored all the priests who cruised in the gay bars in town. I know, because my nephew decided to try the gay lifestyle and was scandalized at what he found. (He has since returned to Jesus)...
http://old.post-gazette.com/localnews/20030615wuerl0615p2.asp
BTW, cruising gay bars is not the same as child abuse. It's scandalous and disgusting behavior, it warrants swift, sharp discipline and ongoing supervision from the bishop as being incompatible with priestly celibacy (or any kind of personal virtue). But's not in the PA Criminal Code, so it doesn't directly contradict the Post-Gazette article concerning abuse.
I have other complaints, such as his total, open, defiant disobedience regarding Canon 915. Another Prince of the Church who considers himself "above the law."
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