Is a sash not enough? Do they need them to come up to communion holding hands?
Or what if they had this sign on the armband:
Or this:
I am sure this "priest" would welcome them too!
Posted on 05/30/2004 3:21:39 PM PDT by miltonim
ST. PAUL - A group of Roman Catholic laymen tried to prevent gay Catholics and their supporters from taking Holy Communion on Sunday by standing and kneeling in the church aisles at the Cathedral of St. Paul.
About three dozen men calling themselves "Ushers of the Eucharist" confronted members of the Rainbow Sash Alliance, a group that donned rainbow-colored sashes and ribbons in support of a right for gay Catholics to receive communion.
The men took turns kneeling in front of the altar to block the path of those wearing rainbow sashes and ribbons. There were no physical altercations, but the 100 or so sash wearers and others attending Mass were forced to walk around them.
The priest allowed everyone to take Holy Communion and encouraged people to use the side aisles to approach the communion rail.
Although many of the worshippers knew a protest was planned, others were surprised to see television cameras and protesters inside the cathedral.
"I think we should keep politics out of the church," said Michael Hanzal, of West St. Paul. "People go to Mass to worship, not for the 5 o'clock news to be thrown in your face."
Mike and Lynne Naylon, of Maplewood, who attend the service at the cathedral every week, said it was sad to see people trying to prevent others from taking communion.
"I've never seen anything like this," Mike Naylon said.
Some in the audience came specifically to support one of the two sides.
Elaine Eyre, who was there to support the Rainbow Sash Alliance, said you can't judge people. "We don't know what's in someone's heart," she said.
Heather Siewart said she came to support the Ushers of the Eucharist, even though she's Protestant.
"A lifestyle that goes against the teachings of the Bible is not something we can accept," she said.
Groups gathered at least an hour before Mass to pray and discuss their strategies. A separate group, Catholics Against Sacrilege, gathered on the cathedral's steps and prayed in support of the Ushers of the Eucharist.
Fifteen minutes before the cathedral bells rang, the rainbow sash wearers and the Ushers of the Eucharist engaged in a friendly, but tense, debate.
"You are pushing homosexuality as a form of love. It is not," David Pence, who organized the Ushers of the Eucharist, told Brian McNeill, who led the Rainbow Sash Alliance.
Several alliance members shouted back: "Yes it is!"
Doug Hughes, a rainbow sash wearer, said gays have received the Eucharist on Pentecost Sunday for centuries.
"The only difference now is that we're known," he said.
After Mass, both group leaders said they were happy to express their views peacefully.
"We're not bullies. We were very tame," Pence said. "It was time to stand up and say, 'don't do this.'"
"Everyone received communion," McNeill said. "It's a challenge to love our brother and sister Catholics when they do this."
Pence said the group's goal for next year is to get the church to refuse Holy Communion to rainbow sash wearers.
In a written statement, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said that while only baptized Catholics should take Holy Communion, "the determination of a person's spiritual readiness rests with the individual conscience and honesty of individual worshippers."
The Rev. Michael Skluzacek, in a written statement handed to people as they entered the cathedral, said the groups were "mistakenly using the Mass and the Eucharist to make their own personal statements."
That's a selective and dishonest quotation. The Archdiocesan statement said that only baptized Catholics in the state of grace should receive Communion. Its statement made very clear that the sash wearers should NOT receive Communion, while still saying that no one would be denied Communion.
Bingo! Jesus said "Go and sin no more", not "Go and just make sure you confess each and every time you sin in the future".
Or what if they had this sign on the armband:
Or this:
I am sure this "priest" would welcome them too!
He said it about "CELIBATE" person. It implies giving up active homosexual lifestyle.
What about the verse right before?
"Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord."
1 Cor 11:27
I'm pretty certain that being a practicing homosexual and taking Communion is taking it in an "unworthy manner."
"So, why do they even want to be Catholic?"
IMO, they are under the direct influence of Satan to a degree that would horrify us all if it became visible, and he is using them to attack the Church.
What they want is for us to say that sin isn't sin. They mock the church and they mock the Lord. The militant homosexuals are agents of Satan, those whom God has given over to a reprobate mind.
meant sash
It is not possible for someone to be a practicing gay and a true Catholic. What most don't seem to understand is Catholicism (for the most part) is not a cafeteia religion -- you don't get to pick and choose which parts you will adhere to.
Homosexual relations are a Sin. Promoting them is promoting Sin (which is yet another sin).
This is 0% theological and 100% political.
I know. I forgot the /sarcasm. : P
I think I have to agree with you. Repentance means that you turn away from your sins, not just get cleansed for the moment doesn't it?
Unless they are like Apostol Judas.
You are right on. And I am not a theologian, but...
I think that a "sin against the Holy Spirit" is a sin such as that committed by the sash-wearers.
It is a hyper-sin, one that cannot be forgiven, according to the words of Jesus.
Why?
Not because God is unwilling to forgive the penitent, but, in such a case as this, the penitent refuses adamantly to consider the behavior sinful.
The gays think what they are doing is virtuous.
But militant homosexuality is a sin against the Holy Spirit.
Yes, they are in fact, infiltrators, satanists at that.
And there's a lot of them, including clergy.
If the laymen were more vigilant the pederasts could not use priesthood as a cover.
I agree with you here, and have seen it happening.
I married into a family of believers who were Christian Protestant, and I was and am a Catholic believer.
Events of the past 20 years (been married 18) have made it clear to us all that the 'right wings' of all Christian churches (The Church) are indeed becoming united.
As are the left wings of the various sects claiming to be christian.
I see it happening.
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