Communion Denied to Activists: Gay Rights Supporters Wear Rainbow Sashes to Minn. Mass

Washington Post ^ | 6/5/2006 | Alan Cooperman

[Pyro7480]

More than 50 gay rights activists wearing rainbow-colored sashes were denied Holy Communion at a Pentecost service yesterday at the Roman Catholic Cathedral in St. Paul, Minn., parishioners and church officials said.

In an act that some witnesses called a "sacrilege" and others called a sign of "solidarity," a man who was not wearing a sash received a Communion wafer from a priest, broke it into pieces and handed it to some of the sash wearers, who consumed it on the spot.

Ushers threatened to call the police, and a church employee burst into tears when the unidentified man re-distributed the consecrated wafer, which Catholics consider the body of Christ. But the Mass was not interrupted, and the incident ended peacefully, said Dennis McGrath, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis....

...Last year, Cardinal Francis Arinze, head of the Vatican department in charge of worship, wrote a letter to Archbishop Harry J. Flynn of St. Paul, stating that the rainbow sash is a sign of protest against the church's teachings on sexuality and that the Mass is not an appropriate forum for protests....

...None were reported yesterday in the Archdiocese of Washington, which has a policy of denying Communion to anyone wearing a visible sign of protest.

[Pyro7480]

In an act that some witnesses called a "sacrilege" and others called a sign of "solidarity," a man who was not wearing a sash received a Communion wafer from a priest, broke it into pieces and handed it to some of the sash wearers, who consumed it on the spot.

Either train the EME's to better monitor the communicants or stop giving communion in the hand!!!!
(Personally, I prefer the second option.)

[Pyro7480]

Catholic ping and sacrilege alert!!

[theDentist]

Either train the EME's to better monitor the communicants or stop giving communion in the hand!!!!

Do that and you'd have them passing the wafers mouth to mouth. Escort them from the church and swear out a legal complaint, violation of the 1st Amendment.

[ELS]

Either train the EME's to better monitor the communicants or stop giving communion in the hand!!!!

From the article:
a man who was not wearing a sash received a Communion wafer from a priest...

[ArrogantBustard]

1 Corinthians 11:
23For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:
24And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
25After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
26For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.
27Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
28But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
29For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.

Uhhhhh ... anyone who treats the Blessed Sacrament as a political football would seem not to be 'discerning the Lord's body' ... Pray for them, that they may repent. Before it's too late.

[siunevada]

And the Washington Post, for some reason, 'considers' (using the journalese jargon) this item to be worthy of inclusion in their news coverage.

Well, there is conflict. Journalists always love that.

[marshmallow]

Those so disposed can always resort to some subterfuge to obtain the Blessed Sacrament, even if it means breaking into a Church and prising open the tabernacle door, but this voids the whole point of the Rainbow Sash movement.

The incident with the gentleman breaking the Blessed Sacrament and illicitly distributing it, actually underlines that the Church was victorious in this particular skirmish and not the Sashers. The whole point of wearing the Rainbow Sash is to publicly identify yourself as homosexual and for the priest to then give you Communion, thereby endorsing your public display of contempt for Catholic teaching and giving impetus for yet more public displays of disobedience.

The fact that Communion was refused and a non-sash wearer had to sneak it away, simply demonstrates that deception and trickery is the only way the Rainbow Sashers will achieve access to the Blessed Sacrament, and this will never do for this crowd. They don't want the Blessed Sacrament per se. They want public acknowledgement of the rectitude of their cause and the Blessed Sacrament is simply the tool to do this. A means to an end, if you like.

If not wearing the sash is the only way for them to obtain Communion then they are back to square one.

[trisham]

The fact that Communion was refused and a non-sash wearer had to sneak it away, simply demonstrates that deception and trickery is the only way the Rainbow Sashers will achieve access to the Blessed Sacrament, and this will never do for this crowd. They don't want the Blessed Sacrament per se. They want public acknowledgement of the rectitude of their cause and the Blessed Sacrament is simply the tool to do this. A means to an end, if you like.

If not wearing the sash is the only way for them to obtain Communion then they are back to square one.

*************

Excellent analysis.

[Pyro7480]

Ah, you paid attention to the details better than I did. ;-) Then the priest should have paid better attention. Or they can follow my suggestion. ;-)

[markomalley]

Beginning in 1997 in England, some Catholics have worn the sashes over their left shoulder to Mass each year on Pentecost, the day on which the New Testament says the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus's disciples. Because the holiday is a celebration of God's gifts, "we think it is an appropriate time to celebrate the gift of our sexuality," said Brian McNeill, a rainbow-sash organizer in Minneapolis.

[NYer]

Either train the EME's to better monitor the communicants or stop giving communion in the hand!!!!

Both! And switch to communion by intinction. That should cure many ills that afflict the Latin Church.

[Old_Mil]

I wonder what would happen if these freaks tried this in a mosque.

[ArrogantBustard]

Some months ago, certain parties in my Parish requested that our Pastor begin distributing Holy Communion under both species, on a regular basis. I'm quite certain that they were hoping for an army of Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion wielding chalices. What they got instead, was exactly what they asked for. Our Pastor obtained a device similar to this:

and commenced to distributing Holy Communion by intinction at every Mass.

[ConorMacNessa]

I concur!

[samiam1972]

I want one of those for our church!!!

[ArrogantBustard]

Which?

A ciborium-chalice can be had in exchange for cash and/or other valuable considerations, from any number of church supply merchants.

Our Pastor is one-of-a-kind. You'll have to ask Bishop Loverde for him ... and I'll thank you to leave him where he is.

[caseinpoint]

Excellent analysis. Though I am not a Catholic, I believe receiving the Blessed Sacrament or communion is a two-party procedure. It must be blessed by the proper authority and it must be received by one who is worthy or striving with all their hearts to be worthy of such a blessing. If the receiver deliberately receives the Sacrament unworthily, I don't believe it would be blessed to them. Indeed, I believe they are taking condemnation to their own souls to profane the Sacrament. In my faith, if one partakes of the Sacrament or makes a covenant with the Lord without an intent to live up to that covenant, it will be worse for them than if they hadn't entered the covenant in the first place.

[TradicalRC]

Smoke of Satan etc...

[warriorforourlady]

This is exactly what Poor Father Bob Altier was fighting against for years in the "Archdiocese of Minneapolis".

Let us pray for all Holy and Faithful Priests.

[AliVeritas]

The solidarity is with Christ... not the world. This is anti-christ.