Posted on 03/09/2012 4:33:00 AM PST by IbJensen
GAITHERSBURG, MARYLAND, March 8, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – The lesbian who is attempting to get a Catholic priest removed from his parish for denying her Holy Communion at her mother’s funeral is a Buddhist who describes herself as a “naturally born agitator” committed to a “culture war.”
Barbara Johnson created a national feeding frenzy after alerting the media that Fr. Marcel Guarnizo had refused to give her the Eucharist after asking her not to come forward to receive, because she is a sexually active homosexual.
On February 26, Fr. Marcel Guarnizo of St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland, covered the ciborium containing the Host as Johnson approached and whispered, “I can’t give you Communion because you live with a woman, and in the eyes of the Church, that is a sin.”
In the ensuing national media coverage, Johnson was repeatedly painted as the victim of prejudice, while the priest was lambasted as a bigot, even being censured by his own diocese.
But in the days following the incident, new information has emerged about the woman at the center of the controversy that raises questions about why she presented herself for Communion in the first place. In addition to personally asking Johnson not to present herself for Communion, the priest had publicly explained the conditions for receiving Communion during the funeral mass.
Johnson published a paper on Academia.edu entitled “Coming Out in the Heteronormative and Homophobic World of Education” that discussed her sexual and religion identification.
When taking a job as an art teacher in a Catholic high school, she wrote, “I felt I couldn’t allow myself to be put into a position to be closeted, even for a few months,” because doing so would leave her “feeling invisible and unworthy of knowing.”
“So in my interview with the principal we talked openly about my being a lesbian and a Buddhist.”
In a second paper she wrote, “As a Buddhist, my role model of an enlightened, highly realized, and happy human being is Gautama Buddha.”
Under canon law, only Roman Catholics are permitted to receive the Eucharist at a Catholic Mass.
In her paper about her experiences in Catholic education, Johnson portrays herself as committed to a “culture war,” insisting it is “important to note the place in which the issue exists in our society, a place of deep and historically violent conflict – war…Ironically, the group who most often portray LGBT people as a menace is the same group responsible for ‘virtually all rape, assault, murder, theft, child abuse, spouse abuse, and war.’”
She complained that her principal told her, “I’m no bigot” but warned her that some Catholic school parents object to teachers discussing their homosexual sex lives in class.
“I was forewarned, and now any problems I might have would surely be of my own making, and most likely, in need of my own solutions,” she wrote. “The decision was mine to make, and I made it with all the zeal and enthusiasm of any naturally born agitator who every now and again enjoys challenging the status quo. And how could I not take this opportunity to challenge this status quo where our laws ‘facilitate and nurture an educational system where schools are able to use tax money [or in this case government voucher money] to speak about respect while modeling bigotry’?”
In her paper, posted online “about a year ago” as a graduate student at Kutztown University, Johnson quoted John Howard Griffin’s statement that he wrote Black Like Me to show “the white majority how a small but powerful group of whites viciously oppressed blacks [while] well-meaning whites looked the other way.” She asked, “Isn’t it time the well-meaning heterosexual majority looked this issue straight in the eye?”
She went on to liken societal “heterosexism” to the Jewish blood libel and the lynching of blacks, and hoped her words would “propel all educators out of our comfort zones and into action.”
Decrying “the false sexual binaries of mascule/feminine and heterosexual/homosexual,” she wrote LGBT people must be “embraced as part of a new, more expansive definition of normal.”
“The next step must be for the public school system” to “celebrate both LGBT faculty and students for the unique perspectives and experiences we can provide the greater school community,” she wrote.
Johnson says she facilitated this celebration in her career by teaching “a project based on Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party,” which is “based on tikkun olam...the Jewish concept behind much of Chicago’s work.” Students were asked to discuss “discrimination,” then create art projects, displayed throughout the school, “to honor…marginalized groups.”
Joshua Bowman, who runs the blog the “Prolix Patriot,” wrote, “a quick glance at the Facebook and Twitter pages of [Johnson’s] art school (for children!) reveals a series of pro-abortion and pro-[gay] links which are clearly and explicitly at odds with the teachings of the Catholic Church.”
Canon 915 of the Roman Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law states those who are “obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion.” However, canon lawyers disagree about how much interaction is necessary before a priest may deny someone Communion in practice.
A source close to the incident, Diego von Stauffenberg, told LifeSiteNews.com exclusively that Johnson introduced herself and her “lover” to Fr. Guarnizo before the ceremony, and the priest asked her not to present herself for Communion. She then reportedly stormed out, with her lesbian partner blocking the door. After being denied the Eucharist by Fr. Guarnizo, Johnson went into another line and received Holy Communion from an Extraordinary Minister.
Von Stauffenberg’s account calls several aspects of Johnson’s story into question.
After the ceremony, Johnson wrote a complaint, leading to Archdiocese of Washington Auxiliary Bishop Barry Knestout penning a formal letter of apology blasting Fr. Guarnizo’s “lack of pastoral sensitivity.”
Popular Catholic clogger Thomas Peters writes at CatholicVote.org that, in light of Johnson’s history of activism, the entire ordeal constitutes “a blatantly political attempt by Johnson to generate sympathy and support for gay marriage and to foment public judgment against the Church.”
“The liberal narrative is that the Catholic Church is oppressing women,” Bowman wrote at Prolix Patriot, “but the truth is that radical liberals who do not believe in the Church’s teachings are manufacturing controversy with the help of manipulative media elites.”
A person who unrepentantly indulges in and justifies such behavior, however, is eligible for no Sacrament except -- if they reject the sin --- Penance. (And Anointing if they are repentant and seriously ill.)
His Excellency, Bishop Barry Knestout
5001 Eastern Avenue
Hyattsville MD 20782-3447
Copy to:
Fr. Marcel Guarnizo
St. John Neumann Catholic Church
9000 Warfeld Road
Gaithersburg, MD 20882
Your Excellency:
I was disturbed when I read that Fr. Guarnizo had rudely refused Holy Communion to a woman at her mother’s funeral. It was only later that I realized that I had misjudged the situation by letting anti-Catholic secular press define it for me; that there was a lot more to the story; and that the lesbian Buddhist, Ms. Johnson, actually set a trap which many, including you, your Excellency, fell into.
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
The denied communion was at the funeral Mass of her mother, which was why she was there to begin with.
That said, as both an unrepentant lesbian, which she made sure the priest Fr. Guarnizo *knew* before the Mass began, and now as it seems a non-Catholic as well, Fr. Guarnizo was eminently correct in his decision.
The Archbishop's reaction was most emphatically *not* proper, and this lunatic's DEMANDS that the priest be removed from a parish she is not a member of, and of a religion she doesn't practice are ludicrous on the face of it, and should be dismissed out of hand...
the infowarrior
If you are a Buddhist, why would you seek to receive the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ?
The Catholic Church does not dispense Communion to those who are not baptized in their faith.... If you choose to receive fraudulently it is considered an imperfect sacrament. This is my understanding of my own life long faith. I have respect for other faiths and would not presume to “crash” their worship rituals for any reason. Least of all to enhance my own ego.
Nor would I. I have never partaken of the Lord's Supper out side my own church. At my church, which is Baptist, only members of that particular church may partake. Not even members of other Baptist churches. I don't necessarily agree with that but those are the rules that I endorsed on becoming a member of that church.
Has everyone’s “pings” changed or is it just mine? I used to be able to read replies to me from my “replies to you” area. No more, now it just tells me I have been pinged and I have to go to the article to read the message. Anybody know how to change it back?
What kind of convoluted "Christian Church" would allow this? Under what reasoning?
Hi Graybeard, I am a catechist (means I teach children at Sunday school) in my Catholic parish and “state of grace” is the normal term we use to describe how one should be when taking Holy Communion. I believe it is a translation of the Latin which means not being unworthy and ready to meet the Lord, who to us is actually present in the bread and wine. It is not meant to be a challenge to anyone except those who know they have sinned and have not asked the Lord for forgiveness. While forgiveness is something we ask for in Confession through a priest we certainly can be forgiven by the Lord directly through prayer as any other Christian. We refer to Confession now as the Sacrament of Repentance to signify the true nature of our hearts when it is done.
1 Corinthians 11 is a very difficult chapter for ALL Christians as St Paul tells us here that a man should not “nourish” his hair (I assume using shampoo, combing, etc.) nor cover his head and he admonishes women that when praying they should have their heads covered, yet very few Christians obey this or many of the instructions in this chapter.
Mrs. Don-o, please let us know if you get a reply from the bishop. I’d love to know what he has to say in response to your excellent letter.
Regards,
I misspoke. I should have said Sacrament of Penance, which is the official name. Sacrament of Reconcilliation also works. Keep in mind that the Catholic Church is trying to get the English speaking churches more in line with the original Latin. We just had a MAJOR missal change in November as part of this.
This all started because I said that “state of grace” was not a phrase that I would use. I completely agree with what it means but one, perhaps with a chip on his shoulder or looking for an argument, took issue with that. I reiterated what I had already said plainly, then it was dropped.
Your reply was graceful and I appreciate that.
In my church we don’t have “sacraments” either. We have “ordinances” but I’m familiar with the phraseology and don’t have a problem with it.
Your examples of New Testament things that we don’t follow was accurate, I’ll add one. The woman, I believe her name was Mary, who anointed Jesus with expensive perfume.
I’m paraphrasing because I gotta get going but I believe Jesus said that we are supposed to be making mention of her and her deed a bit more often that is done in my church at least. Look also at what Jesus said when he washed His disciples feet. Our church doesn’t do that either, does yours?
I mentioned that my church was Baptist, we do not use wine in the Lord’s Supper, we use grape juice. By the way there’s another example, we say Lord’s Supper, You say Communion, We both know what the other means.
I heard my pastor say once, that John the Baptist didn’t drink wine and if it’s good enough for John, it was good enough for him. Totally ignoring a perfect example of the fact that Jesus Himself certainly did drink wine.
Gotta run, God bless you and yours richly, as he has me and mine.
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Here is the REST OF THE STORY about the homosexual pervert who was refused communion. She's not a Catholic, she's willfully and rebelliously engaged in sin, and she's an active advocate for perversion. Why is she teaching at a Catholic university, indeed. Interesting, she seems to not know or care that the Dalai Lama has said homosexuality is perverted and wrong! Some "Buddhist".
LJ, I think it has been obvious to those of us who pay attention... we’ve been infiltrated... and I am not talking about Catholics.. I am not one (Baptist, myself)... but those of us who have been watching/paying attention, we were warned (McCarthy)..
Sad that NOW it’s becoming obvious for more people.. :/
Excellent response. You are a role model for tactful and respectful dissent. Thank you.
Ms. Johnson may call herself a Buddhist, but she truly is a disciple of Barack Obama. She respects only her own will to do as she pleases regardless (or perhaps for the expressed purpose) of harassing, damaging, humiliating or forcing her own will on others. She is the personification of exactly what 50 years of government overstepping its bounds produces. She is to be pitied, and unless or until she decides that she is not the ultimate being to be pleased, shunned.
Excellent letter. I wonder if you’ll receive an answer.
Actually, at that point there is no bread and wine. The accurate presentation of this truth is Who to us is actually present under the appearance of bread and wine.
Are you Catholic? If so I have a question.
I attended a Catholic funeral yesterday and I had a question about something I did not understand. The family sat in reserved seating on one side and friends on the other. There were about 5 people in front of us on the friends side that were the only people that knew what was going on. They appeared to be workers at the church. They did not seem to know the family. When it was time for communion they went up on the platform and took communion (bread and wine). After they took communion, the priest came down in the aisle to the family and gave them only bread. I was just curious as to why the family went last and received only the bread. Do you know why?
The whole service was very interesting and very different than funeral services I have been to before. My husband and my father are both pastors and have officiated many funerals.
Thank you in advance.
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