Judge Declines To Sentence 3 Catholic Gay Activists

Washington Post ^ | 2-1-2003 | Arthur Santana

[Notwithstanding]

Three Catholic gay activists were convicted of unlawful entry yesterday in D.C. Superior Court by a judge who then declined to sentence them, told them she was sympathetic and went on to apologize on behalf of the Catholic Church.

Judge Mildred M. Edwards, who is Catholic, told the activists that she had to convict them but that she would do something she had not done in 15 years on the bench -- dispense with a sentence.

"Tremendous violence was done to you . . . when the Body of Christ was denied to you," Edwards said, referring to the contention of the three that refusal of Holy Communion had prompted their actions. "As a member of your church, I ask you to forgive the church."

[Notwithstanding]

We need to petition the senate for redress (impeachemnt).

[INSENSITIVE GUY]

This"black robed thief" has NO RIGHT to sit on the bench,is totally unfit and abusing her position to advance an agenda.

[madprof98]

[This article from Catholic World News was somewhat inexplicably removed to Religion. It offers much more disturbing detail.]

Judge Apologizes To Gay Activists On Behalf Of The Church, Refuses To Sentence

WASHINGTON, DC, Jan 31, 03 (CWNews.com) - A judge in Washington declined to sentence three gay activists for disrupting a meeting of the US bishops' conference last November, saying that the Church had done "tremendous violence" to them by denying them the Eucharist.

The three activists from the group Soulforce said they went to hotel in the District of Columbia where the bishops were meeting on November 12 to demand that they be given Communion and an explanation of why they were refused Communion the day before during Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. They were arrested for refusing to leave the private building.

In the nonjury trial, Judge Mildred Edwards, who identified herself as Catholic, agreed that the activists had broken the law by refusing to leave the hotel's lobby when requested by police and hotel officials. Although prosecutors had requested a sentence of time served-- the 30 hours they spend in jail-- Edwards said even that sentence was too harsh and did something she said hadn't done in 15 years on the bench: she dispensed with a sentence.

"Tremendous violence was done to you . . . when the Body of Christ was denied to you," Edwards said, referring to the contention of the three that refusal of Communion had prompted their actions. "As a member of your Church, I ask you to forgive the Church."

A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Washington said the three activists were denied the Eucharist at the November 11 Mass because they were misidentified as members of the Rainbow Sash movement, a group of gay activists who had said they were planning to receive Communion as a form of protest against the Church's teaching on homosexuality. "The Eucharist is the core of our faith and a sign of our unity," spokesman Susan Gibbs said. "It is very rare to deny Communion, but since it was publicly announced it would be a protest and not a sign of faith, the Rainbow Sash group was denied the sacrament."

All three defendants, Ken Einhaus of Arlington, Virginia, Mike Perez of Seattle, and Kara Speltz of Oakland, California, said they were emotionally shattered by the refusal of Communion at Mass and went to the hotel to "find healing among the people who caused me so much suffering," Einhaus said. Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit flew into Washington to testify on their behalf.

Einhaus claimed that withholding the Eucharist was an abuse of power, but Gibbs said under canon law priests have a right to deny Communion when they think someone might use it as a political tool.

William Donohue of the Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights condemned Edwards' decision and said it was not the first time she had used her position to provide support to anti-Catholic and liberal defendants in her court. "Previously, she dropped charges against students for deliberately knocking over headstones in a Catholic cemetery, and has acquitted death penalty protesters for deliberately demonstrating on the steps of the Supreme Court." He added, "It would be interesting to know how Edwards would react if her critics staged an illegal protest in her own chambers and then had a judge dismiss the charges after lecturing her about her judicial incompetence and theological ignorance."

A spokesman for the Catholic League added, "The worst part of this whole story is the abuse of the Eucharist by the protesters." He said their using the Eucharist as a political action constituted an abuse of their power as Catholics to receive the sacraments.

[Free the USA]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[Bryan]

You have to remember that this is the District of Columbia we're talking about. You won't find a more concentrated population of left-wingers per square mile, except perhaps in Berkeley or Greenwich Village.

[syriacus]

"Tremendous violence was done to you . . . when the Body of Christ was denied to you," Edwards said, referring to the contention of the three that refusal of Holy Communion had prompted their actions. "As a member of your church, I ask you to forgive the church."

I see ...

If a liberal judge is in charge, it's okay for the judge to mingle church and state issues.
(Maybe I am wrong about the political background of the judge?)

[joesnuffy]

I will bet he is a great "separation of Church and state" to....
Black Robbed Dictator

[LouD]

Gibbs said canon lawyers have established a right to deny the Eucharist when priests think someone might use it as a political tool.

Obviously, someone dropped the ball when Clinton and Hildebeast went up to receive the Eucharist at Catholic Mass, (even besides the fact that they are not Catholic and therefore had no right to do so, it was pretty clear that they were only doing it because the cameras were on them.)

[fishbabe]

of course its always ok to break the rules you make for everyone else if and only if your a liberal....remember they don't have to practice anything they preach to the rest of us.... watch out for the day everybody becomes a liberal and then does exactly what they want

[I_Love_My_Husband]

The homosexual agenda never takes a break, never takes a day off. They are winning. We must be vigilant

[scripter]

Thanks for the ping. I saw this earlier and got sidetracked.

A simple freepmail is all it takes to subscribe or unsubscribe from my homosexual agenda ping list.

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[GladesGuru]

You might be wrong about the Liberal/activist predispositions of the judge - and pigs might fly, too!

But don't worry about the price of bacon suddenly going sky high. Pigs, if not judges, root around in reality. Taking flights of Liberal fancy is restricted to humans.

[Polycarp]

Previous thread which was inexplicably banished to the Religion Forum Ghetto yesterday (they've got a moderator on Fridays that has a track record of blatant anti-Catholic bias, and they outta knock it off, or at least fire the bigoted anti-Catholic mod they have working on Friday evenings!):

Judge Apologizes To Gay Activists On Behalf Of The Church, Refuses To Sentence

pinging

[syriacus]

"Tremendous violence was done to you . . . when the Body of Christ was denied to you," Edwards said, referring to the contention of the three that refusal of Holy Communion had prompted their actions.

Isn't this, in effect, state interference in religion???
Which church will be the next one that is thrown to the wolves, just because some judge disagrees with the Church's leadership?

Someone contact Leahy and tell him this judge is more dangerous than John Ashcroft.

[YOMO]

"Tremendous violence was done to you . . . when the Body of Christ was denied to you," Edwards said. "As a member of your church, I ask you to forgive the church."...........

As the saying goes," She feels their pain".
What a crock, my guess she wants to run for Pope.

[Clint N. Suhks]

I’ve heard of legislating from the bench before but subverting canon law is new low and a first for me. Sheesh!

[Paleo Conservative]

We need to petition the senate for redress (impeachemnt).

Perhaps you need to reread the Constitution. It is the House that has the power of impeachment.

[Remedy]

2 solutions for the Three Catholic gay activists

1. St. Peter Damian
2. Courage is a network of Roman Catholics whose mission is to "provide spiritual support for men and women striving to live chaste lives in accordance with the Catholic Church's pastoral teaching on homosexuality." Write to Courage, c/oChurch of St John the Baptist, 210 W 31st Street, New York, NY 10001. The phone number is (212) 268-1010. There are chapters in many major cities, including New York, Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Chicago.

[Bigg Red]

Have you seen this bullclinton? Unbelievable!

[A CA Guy]

There is no such thing as a practicing GAY Catholic activist. Just say GAY activist.
There is equally no Baptist Pedophile activist.
Nobody drags any church into their sin if they are practicing their religion.
There is no sin in the name of religion.