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Catholic Bishops Refuse Communion To Homosexual
Activists
By Patrick Goodenough CNSNews.com Pacific Rim Bureau Chief May 20, 2002 Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) - "God created
Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve," the Roman Catholic bishop of Australia's
largest city told his congregation Sunday morning, minutes after refusing to
give communion to homosexual and lesbian activists.
"Homosexual acts are contrary to the natural law,
they close the sexual act to the gift of life," Archbishop George Pell told
Catholics gathered for Pentecost Sunday Mass at St. Mary's Cathedral in Sydney.
In an orchestrated move, 20 members of a group
campaigning for the church to give full recognition to homosexual Catholics had
earlier gone forward for communion, while another 12 did the same St. Patrick's
Cathedral in another major city, Melbourne.
Each member of the Rainbow Sash Movement (RSM) wore
a rainbow-colored sash over their clothing. In both churches they were denied
communion, although in Melbourne, Archbishop Denis Hart did offer the
sash-wearers a blessing.
Although the bids failed, a spokesman for the group
said Monday they were heartened to hear that similar attempts made by RSM
members in several cities in the U.S. Sunday had met with success.
In New York, Chicago, Minneapolis and Rochester,
spokesman Michael Kelly said, homosexual and lesbian members wearing the sashes
said they had received communion. RSM was formed in Australia, but now has
chapters in a handful of U.S. cities, too.
Kelly, a former Franciscan seminarian, attributed
the discrepancy to "confusion" in the church hierarchy about how to handle the
issue of homosexuals.
Because some priests had knowingly given communion
to homosexuals, while others had refused to, the organization was now
considering "an appeal to Rome."
"Refusal to give communion is the second most
serious sanction in church life, after excommunication. So it's a very rare and
very important sanction that's been imposed on us."
Kelly, who was part of the Sydney group in Sunday's
protest, said the group had donned their sashes during the introductory hymn, as
a symbol of their desire to "embrace our sexuality as a sacred gift."
They then participated in the service as usual, but
when they had approached the altar for communion, Pell had told them, "I can't
help you."
The bishop had not offered them a blessing either.
If he had done so, it would have been seen as a "token gesture," Kelly said, but
nonetheless one that would have said to the group: "We don't completely reject
you."
They then returned to their pews, where they stood
"in silent protest" while other communicants returned to their places and knelt,
as is traditional.
A short while later, Pell read out a prepared
statement, he said.
In the statement, a copy of which was provided by
the Archdiocese of Sydney Monday, Pell said he deeply regretted that people
professing the Catholic faith would mount "an ideological demonstration" during
Mass, and particularly at communion time.
Any Catholic who publicly defined himself as
"supporting or practicing activities contrary to church teaching in a serious
matter is not entitled to receive Holy Communion."
The same would apply to a married person living in
adultery, he added.
Pell said church teaching on sexuality was "clear
and unequivocal, and derives from natural moral law, which we believe is
unchanging ... God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve, and important
consequences follow from this."
Kelly said Monday he found the comment "childish"
and "unhelpful," not something worthy of a major church leader.
He charged that the current child-sex abuse scandal
in the church in the U.S. and elsewhere was the result of the church hierarchy's
refusal to bring matters of sexuality out into the open.
The RSM would continue to campaign to be allowed to
participate fully and openly in the life of the church, Kelly said. Homosexuals
had been involved in the church for centuries, he added, but their participation
had taken place under a "code of silence and invisibility."
Although Kelly said church leaders had ignored nine
written appeals for dialogue over the past five years, Pell in his statement
said he would "continue to dialogue privately and publicly with those who think
differently" about church teaching on marriage and family.
He also said he would pray for the protestors.
"Although human weakness is universal and God's
mercy infinite, the path to happiness and heaven for a Catholic does not lie in
seeking to re-interpret what is right and wrong," the bishop said.
"Rather, one should commit oneself, in good faith,
to the church and its teachings and work towards following these teachings as
closely as possible."
This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm Psalm 33:12 says,
"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord..." Archibald Bard TO KEEP THE PEACE,
KEEP YOUR PIECE! |
