Communion Denied

Read Story

Yesterday, in St Paul MN, the Rev. Michael Sklucazek told his parisioners that anyone wearing a rainbow sash would be denied communion. He felt that the wearing of the rainbow sash was a political statement and contrary to Church teachings. Protests are fine, but not in the Church, he reasoned.

The story begs the question: why did the wearing of the sash for the last four years mean nothing to the Church, but now it's an issue?

Parisioners wearing the sash weren't homosexual activists. One was a nun. Another was a husband and wife and their three children. (They chose to wear a rainbow pin instead of the sash, but were still denied communion.) They all chose to wear the rainbow to show they support gay Catholics.

Yup, there's gay Catholics. And the official teaching from Rome is that homosexuals should be treated with compassion. A group called the Raibow Sash Alliance decided to wear the colors for no other reason than to let gay Catholics know they have friends in the Church.

They didn't set out to change Church policy. They didn't advocate the changing of Church teachings. They just wanted to let gay Catholics know they have friends.

The official Church lesson taught yesterday in St Paul, MN: "show compassion to homosexuals" means keep them in the closet and out of sight.

You'd think the Pope would stop the double talk and speak plainly. Remember, the Vatican describes homosexuals as "intrinsically disordered." The Pope, while a Cardinal, referred to homosexuals as "sinful deviants."

In St Paul, yesterday, the Catholic teachings spoke loudly. It's still ok to hate homosexuals.