Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Catholic Outreach

So this is their idea of showing love and compassion for their fellow man or woman, eh?

A Detroit professor and legal adviser to the Vatican says Catholics who promote gay marriage should not try to receive holy Communion, a key part of Catholic identity.

And the archbishop of Detroit, Allen Vigneron, said Sunday that Catholics who receive Communion while advocating gay marriage would “logically bring shame for a double-dealing that is not unlike perjury.”

The comments of Vigneron and Edward Peters, who teaches Catholic canon law at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, are part of a polarizing discussion about gay marriage that echoes debate over whether politicians who advocate abortion rights should receive Communion.

Far be it from me to dictate to someone else how to run their church, but between this and the ongoing criminal enterprise to cover up the rape of children, you would think that the Catholic church would at least be mindful of the fact that driving people away with threats and extortion isn’t exactly the way to tend to your flock.

Besides, shunning is the schtick of the Amish.

(Psst; if you Catholics who are denied communion want to switch churches, the Episcopalians do the full-tilt communion, and you get a sip of wine with your cookie.)

4 barks and woofs on “Catholic Outreach

  1. It’s Roman Catholic doctrine that people in a state of mortal sin must not receive Communion, but AFAIK merely holding a contrary opinion is not considered a mortal sin. Unless of course it has to do with teh gay???

    Of course I’m Episcopalian, so I’m not going to back up the RC’s on this. Thanks for the plug, BTW.

  2. When I was a kid my Episcopalian church’s organist/choirmaster was gay as could be, though married and closeted. When I was older and we could talk as adults he told me about his time in seminary. It was such a hothouse of 20ish gay sex that he thought he’d died and gone to heaven. (Pace) When the priest in charge asked him in a routine interview, are you homosexual, he answered, “But of COURSE!!,” complete with hand waving.

    Wrong. Answer. He spent a lot of time living that down and trying to put on a convincing story that he’d just been kidding. It worked, and he scuttled back into the closet for a few more decades. But in time he came out, and I had dinner at his apartment with his lover Ed, and he told me this story.

    The Episcopalians have come to their senses, and still have the benefit of the music ministry of people like my old choirmaster. I doubt the Catholic Church ever will, as it loses clergy and lay support faster every year.

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