GAITHERSBURG, Md. (AP/WUSA) - He's a liar. That's the reaction from the family of a lesbian who was denied communion by a priest during a funeral in Gaithersburg last month.
Father Marcel Guarnizo, who's now suspended, has broken his silence on the controversy by posting his side of the story on CNSNews.com. In his statement, the Rev. Marcel Guarnizo says Barbara Johnson introduced another woman as her "lover" without being asked during a Feb. 25 funeral for Johnson's mother. He says "openly confessing sin" should be done in a confessional and not before Communion. He says he then quietly withheld Communion.
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11 comments:
How about all of those priests who are GAY..maybe they should not be participating in communion..my opinion, my thoughts
Gays want to destroy anyone or anything that doesn't subscribe to their lifestyle. Gays are the ones who are intolerant.
The priest was right to do so. I would've done the same thing if someone was going to blatantly disregard the faith of the church, rather than repent. This woman was wrong!
The Catholic church needs to cleanse itself of the gay priests.
So all the gay priests in the church are right...they sin..they are proven to be child molesters/gay they SIN. Those little boys have no choice. If that woman wants to hang out with another woman so be it...they are adults.
1:37 No one is defending child molesters just saying THIS PRIEST was right. He has the right to deny HER of communion.
The woman should not have presented herself for communion because of the grave sin of hatred and bitterness she holds against the Catholic Church.
Does he also deny communion to parishoners who practice birth control, get sterilazed (a mortal sin, BTW,) have pre-marital sex, have ever had an abortion?
If he is going to cast stones, he need to throw at everyone, or keep his hands in his pockets.
If a parishioner told the priest moments before mass that he was an unrepentant (fill in the blank: rapist, thief, adulterer), yes, the priest would have to deny him communion -- for the sake of the person's soul. To receive in a state of sin is to commit the grave sin of sacrilege. As it says in scripture: "For he that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation to himself."
It is unclear why anyone who does not believe what the Catholic Church believes would want to be "in communion" with her. Being "in communion" means being in agreement. If the person does not hold and profess what the church holds and professes, why would he want the sacrament of church membership?
When my dad died, we had the service at his church we did not even go up to take communion. I was not raised catholic I attended the Methodist Church with my mother. We didn't feel it was the right thing to do since we were not Catholic. Call it respect or whatever. This person is only trying to set herself up for a payday.
My comments are derived from reading the article attached and from other printed reports about this situation; I didn’t click the video.
The person claiming offense was raised as a Catholic and later taught in Catholic schools for a number of years; she was well aware of Catholic teaching and practice regarding eligibility to receive communion before her mother passed. She is reported to have left the Church and converted to Buddhism so the possibility of being a lapsed Catholic who could renew her status through confession before the funeral was likely moot. The priest’s statement, as printed in the linked article is clear and direct. He states she told him in person of circumstances which would be a bar to her receipt of communion even if she were an active Catholic. He also states that after he quietly declined to provide communion to her she headed over another Eucharistic minister (who was apparently unaware of her circumstances) where she received communion.
She can have as much or as little dispute with Catholic teachings as she wishes; she chose to leave and follow another religion and therefore was grossly out of order in staging this self-absorbed stunt, more-so at the funeral of her mother. In spite of any other contributions she’s made elsewhere in life, her motivations and actions in this situation were contemptible.
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