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Gay Catholics Denied Communion
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

Posted: May 16, 2005 12:01 am ET

(St. Paul, Minnesota) A group of about 100 gay Roman Catholics and their supporters were denied Holy Communion at Pentecost Mass at the Cathedral of St. Paul on Sunday.

The Rainbow Sash Alliance has been taking Communion on Pentecost at the Cathedral for the past four years, but Archbishop Harry Flynn changed the policy this year, under pressure from the Vatican.

Earlier this month Flynn, in a letter to the Rainbow Sash Alliance, warned that members would be denied communion because their sashes were seen as a protest against Catholic teaching and unacceptable to the Vatican.

"I am asking you to remove your sashes before you receive Holy Communion," Flynn wrote. "I ask you to observe this sign of respect for the Eucharist not only in the Cathedral but in all our parishes. No one wearing the sash will be permitted to receive the Blessed Sacrament."

The Rainbow Sash movement is an international organization of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Catholics and their families and friends.

Among those who attended mass Sunday were Dominican Sister Donna Quinn, director of the National Coalition of American Nuns, Joseph and Barbara Parot of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) and long time Catholic gay rights activist Rick Garcia.

After the sash wearers were denied, Sister Donna, the Parots and Garcia approached the altar and received Communion. To the surprise of some, including the sash wearers, the four then approached the sash-wearers and gave them a portion of their consecrated hosts.

"It is a scandal that the Body of Christ would be denied to a baptized Catholic who approached the altar simply because of what he or she was wearing. I am still shocked and in disbelief that the priest would deny these people," said Sister Donna Quinn. "The Eucharist should not be used as a political tool and that is exactly what Cardinal George has made it."

Sister Quinn and the Parots approached the priest after Mass and expressed their displeasure and sadness at his action.

"Some priests and bishops throughout the country have denied communion to sash wearers today. How many of these same priests have ever denied anyone else communion?" Garcia asked. "This has nothing to do with upholding Church teaching and it has everything to do with rank anti-gay sentiment."

©365Gay.com 2005

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Oh yea, Jesus came to teach us discrimination and he came save only the few, I get it now.