Deep in grief, Barbara Johnson stood first in the line for Communion at her mother’s funeral Saturday morning. But the priest in front of her immediately made it clear that she would not receive the sacramental bread and wine.
Johnson, an art-studio owner from the District, had come to St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Gaithersburg with her lesbian partner. The Rev. Marcel Guarnizo had learned of their relationship just before the service.
“He put his hand over the body of Christ and looked at me and said, ‘I can’t give you Communion because you live with a woman, and in the eyes of the church, that is a sin,’ ” she recalled Tuesday.
She reacted with stunned silence. Her anger and outrage have now led her and members of her family to demand that Guarnizo be removed from his ministry.
Family members said the priest left the altar while Johnson, 51, was delivering a eulogy and did not attend the burial or find another priest to be there.
John Shore interviewed Barbara Johnson after her mother's funeral service.
Yes, Fr. Guarnizo denied Barbara communion. But almost immediately thereafter a layperson acting as the service’s Eucharistic Minister did lovingly serve Barbara communion.The story illustrates why I do not urge my Roman Catholic friends and acquaintances to follow my example and leave the RCC. Besides, the decision to stay or to go is the responsibility of each individual after prayerful reflection. The good people amongst the laity and the clergy in the church who live the Gospel of Christ, will yet be the salvation of their church. Not the pope, not the bishops: It will be the lowly folks who are the church, no less than the pope and the bishops, who will save the church and the hierarchy from themselves. I know Roman Catholic clergy and laity who live by the Two Great Commandments and the Golden Rule and serve God and God's people with love and compassion, sometimes in the face of obstructionist tactics by those in authority. Who will take their place if they leave?
Yes, Fr. Guarnizo essentially shunned Barbara. But directly following the service (and to a necessarily lesser degree during the service), Barbara was also surrounded and hugged by fellow Catholics who made a point of telling her that Fr. Marcel in no way represented the love of the Church.
Yes, Fr. Guarnizo shamelessly refused to go to the cemetery. But immediately thereupon the funeral director (“an angel,” says Barbara) comforted Barbara with assurances that he would quickly secure a priest to perform the burial. He then turned to Fr. Peter Sweeney, who wasted no time at all stepping right out of his retirement, and right into the Johnson funeral service.
“Father Sweeney was perfect,” says Barbara. “We couldn’t have asked for a kinder, more loving priest. Both Father Sweeney and the funeral director acted as soothing balms on our very scarred hearts.”
Thanks to Paul (A.) who sent me the link to the post by Fred Clark at Slactivist, along with the note, "I had been familiar with the main story but not the followup as explained in Slacktivist." I knew the original story as well, but I did not know the tale of the Roman Catholics who stepped forward with words and deeds of love after Fr Guarnizo demonstrated a complete lack of compassion. Thanks be to God for the people who acted in a Christ-like manner!
As an update, Fr. Guarnizo has been placed on administrative leave by his bishop, although for "engaging in intimidating behavior toward parish staff and others that is incompatible with proper priestly ministry" rather than specifically for his behavior toward Ms. Johnson.
ReplyDeletePaul (A.), thanks for the update.
ReplyDelete“From my perspective, this disagreement and related emotions flow from love. Love for Christ, really and truly present in the Eucharist. However, how we live out this love is important. The scriptures tell us that we are known above all by how we love.”
Weasel words from the bishop. I doubt that Christ in the Eucharist viewed of Fr Guarnizo's actions as loving in any manner whatsoever.
First, the bishop does not mention anything about Ms Johnson's treatment in his removal of Fr Guarnizo. I'm sure there are a number of Guarnizo's about; the commenter Fr Michael on our blogs springs to mind.
ReplyDeleteSecond, while it's all well and good that individual RC are pulling people out of the river, so to speak, what are they doing to keep their church from throwing people in, to begin with?
Third, I point you at this from Andrew Sullivan on recent RC behaviors:
This is a church now intent on erasing from visibility a small minority of human beings, while waging a campaign to keep them as second class citizens in their own countries and as subhuman "objectively disordered" beings in their own church. They cannot even speak our name. Because were they to see us as the human beings we are, if they had to confront the actual experienced reality of our lives, if they actually had a conversation with us, and engaged the problem rather than dismissing it as "madness", their pretense would be exposed.
The leaders of the current Catholic hierarchy are the Pharisees of our time. They are the people Jesus came to liberate us from. And he does. And he will.
I believe that the bishop also said that the actions were not in accordance with the canons.
ReplyDeleteCorrection: The words I quoted are from Fr Thomas LaHood, not from the bishop.
ReplyDeleteIT, you're correct. The bishop did not mention Johnson's mistreatment at all. I hope, perhaps against hope, that he speak about Fr Guarnizo's actions in time to come.
I don't know what other Roman Catholics are doing to prevent people from being thrown into the river, unless their actions are public, or unless they tell me. I know there are folks speaking out against the mistreatment of LGTB persons from within the church, but I don't have time now to do the research. It's clergy and laity and most surely not the hierarchy.
susankay, Fr G acted against Christ's most important teachings, which take precedence over any canons created by human beings.
RC laypeople's money should absolutely leave! [Perhaps RC laypeople should design a special liturgy, wherein at the offertory, they throw the EMPTY collection plate around like a frisbee. While waving rainbow banners!]
ReplyDeleteI left because I could not write a check. I tried to write, but my my mind would not let my fingers do the motions. Still, I'm not telling others what they must do. None of us has clean hands in so many different ways, and the Episcopal Church is not without sin.
ReplyDeleteStill, I'm not telling others what they must do.
DeleteWell, Mimi, I am. I'm queer, so I'm going to say "Don't spend money that WILL be used to oppress me."
{pause}
"Please."
[Must they do as I plead? Only if they want to follow Jesus Christ. "OCICBW"]
JCF, of course you're free to say what you like.
DeleteMimi -- while I realize that "canons" may have more to do with forms to fill out, they often mean more than that -- I had assumed that Fr. G's bishop was actually saying that what Fr. G had done was wrong.
ReplyDeletesusankay, why doesn't the bishop speak plainly then, and say Fr G was wrong to turn Barbara away from communion? Because that's not the way the RCC operates in cases like this.
ReplyDeletePardon this cynical thought, but maybe Fr. G wants to be transferred to Rome A la Cardinal Law and Bishop Bruskiewz. It seems that when these gents do some outrageous black and white follow-- the -law-exactly thing that gets in the news, they get called to Rome and cushy jobs. What think ye?
ReplyDeletenij
Pardon this cynical thought, but maybe Fr. G wants to be transferred to Rome A la Cardinal Law and Bishop Bruskiewz. It seems that when these gents do some outrageous black and white follow-- the -law-exactly thing that gets in the news, they get called to Rome and cushy jobs. What think ye?
ReplyDeletenij
In fact the reason given for why Fr G has been placed on gardening leave is interesting since it suggests a general trend towards bullying, hurtful behaviour. It would be surprising if someone capable of acting as unpleasantly as that hadn't caused other problems.
ReplyDeleteI will note that the Catholic hierarchy in England had a letter read out at every Mass last Sunday opposing the proposed change in the law to allow marriage (and not just civil unions) to people of the same sex.
ReplyDeleteNij, will Fr G get a basilica in Rome? I guess not. He's a mere priest.
ReplyDeleteCathy, few in the hierarchy seem to be able to straightforwardly admit they're wrong without cluttering up their admission with obfuscating verbiage. It seems unlikely to me that Fr G's ugly behavior sprang full-blown from a previous pattern of compassionate ministry.
Erp, the RC bishops in the US do the same thing, and it infuriates me. No clergy will be forced to marry same-sex couples or bless SS civil unions, but some churches want to marry and bless, and why should they be prevented?
ReplyDeleteGrandmère writes:
ReplyDelete"The good people amongst the laity and the clergy in the church who live the Gospel of Christ, will yet be the salvation of their church."
I don't want it saved; I don't think it can be. It's imploding; I want that to continue, and I want the laypeople and 'Great Commandment' clergy to get out of the way so they're not hurt by falling bricks and stained glass.
The Roman Church can't be reformed, Mimi; people have tried for 500 years and it doesn't work. The only thing to do about a dictatorship is to destroy it.
So let the evil thing collapse if it must, so the catholic religion can continue with faithful catholic people. When you say "I don't urge anyone to leave, it's their decision and so very personal," you're ignoring the danger to their souls, while the eaves crack and groan over their heads and the dust rains down.
The Bishop of Kansas City is criminally indicted. So is the monsignor in Philadelphia who was Secretary of Clergy for 12 years; his Archdiocese is an unindicted co-conspirator. Dioceses have gone bankrupt; the pedophile scandal has cost billions. Re-read your own Tennessee Williams quote, lady.
When the Titanic hits the iceberg, it's time to tell people, "Get in the lifeboats!" At least help secure the ones you care about.
Yesterday, at a Roman Catholic funeral for a beloved grandmother, my nephew, an Episcopalian, was denied communion as well. His sin? Being seven years old. He receives in his home church and did not understand why he was excluded. He was not even given a blessing - he was physically pushed away when he approached the priest for the sacrament. That's all he will remember of the funeral, and also of the Roman Catholic Church. Suffer the little children, indeed.
ReplyDeleteI can't speak for those who stay, but I will tell you that I left NOT because of any gay issues but because I felt like I should confess to the sin of supporting a worldwide institution that knowingly enabled and protected those who harmed innocent children.
ReplyDeleteJosh, I think of the people in the RCC, rather than the institution...the people who are as much the church as the hierarchy.
ReplyDeleteOh Jennie! How lacking in compassion and what scandal caused to one of the little ones.
Wade, I have enough trouble dealing with my own sins to dictate to others what they should do and where they should go to church.
I left the RCC because I felt that remaining made me an enabler of a system (primarily antiwoman) that I could no longer support. As long as there are warm bodies in the pews and cold cash in the collection plate the abuses will continue. As for reforming this institution from within? Don't hold your breath!
ReplyDeleteThose who say they remain because of the faith can find the same faith in TEC. I certainly did.
whiteycat, I found a home in the Episcopal Church. In fact, when I visited the Episcopal Church, I felt as though I had come home. The church and I were a good fit.
DeleteI've blogged extensively about the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" of the Catholics who remain. I don't see how they can reform anything and I become increasingly agitated that they are tacitly and materially supporting an institution doing active harm. I'm so glad BP found her way over the Thames!
DeleteI'm so glad BP found her way over the Thames!
DeleteIT, I'm glad BP crossed the Thames, too, but you loved her before she crossed over. You make part of my point for me. I won't demand that my friends leave their church.
Andrew Sullivan is running a series called They cannot even speak our name discussing how the RC silence over GLBT people goes as far as even outlawing mention of the words gay or lesbian. It's worth reading the various entries.
ReplyDeleteIt never continues to amaze me how many of those cruelest in this battle are those themselves gay, who have much invested in the closet, and who clearly resent like hell the out and healthy gay people claiming their humanity.
IT, with me you and Andrew are preaching to the choir. I absolutely agree that the hypocrites are some of the worst of the lot, whatever denomination they belong to.
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