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| Father Marcel Guarnizo |
I think Father Marcel Guarnizo is a complete asshat, as I said--HERE--even after it was pointed out that the Lesbian in question, Barbara Johnson, was a Buddhist and shouldn't be receiving Communion. That didn't explain Father Marcel Guarnizo's other appalling behavior.
And now, the Not-So-Good padre has been been placed on administrative leave from ministry in the Washington archdiocese, though the specific details of his "leave" were not made available.
However, a letter from Bishop Barry Knestout, written to other archdiocesan priests, says the punishment was for “engaging in intimidating behavior toward parish staff and others that is incompatible with proper priestly ministry.”
i.e. He was an asshat.
The archdiocese confirmed Guarnizo's removal, and noted that Knestout's letter was read at all Masses this weekend at St. John Neumann, where the Reverend Thomas LaHood noted that the removal was not related to the Communion standoff, but "pertains to actions over the past week or two." He did not elaborate.
LaHood, though, did speak about the disagreements that have unfolded in the parish because of the funeral Mass scene: "As we know there’s been disagreement within the parish over how and to whom Communion is distributed. 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. I realize this letter is hard to hear. Please keep mind that this is a first personnel issue, dealing with issues of ministry in the church. Father Guarnizo will have every opportunity to present his position."
An archdiocesan spokeswoman would not clarify if LaHood's comments meant that Guarnizo would not be penalized for his denying Communion to Barbara Johnson at the funeral.
Johnson has maintained that as she approached Guarnizo in the Communion line that day, he covered the bread and told her that he could not give her the sacrament “because you live with a woman, and in the eyes of the church, that is a sin.”
Guarnizo has refused to comment on what happened at the Mass.
The interaction between Johnson and Guarnizo has triggered intense debate among Catholics. Some say being in a same-sex relationship makes Barbara Johnson automatically ineligible for Communion, a moment that Catholicism teaches creates the actual presence of Jesus Christ and is not for people outside of a "state of grace." Others believe the process of determining a person’s “state of grace” is more complex and personal, between God and the Catholic.
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| Barbara Johnson |
Yet, in a public statement, the archdiocese implied that both sides were at fault: “We believe that to receive Communion, a person should be in the state of grace, which means that they are not conscious of having committed a sin serious enough that it ruptures their relationship with God....If a person is conscious of having committed a grave sin, he or she may not receive Communion until they have received absolution in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. A person who is conscious of grave sin but has no opportunity to go to Confession may receive Communion for a serious reason, but first that person must pray to Christ expressing their sorrow, also known as a perfect act of contrition....”
Whatever the case, Father Marcel Guarnizo's behavior was reprehensible. If Barbara Johnson, as a Lesbian, is not to be offered, or ask for, Communion, that's one thing; if she has no right to Communion because she's ALLEGEDLY a Buddhist, that's another thing. But for Father Marcel Guarnizo to leave the altar during the eulogy for one of his parishioners, or even just another Catholic, and for him to refuse to attend the burial service, is despicable.
All in the name of god, no doubt.
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My parish priest always taught that no one was in a "state of grace" and that if communion was restricted to only those in a state of grace no one could take it. Communion is meant for sinners. If you are already saintly, you don't need it.
ReplyDeleteEucharist is not to be given to the Quaker, Lutheran, and Buddhist since they are outside the Church
ReplyDeleteIf a Quaker, a Lutheran or a Buddhist, desiring communion had introduced himself as such, before Mass, a priest would be obligated to withhold communion. If someone had shown up in my sacristy drunk, or high on drugs, no communion would have been possible either. If a Catholic, divorced and remarried (without an annulment) would make that known in my sacristy, they too according to Catholic doctrine, would be impeded from receiving communion. This has nothing to do with canon 915. Ms. Johnson’s circumstances are precisely one of those relations which impede her access to communion according to Catholic teaching. Ms. Johnson was a guest in our parish, not the arbitrer of how sacraments are dispensed in the Catholic Church.- Fr. Marcel Guarnizo, Archdiocese of Washington D.C
The Eucharist is not to be given to the Quaker, Lutheran or Buddhist. Since outside the Church there is no salvation. They are outside the Church. They are not saved.
Fr. Marcel Guarnizo could have been endorsing the rigorist interpretation of the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus. The same interpretation of Fr. Leonard Feeney, the Church Fathers, popes, Councils, Catechisms, Vatican Council I and II and Michael Voris at Real Catholic TV.com.
Ad Gentes 7 Vatican Council II says all need to enter the Cburch for salvation. All includes the Quaker,Lutheran and Buddhist. (1).
Lumen Gentium 14 says faith and baptism are necessary for salvation. The Buddhist does not have faith or baptism. The Lutheran does not have Catholic Faith.(2)
Dominus Iesus says though Christ died for all, for salvation all need to enter the Church with faith and baptism. Non Catholics do not have faith and baptism. They need to respond and enter the Church to saved.(3)
The dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus, the infallible teaching mentioned by Pope Pius XII in the Letter of the Holy Office says all need to convert into the Church to avoid Hell. (4)
The Catechism of the Catholic Church repeats the teaching of Vatican Council II and other magisterial texts. All need to enter the Church with Catholic Faith and the baptism of water, one needs to enter the Church as through a door.(5)
Note: There are no known cases on earth of a non Catholic saved in invincible ignorance, the baptism of desie, a good conscience, the seeds of the Word etc. We can only accept in principle that these are possibilities known only to God. So they do not contradict any of the magisterial texts mentioned above.
-Lionel Andrades
1.
Therefore, all must be converted to Him, made known by the Church's preaching, and all must be incorporated into Him by baptism and into the Church which is His body. For Christ Himself "by stressing in express language the necessity of faith and baptism (cf. Mark 16:16; John 3:5), at the same time confirmed the necessity of the Church, into which men enter by baptism, as by a door.-Ad Gentes 7
CONTINUED
http://eucharistandmission.blogspot.com/2012/03/eucharist-is-not-to-be-given-to-quaker.html