At a Catholic church in Maryland this week, a lesbian woman was denied communion at her mother’s funeral because she lives with her female partner.
Father Marcel Guarnizo was officiating the funeral mass for Loetta Johnson on Saturday, and when it came time for communion, he told attendees that only “church members in a state of grace” would receive communion.
Barbara Johnson, the daughter of the deceased woman, apparently isn’t considered to be in a “state of grace,” seeing as how she lives with another woman. In fact, the priest looked her in the eye and told her this was the reason he couldn’t give her communion. While the Catholic church does condemn homosexuality, general policy is that matters of communion should be handled privately and people should not be publicly shamed.
The Archdiocese of Washington has apologized for the priest’s actions, but Johnson and her family are fighting for the priest to lose his officiating privileges.
“We’re urging the church to make that decision, so that this doesn’t happen to anyone else, to any other families,” Johnson said. “It’s the right thing to do.”
This is downright disgusting. It really bothers me that individuals such as this priest could be so insensitive and borderline cruel during a person’s time of need, regardless of what their stances on homosexuality are. Ugh.
