The optics of this story are terrible. Headlines around the nation will no doubt read "Priest who denied Communion to lesbian is suspended". You may recall that Father Marcel Guarnizo, acting in perfect consistency with long-standing Church teaching and history, recently refused Communion to an active lesbian and Buddhist who was attending her mother's funeral. To orthodox Catholics, this was a non-issue, the only scandal being that a militant lesbian, and non-Catholic to boot, attempted to receive Communion, not that the courageous priest refused her. Predictably, the media went into apoplexy and circled the wagons around the alleged victim in the story, lambasting Father Guarnizo as a cruel agent of intolerance and hate. One might have hoped that the Diocese of Washington would have supported their besieged priest, but it was not to be. Gaining the approval of public opinion and fear of public backlash prevailed at the Curia. A timid apology was shamefully issued, thus solidifying Father Guarnizo's image as the local villain. And we wonder why there's a crisis in Catholic identity in the United States. Leadership, anyone?
An excerpt from a diocesan letter to local Catholics reads that Father Guarnizo was suspended because he "engaged in intimidating behavior toward parish staff and others that is incompatible with proper priestly ministry." Does that really warrant a public rebuke and official suspension that will forever shadow Father Guarnizo's reputation? Unless there's something truly outrageous that we don't know, this reaction smacks of overkill and a pathetic eagerness to appeal to public opinion.
According to people I know, Father Marcel Guarnizo is a firmly orthodox priest who may just need a little direction in terms of his pastoral touch. Even though, as reported in the story linked above, the Diocese of Washington denies that the suspension is a result of Father Guarnizo's refusal of Communion, it will no doubt be perceived that the two issues are at least tangentially related. The enemies of Father Guarnizo will feel vindicated that their bête noire has been silenced, for now. It is curious that such fierce punishments are not meted out to priests who routinely take any number of liberties with regard to the Liturgy. What is more grave: an orthodox priest who may be a little rough around the edges but defends the integrity of the Church's greatest Sacrament, or a milquetoast priest who distorts the practice of Sacred Liturgy and is thereby responsible for the malformation in the faith of an entire parish? Is overseeing a reign of terror with regard to out of control liturgical abuses and scandals compatible with "proper priestly ministry"?
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As our local pastor Fr. Jerome Fasano refreshingly said in his homily this Sunday.
ReplyDelete"The Church does not change with the times. It changes the times."
So many Catholics don't get it. They're up to their neck in a swamp of relativism - and in many cases through no fault of their own.
I don't understand the reprimand from this priest's diocese. What he did seems to fit canon law perfectly.
ReplyDeleteThe New Commentary on Canon Law states: “Eucharistic Ministers are also to refuse holy communion when they are certain (1) that a person has committed a sin that is objectively grave, (2) that the sinner is obstinately persevering in this sinful state, and (3) that this sin is manifest,” or widely known to those present at the Mass.
The woman to whom Fr. Guarnizo denied communion introduced him to her female lover prior to Mass. Which of these three criteria did the situation not meet?
Even if Fr. Guarnizo was suspended merely for "intimidating behavior toward parish staff and others," his bishop certainly picked the wrong time to suspend him. Suspending Guarnizo now will be interpreted by the majority of Americans, including American Catholics, as a show of approval for homosexual activism.
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