Last week’s news that Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron
suggested withholding communion from Catholics that support gay marriage had a
huge response in the letter section of the Detroit Free Press.
Some of the letters supporting Vigneron were typical of the
sheep mentality of some Catholics and their profound ignorance of Christianity
itself. I am sad but not surprised to say that many of those have Polish
surnames.
One letter says that Jesus never said it would be easy to
follow the gospel. The gospels were written 50-100 years after the death of
Jesus so…? She continues that Jesus provided a definition of marriage to his
followers and gave authority to his church. Jesus was born a Jew and died a Jew;
he never started a church/religion named after him, his mission was to reform
Judaism of the day.
A few letters told Archbishop Vigneron to clean up his own
house before sticking his nose into other people’s houses.
One letter writer asks why the church doesn't deny communion
to those favoring the death penalty; is there a double standard here?
And there was a letter by a Catholic nun titled: STANCE ON
COMMUNION IS EMBARRASSING, PUZZLING asking the archbishop if at communion,
everyone will be asked where they stand before placing the wafer in their
hands?
What about all those Catholic women that use contraception;
should they be denied communion?
Other letters remind Vigneron to “give to Caesar the things
that are Caesar’s and to" God the things that are God’s” and “Love thy neighbor
as one self”.
I liked one letter saying that communion is like an all-inclusive
dinner table; not the clergy’s table but the Lord’s Table.
And a director of the Thomas Moore Project in Baltimore, MD
asks Vigneron where he got the power to judge who is worthy to receive
communion and who is not. He quotes “Judge not…” & “Take this all of you…”
But the most dramatic and to me, influential letters was the
one written to Vigneron by a Catholic mother of a gay son titled:
DISCRIMINATION AND EXCLUSION BY THE CHURCH IS NOT GOD’S WORK.
The mother resented Vigneron for suggesting she had a “malformed”
conscience for believing that we are all God’s children deserving of his love.
She says that she has learnt to think for herself and not
blindly believe in “pray, pay & obey.”
She tells him “you don’t own God” and God is not limited and
small-minded like you would want us to believe.
She also accused the church hierarchy of forgetting who
Jesus was and what he taught: “Love one another as I have loved you…” and “Love
thy neighbor as one self” and “ do unto others as you would want done to you”…
And the big ending: who is the church? WE are the church, WE are the body of Christ
and not you, so don’t be dismissive of US.
She did manage to suggest at the end that are probably many
priests, bishops and cardinals that should not be receiving communion.
Great to see that the Catholic community is still alive and
well.
No comments:
Post a Comment