California Bishop Says He Won't Withhold Communion, Funerals Even to Unrepentant Homosexuals
A bishop from California made it clear that under his watch practicing homosexuals will not be denied Holy Communion or Christian burial—as long as they are sincere in their request for this sacrament.
San Jose Bishop Patrick McGrath made known his stance apparently in response to a directive made earlier by a fellow church official from Illinois, Bishop Thomas Paprocki, who said Holy Communion and Catholic funeral should not be given to unrepentant same-sex couples.
Without mentioning Paprocki's name, McGrath called his fellow bishop's guidelines as "confusing," LifeSiteNews reported.
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"I take this opportunity to assure you that the pastoral response in the Diocese of San Jose remains just that: compassionate and pastoral. We will not refuse sacraments or Christian Burial to anyone who requests them in good faith," McGrath said in his June 29th directive.
He cited Pope Francis' famous quote to justify the giving of Holy Communion to "anyone": "The Eucharist is not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak."
In keeping with Pope Francis' vision for an "inclusive" and "diverse" Church, the San Jose diocese's website has a "Catholic LGBT Ministry" that "offers a monthly 'All Are Welcome' Mass for LGBT Catholics, their families, friends, and all our brothers and sisters in Christ."
Earlier this year the diocese's newspaper carried an article claiming that Jesus would have joined in the pro-abortion Women's March because the "values of the March aligned particularly well with Catholic Social Teaching."
Aside from McGrath and Paprocki, other priests, bishops, and cardinals within the Catholic Church are also contradicting one another on what the Catholic Church teaches. LifeSiteNews says this resulted from the Pope's ambiguous remarks on marriage, sexuality, and conscience.
Last month, Paprocki drew backlash after he instructed the priests in his diocese to stop giving Holy Communion and Catholic funeral rites to unrepentant homosexuals. He said his guidelines, titled "Decree Regarding Same-Sex 'Marriage' and Related Pastoral Issues," are based on Canon 915 and 916 of the Catholic Church.
Canon 915 says that those "obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion." Canon 916 instructs Catholics conscious of grave sin not to "receive the body of the Lord without previous sacramental confession."
But what infuriated the LGBT activists and their supporters were Paprocki's guidelines regarding funerals for active homosexuals who die unrepentant.
"Unless they have given some signs of repentance before their death, deceased persons who had lived openly in a same-sex marriage giving public scandal to the faithful are to be deprived of ecclesiastical funeral rites," the guidelines state.
The guidelines follow Canon Law which state that "manifest sinners...cannot be granted ecclesiastical funerals" if it gives "public scandal" to the faithful, that is, if it leads another to "do evil."
Paprocki wrote that he has a "responsibility as diocesan bishop to guide the people of God entrusted to me with charity but without compromising the truth."
