The Deacon's Bench
From the Detroit Free Press:
Retired Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, who was the first openly gay man to become a U.S. bishop in the Episcopal Church, has written a Washington Post opinion piece denouncing Detroit Catholic Archbishop Allen Vigneron for saying Catholics who support gay unions or marriage should not receive communion.
Robinson, who recently retired as Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire, wrote in today’s Washington Post “On Faith” blog that Catholic leaders such as Vigneron “profane the Sacrament” and use communion as “a manipulative tool” when they say Catholics who support gay marriage should not present themselves for communion.
“While some are seeking to withhold Communion from pro-choice and pro-marriage-equality Catholics,” wrote Robinson, “I have heard no call to withhold Communion from priests and bishops who have engaged in horrific sexual abuse against vulnerable children, nor their enablers.”
Vigneron told the Free Press earlier this month that Catholics who support gay marriage should not receive Communion, which Catholics believe is the body and blood of Christ.
Vigneron said those who receive Communion while supporting gay marriage “logically bring shame for a double-dealing that is not unlike perjury.” A Detroit Catholic seminary professor and legal advisor to the Vatican, canon lawyer Edward Peters, also said Catholics who promote gay marriage should abstain from communion.
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