{"id":11278,"date":"2012-03-01T06:06:43","date_gmt":"2012-03-01T12:06:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=11278"},"modified":"2016-09-30T17:24:27","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T21:24:27","slug":"on-denying-communion-how-grave-does-a-sin-have-to-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/03\/on-denying-communion-how-grave-does-a-sin-have-to-be\/","title":{"rendered":"On denying communion: “How grave does a sin have to be?”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The Barbara Johnson story <\/a><\/strong>continues to stir debate \u2014 including this item<\/a><\/strong> from the Washington Post about when communion should be denied:<\/p>\n

Some people believe Catholic teaching either required the Gaithersburgh pries<\/a>t to deny the woman Communion \u2013 or at the least gave him the right to \u2013 while others believe the opposite. Both sides cite canon<\/a> law<\/a> and high-level teachings and Scripture<\/p>\n

There are so many phrases that need to be parsed and defined: What is a mortal sin? What does it mean to be alienated from God? What is the pastoral thing to do when a priest is confronted with someone apparently violating a church teaching? What is the right kind of respect a priest should have for a Catholic\u2019s free will and conscience?<\/p>\n

First, the nuts and bolts. Catholicism teaches that, during Communion, Catholics receive the literal body and blood of Christ in the form of wafers and wine; the church teaches that in this moment, Catholics become transformed so they can be more Christ-like.<\/p>\n

People \u201cin a state of grave sin\u201d are not supposed to take Communion, said the Rev. Thomas Reese, senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center. \u201cBut how grave does a sin have to be to cut you completely off from God?,\u201d Reese asked. \u201cSome would say any sex (heterosexual or homosexual) outside of a valid marriage is a grave sin. Others would argue it is not so grave as to cut a sinner completely off from God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who decides how a grave sin is defined? The U.S. bishops in 2006, as the country debated whether pro-choice politicians could receive Communion, approved a document that appeared to list situations <\/a>that violate church teaching and make someone ineligible for Communion. They included everything from \u201csexual activity outside the bonds of a valid marriage\u201d to harboring hatred of others, missing Mass on Sundays \u201cwithout serious reason\u201d and stealing.<\/p>\n

People in such states shouldn\u2019t present themselves for Communion, the document said, before becoming more broad. A footnote said the document was not intended to be a specific list, and instead was meant to encourage Catholics to set a high bar for their personal conduct.<\/p>\n

Catholics, it said, who have \u201chonest doubt and confusion\u201d about some church teachings \u201care welcome to partake of holy Communion, as long as they are prayerfully and honestly striving to understand the truth of what the church professes and are taking appropriate steps to resolve their confusion and doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lot of talk about what is mortal sin. It means to be totally alienated from God. Many theologians say this is hard to do,\u201d Reese said\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026The Rev. Tom Richstatter, a liturgist at St. Meinrad Seminary in Indiana, said the question of who takes Communion is \u201cabout your understanding of what God is, and what the Eucharist is,\u201d he said, using the word that means both the Communion rite and the wafer and wine. \u201cFor some priests, law and rules are the way to safeguard that, and others feel compassion in Jesus is the ultimate deciding factor.\u201d<\/p>\n

The vast majority of American bishops oppose denying Communion, at least to politicians. When voting on it in 2004, in the context of pro-choice politicians, three times as many bishops said they opposed it than those who favored it<\/a>. That year they issued a public position, by a vote of 183-6, saying it should be up to the individual bishop to decide whether to give pro-choice politicians Communion.<\/p>\n

The policy in the Archdiocese of Washington, as established by Cardinal Donald Wuerl, is not to withhold Communion <\/a>and for priests to privately counsel Catholics who they believe to be wrestling with violations of church teaching.<\/p>\n

Past president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Cardinal Francis George has taken a similar position, as has recent Los Angeles archbishop Cardinal Roger Mahony<\/a>. He said during the so-called \u201cwafer wars\u201d that his \u201carchdiocese will continue to follow church teaching which places the duty on each Catholic to examine their consciences as to their worthiness to receive holy Communion .. That is not the role of the person distributing the body and blood of Christ.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read it all. <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Barbara Johnson story continues to stir debate \u2014 including this item from the Washington Post about when communion should be denied: Some people believe Catholic teaching either required the Gaithersburgh priest to deny the woman Communion \u2013 or at the least gave him the right to \u2013 while others believe the opposite. Both sides […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[1056,11196],"class_list":["post-11278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sacraments","tag-barbara-johnson","tag-sacraments"],"yoast_head":"\nOn denying communion: "How grave does a sin have to be?"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Barbara Johnson story continues to stir debate -- including this item from the Washington Post about when communion should be denied: Some people\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/03\/on-denying-communion-how-grave-does-a-sin-have-to-be\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On denying communion: "How grave does a sin have to be?"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Barbara Johnson story continues to stir debate -- including this item from the Washington Post about when communion should be denied: Some people\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/03\/on-denying-communion-how-grave-does-a-sin-have-to-be\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-03-01T12:06:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-09-30T21:24:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/03\/on-denying-communion-how-grave-does-a-sin-have-to-be\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/03\/on-denying-communion-how-grave-does-a-sin-have-to-be\/\",\"name\":\"On denying communion: \\\"How grave does a sin have to be?\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-03-01T12:06:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-30T21:24:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970\"},\"description\":\"The Barbara Johnson story continues to stir debate -- including this item from the Washington Post about when communion should be denied: Some people\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/03\/on-denying-communion-how-grave-does-a-sin-have-to-be\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/03\/on-denying-communion-how-grave-does-a-sin-have-to-be\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/03\/on-denying-communion-how-grave-does-a-sin-have-to-be\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"On denying communion: “How grave does a sin have to be?”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/\",\"name\":\"The Deacon's Bench\",\"description\":\"Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970\",\"name\":\"Deacon Greg Kandra\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Deacon Greg Kandra\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"On denying communion: \"How grave does a sin have to be?\"","description":"The Barbara Johnson story continues to stir debate -- including this item from the Washington Post about when communion should be denied: Some people","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/03\/on-denying-communion-how-grave-does-a-sin-have-to-be\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"On denying communion: \"How grave does a sin have to be?\"","og_description":"The Barbara Johnson story continues to stir debate -- including this item from the Washington Post about when communion should be denied: Some people","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/03\/on-denying-communion-how-grave-does-a-sin-have-to-be\/","og_site_name":"The Deacon's Bench","article_published_time":"2012-03-01T12:06:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-09-30T21:24:27+00:00","author":"Deacon Greg Kandra","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Deacon Greg Kandra","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/03\/on-denying-communion-how-grave-does-a-sin-have-to-be\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/03\/on-denying-communion-how-grave-does-a-sin-have-to-be\/","name":"On denying communion: \"How grave does a sin have to be?\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-03-01T12:06:43+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-30T21:24:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970"},"description":"The Barbara Johnson story continues to stir debate -- including this item from the Washington Post about when communion should be denied: Some people","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/03\/on-denying-communion-how-grave-does-a-sin-have-to-be\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/03\/on-denying-communion-how-grave-does-a-sin-have-to-be\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/03\/on-denying-communion-how-grave-does-a-sin-have-to-be\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"On denying communion: “How grave does a sin have to be?”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/","name":"The Deacon's Bench","description":"Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970","name":"Deacon Greg Kandra","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Deacon Greg Kandra"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11278\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}