Pita Priest in “Pastoral” Slap Down of Faithful at Funeral

Not only did he consecrate a wheat pita but when I went up to receive on the tongue he forcefully tried to pry open my hands to put the Eucharist in my palm. When I remained in front of him with my mouth open, holds folded closed, to receive on the tongue he grabbed my hand and took the Body of Christ, wedged it between my fingers and said, “Just take it. It’s easier this way.”

I’ve heard similar stories from others: A friend who knelt to receive communion was shocked when the priest snarled at him, “Get up. We don’t do that here.” Another friend tells me how he went forward for communion and the priest says, “Hi Fred. Hey. I like your new mustache! The Body of Christ.” Others have said the same as Katrina. They’ve opened their mouth to receive communion on the tongue only to have the priest give them a blessing instead.

This kind of thing is an outrage. What is especially annoying about this is that this kind of priest usually thinks he is a wonderful, laid back, easy going, super nice guy. He’s the sort who advocates “the pastoral approach” which means he doesn’t bother to observe any church rules or regulations, does what he pleases, soothes everybody with a sweet and gooey “church of nice” message and thinks he’s Father Fabulous.

But should he come across a Catholic who happens to have conservative ideas he becomes Father Forceful. He who prides himself on “listening and dialogue” shuts down the conversation. He who is tolerant and open minded suddenly becomes a “my way or the highway” kind of priest. He who dislikes clericalism and wants to “empower the people” gets pretty uptight when one of “the people” doesn’t see things his way.

If this is the “pastoral approach” may the good Lord deliver us from such pastors.

UPDATE: Deacon Kandra weighs in here and provides quotes from the church documents which show how wrong this priest was. The Anchoress rants about this idiocy here and points out another aspect to this story: When Katrina asked for a priest to give last rites to her dying grandmother the parish official who took the call insisted that one of their “prayer teams” could do the job. Lay people can’t anoint the sick. Deacons can’t anoint the sick. What’ up with this priest? Is he also like the others I hear of who can’t even hear confessions properly and refuses to pronounce the words of absolution because that would be “too hierarchical and patriarchal” so he just says, “Go in peace and remember Jesus loves you..”