Cardinal George denies Communion to Rainbow Sash gay activists

Published: 2004-06-01

CHICAGO (CNS) -- After Chicago Cardinal Francis E. George denied the Eucharist to protesters wearing rainbow sashes on Pentecost Sunday, he and several gay activists said the problem wasn't that the protesters were identifying themselves as homosexual but that they were using the Eucharist for a political statement. "When you come with a statement about yourself, that's not the way to receive it," said Cardinal George in an interview on the "Catholic Community of Faith" radio show May 28, two days before about a dozen members or supporters of the gay activist Rainbow Sash Movement were refused Communion at Chicago's Holy Name Cathedral. "Eucharist is not a place to deform the meaning of our beliefs," the cardinal added. "Our most profound act of worship is receiving holy Communion. We can talk this through in other places, but not make the Eucharist a statement -- except that this is the body of Christ and we receive it on his terms." In the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, Archbishop Harry J. Flynn took a different tack. He issued a statement beforehand saying sash wearers "will not be denied Communion" in his cathedral. He said he took that stance because members of the movement "have previously assured us, in writing, that their attendance at the annual Pentecost Mass at the Cathedral of St. Paul is not in protest of the church's teachings and ... they were most respectful in their worship during the Mass a year ago."

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