Schooling those "Christians" one more time

Bill O’Reilly must be a saint. [tee hee]

“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”

Why is it that people like me have to teach Christians their own damn religion? Don’t these Christians read the bible? Oh, right ... they interpret it any way they want. Forgot that.

Christ’s main super important message was: LOVE. LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR.

So many of these Christians just find that so impossible to follow. Why is that? They love to hate and condemn and make others feel bad about themselves. Is it because they feel so bad about their own damn selves?

So, San Francisco and the LBGTQ community is under fire again. From Bill O’Reilly and his ilk. And some of the Catholics from the Roman Catholic Corporation. To read the entire article, go here.

Just this past Sunday, two members of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence received holy communion from Archbishop George Niederauer at a church in the Castro district of San Francisco. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence do push the envelope, true. But, folks, the envelope needs pushing.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle’s article:

"It's been all the news in Catholic circles," said Bill May, chairman of the San Francisco-based Catholics for the Common Good. "Catholics are hurt, frustrated and a bit angry because nobody is standing up and saying this is not right. This is a desecration of the Eucharist. They were there to make a statement and embarrass the archbishop and, in doing so, they desecrated what is most sacred and dear to every Catholic in the world."

Okay. I have questions. How does Bill May know what the two Sisters had in their minds? How does he know what their intentions were?

All this took place at Most Holy Redeemer Church in San Francisco. A fine institution as far as I’m concerned ... I’ve been there many times and I felt so welcome. Not like at other supposedly Christian institutions. [Remember the LOVE message?]

Matt Dorsey, a parishioner of Most Holy Redeemer, said he was impressed by an e-mail sent to the general mailbox of Most Holy Redeemer after the Mass.

Sister Delta Goodhand, one of the two who received communion from Niederauer, wrote:

"Just a quick note to recognize the wonderful mass yesterday at your Church. Your entire congregation was so welcoming and it was great to be able to participate. You are a wonderfully inclusive Church."

Doesn’t sound like mocking to me. But maybe I don’t have those finely-tuned, paranoid right-wing Christian ears.

A professor of moral theology at University of San Francisco, a Jesuit university, was interviewed:

"The general sacramental principle is that you don't deny the sacrament to someone who requests it," said the Rev. Jim Bretzke, professor of moral theology at University of San Francisco, a Jesuit Catholic university. "The second principle is that you cannot give communion to someone who has been excommunicated."

He said such people are designated "manifest public sinners" in canon law.

"This is someone who violates in a serious way one of the Ten Commandments or one of the important laws of the Church," he said. "While I can see Bill O'Reilly and others might be offended, the sisters do not meet the criteria the church has for denying Communion. Over-accessorizing and poor taste in makeup is not an excommunicable offense."

Bretzke added, "Even if these people were bizarrely dressed, the archbishop was following clear pastoral and canonical principles in giving them Communion. The default is, you give Holy Communion to one who presents himself."

Matt Dorsey adds:

"I was there in jeans and T-shirt," he said. "I have to give the Sisters credit for taking far more time getting ready than I did."

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