An Illinois Roman Catholic bishop is
calling on priests to deny Holy Communion and funeral rights to gay
men and lesbians who are not celibate.
Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Catholic
Diocese of Springfield is an outspoken opponent of marriage equality.
In a decree issued last week, Paprocki
claimed that the church has “the serious obligation to affirm its
authentic teaching on marriage and to preserve and foster the sacred
value of the married state,” which it says excludes gay couples.
Gay men and lesbians who are married
should not be “admitted to Holy Communion” given “the
objectively immoral nature” of their union, the
decree states.
“In danger of death, a person living
publicly in a same-sex marriage may be given Holy Communion in the
form of Viaticum if he or she expresses repentance for his or her
sins.”
Paprocki added that married gay persons
cannot participate in other church sacraments, such as serving as a
sponsor of baptism or confirmation, “unless he or she has withdrawn
from the objectively immoral relationship.”
Paprocki added that Catholics in a
same-sex marriage should be denied funeral rites unless they showed
“some signs of repentance before their death.”
Christ Prett, president of DignityUSA,
an LGBT-inclusive group, called the document “mean-spirited and
hurtful in the extreme.”
Paprocki, 64, was a vocal opponent of
Illinois' passage of a law four years ago that extended marriage to
gay couples, going so far as to perform an exorcism against same-sex
marriage.
At the time, Paprocki said the ceremony
was about love: “Being opposed to things that are sinful, that's
actually a very loving thing.”
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