Archbishop bans sexually active gays from holy communion to ‘avoid confusion’

PinkNews logo surrounded by illustrated images including a rainbow, unicorn, PN sign and pride flag.

The ban will also apply to divorcees and couples ‘living in sin’.

Gay Catholics with active sex lives can no longer receive Holy Communion in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput has issued a new set of pastoral guidelines that also rules out communion for Catholics who are divorced, remarried or unmarried couples who live together.

Archbishop bans sexually active gays from holy communion to ‘avoid confusion’

The archbishop says the move is his way of “hard teaching” those he feels promote “moral confusion” with the Catholic community.

Furthermore, LGBT people – along with divorcees and couples “living in sin” – will be banned from serving on parish councils, instructing the faithful and dispensing Communion.

Attempting to justify his decision, Chaput claimed that allowing anybody in an “irregular relationships” to have positions of responsibility in the church would “offer a serious counter-witness to Catholic belief, which can only produce moral confusion in the community.”

Chaput – who helps spread the Pope’s teachings across the US – issued the document detailing the ban following last year’s synod on family, results of which were issued in April.

The long-awaited report affirmed existing church teachings opposing gay equality and same-sex marriage.

In the document, the Pope says that gay people should receive “assistance” to bring them back to normality, and affirms there are “absolutely no grounds” for considering recognition of “homosexual unions”.

The document also claimed that sex education “promotes narcissism” and should instead be focused on “modesty”. It also continues the church’s long-held stance of opposing condom use.

In May, the Pope also claimed that government officials who are Catholic should have the ‘freedom of conscience’ to discriminate against married gay people.

Archbishop bans sexually active gays from holy communion to ‘avoid confusion’

However, just a month later – despite consistently failing to recognise homosexuality as anything other than sin and arguably encouraging stigma towards the LGBT community – the pontiff said that the church should also apologise to “any gay person it has offended.”

Comments (0)

MyPinkNews members are invited to comment on articles to discuss the content we publish, or debate issues more generally. Please familiarise yourself with our community guidelines to ensure that our community remains a safe and inclusive space for all.

Loading Comments