Denying Communion to Folks: Theological Warrants and Bottom Lines (and Who Owns the Sacraments?)

I'm still in processing mode this morning--in this case, continuing to process the ongoing discussion of when, where, under what conditions a pastor might validly deny communion to a fellow Christian (or, for that matter, anyone).  As I keep thinking about these issues, it occurs to me that in the rather heated discussion that ensued here after I blogged about the Father Guarnizo story again on Sunday, there's a strong theological warrant informing my own thinking that I may not have put on the table as clearly as possible when I responded to various readers commenting on Sunday's posting.

Catholic + Gay: Resources for Discussion (with Reflections on the Church's Capability for Evil)

Andrew Sullivan has continued to update his ongoing series of comments (and reader reports) entitled "They Cannot Even Speak Our Name."  The "they" are the leaders of the Catholic church.  The "our" are gay and lesbian human beings.  As I noted a week ago when I first reported on this series, Sullivan frames this series by noting, 

Breaking News: Dutch Catholic Institutions in 1950s Castrated Teens Reporting Clerical Sexual Abuse

As a number of readers* noted yesterday, the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad is now reporting that at least 10 teenaged boys or young men were castrated in Catholic facilities in the 1950s to "get rid of homosexuality."  Bruno Waterfield summarizes the story today in the Irish paper Independent.

Bullying of SNAP by Catholic Officials: More Recent Commentary

David and Goliath

And more valuable educational resources I'd like to recommend this morning--these about the attack of the U.S. Catholic bishops on Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP):

Valuable Discussions of Christian Sexual Ethics: Geoffrey Robinson and Jeffrey John

Two good recent discussions I'd like to recommend to readers, both about the teaching of Christian churches re: human sexuality:

Diana Butler Bass: Feminist and LGBT Movements as Test of Religious Hospitality

At Religion Dispatches, noted scholar of American religion Diana Butler Bass tells Candace Chellew-Hodge that American religious groups are on the cusp of a new spiritual awakening.  But as with other progressive breakthroughs in American history, the nearer dawn approaches, the darker things appear.  In the latter part of the 19th and early 20th century, the rise of many progressive movements went hand in hand with the rise of the Ku Klux Klan.

Colman McCarthy on Low Comedy and High Cons in GOP Race

Colman McCarthy, bless his heart, tells it like it is about the GOP primaries, in brilliant commentary at National Catholic Reporter.  His essay begins as follows:

If ever the country needed bed rest and a chance to dose up on Prozac or the antidepressant of your choice, it’s now. Through some 20 televised debates and hundreds of interviews, Republican aspirants to the presidency assaulted the nation’s intelligence, or what was left of it, with displays of venality, egomania, pandering, deception, self-delusion, self-promotion and scripted nonsense -- and that’s just from Newt Gingrich.

And it only gets better after that.