So here's how I see it.
Though the missalettes in the pew may have instructions on who may receive communion, the rules do not always apply. Especially at funerals and weddings. Although - for a time - there was a prohibition against showing up in a sash: If you were wearing a Rainbow Sash, you could not receive, and if you approached to receive, you would be denied communion - although you might have received a 'blessing'. See - that's another place where Fr. Guarnizo went wrong I think - he could've, should've offered a 'blessing' to Barbara Johnson. That said - I don't think a priest has a leg to stand on refusing communion to someone just because they are wearing a colorful accessory - not after the Fr. Guarnizo correction... at least that argument may likely be raised from now on.*
Anyway, so when my relatives go to Mass for one of their kids to get baptized - as they have done - they can go to communion, even though they haven't been in a church since the last funeral, and haven't been to confession once in their adult lives. (No, they do not marry in the Church either.)
Likewise, anyone can go to communion standing, kneeling, lying prostrate; receive in the hand, on the hand, or on the tongue; dressed in a tank top and jeans, or shorts, or topless - depending on the country. Come as you are - everyone is welcome. Gather us in.
That's the way it is when Catholic teaching and discipline is taught, but not practiced, when priests and bishops neither agree nor support one another. It's a free-for-all.
Rose? Or pink?
I think everyone knows the answer to that one.
Gree-vee-ous or grie-vous?
C'mon Fathers - you should know this. (Hi Nan - my pastor pronounces it wrong too!)
Photo: John Paul II in New Guinea accepting the gifts. Oh, lighten up.
*Note: I'm against it, of course.
**How irishronic - I just discovered Nat'lCathRegister has a post entitled "Closed Communion" - this post has nothing to do with that one.
