When two men dressed in whiteface and strange outfits came forward to receive Holy Communion at a San Francisco Catholic church three weeks ago, no one batted an eyelash. At least that's what it looks like on a video secretly recorded that morning and then posted on a conservative Catholic Web site.
Since then, though, that communion has caused a stir among some Catholics around the country, who think that San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer was wrong to let the two men take the wafer and wine of the Eucharist. Archbishop Niederauer, the former Catholic bishop of Salt Lake City, had celebrated Mass that Sunday morning at Most Holy Redeemer Church in San Francisco's gay-leaning Castro neighborhood.
The incident raises questions not only about whether Archbishop Niederauer realized who the two men were (members of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group of gay men who identify themselves as nuns), but also about the rules of communion, a ritual that is central to Christianity.
"Do this in remembrance of me," Christ said at the Passover feast that later became known as the Last Supper. But the particulars weren't spelled out.
So, 2,000 years later, Christ's blood is sometimes represented by wine, sometimes by water or grape juice. In many Protestant churches, and in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the beverage and the bread are symbols, a reminder of Christ's sacrifice. In the Catholic Church they're considered the actual body and blood of Christ (a "transubstantiation"). In some churches the juice and bread are something in between, the spiritual, if not the physical, presence of Christ.
In Protestant churches, depending on the denomination, communion is offered once a year, or several times a year, or once a month. In the LDS Church (where it is referred to as "the sacrament"), it's offered every Sunday. The Roman Catholic Church offers Holy Communion (also known as the Eucharist) at every Mass, so theoretically a Catholic could partake every day. In some churches, communion is passed down the pews; in others, parishioners walk to the front of the church, where a priest or pastor or sometimes a lay deacon offers bread or a wafer dipped in wine or juice.
Tough questions
But that's the easy part.
The question that tripped up Archbishop Niederauer was not what or when or how, but who. It's a question that all Christian churches have considered, and with which some are still grappling. Do you only allow true believers? The doctrinally sound? The baptized? The members? The worthy? Anyone who wants to?
Archbishop Niederauer was in the sights of conservative Catholics even before the two Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence walked down the aisle on Oct. 7. Groups like the blog site Quamdiu Domine and the watchdog Catholic Media Coalition complain that the archbishop told a radio interviewer last year that when it comes to the matter of denying communion to politicians who disagree with church doctrine, "I am not there principally as a gatekeeper."
In 2004, more than 200 Catholic bishops declared they would deny presidential candidate John Kerry communion because of his stand on abortion. More recently, the archbishop of St. Louis said he wouldn't let presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani receive communion; and a Vatican spokesman said that politicians who voted for abortion rights should "exclude themselves from communion."
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are an "order of queer nuns," according to their Web site, and since 1979 have "devoted themselves to community service, ministry and outreach to those on the edges." They say they are not mocking other nuns, but, rather, "we are nuns." Many of their ceremonies, they say, "can be traced back" to the Roman Catholic Church, but their ritual "is also heavily tainted with goddess worship, transcendental meditation, radical fairy-ism and self-empowerment."
Whether or not they are actually Catholic is important, because the Catholic Church does not offer its communion to non-Catholics. In addition, according to a 2006 statement from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholics should not receive communion if they are "conscious of grave sin" and "without prior sacramental confession." In addition, "proper disposition, right intention and respectful attitude is required."
An issue of respect
Were the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence respectful? After he was chastised in the conservative Catholic blogosphere, Archbishop Niederauer wrote a letter of apology: "If people dress in a manner clearly intended to mock what we hold sacred, they place themselves in an objective situation in which it is not appropriate for them to receive Holy Communion, much less for a minister of the church to give the sacrament to them."
But all that is hindsight, according to Archbishop Niederauer's recollection of that Sunday. Coming toward him to receive communion, he says, were "two strangely dressed persons." He "did not recognize either of them as wearing mock religious garb," he says.
Archbishop Niederauer's defenders note that intention is crucial when it comes to who should and shouldn't receive communion. It's not a mortal sin to be a transvestite, for example, they point out, and at first glance the archbishop wouldn't have known who the men were.
Who knows what is in someone else's heart, asks Susan Northway, director of the office of religious education in the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake. "That's very presumptuous; that's very tricky ground."
According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' statement on communion, "grave matters" that should cause a person to refrain from communion include missing Mass on Sundays "without serious reason" and dishonoring one's parents "by neglecting them in their need and infirmity." Add being pro-choice, using birth control and engaging in premarital sex, says Father Robert Bussen of St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Park City, and "if you really take the checklist seriously, nobody could receive communion."
The canons of the Episcopal Church say that all "baptized Christians" are invited to communion. But more and more Episcopal churches aren't following those rules, says the Rev. Canon Mary June Nestler, spokeswoman for the Episcopal Diocese of Utah. "Instead, they're extending the invitation of communion to any person who feels led to receive it."
That said, the Episcopal Church does recommend denying communion in some cases — described in the church's Prayer Book as people who are "living a notoriously evil life" or "are a scandal to the other members of the congregation."
In her 28 years of ordination, she says, she has never had to deny communion and has only witnessed two denials — a person involved in a serious financial misconduct of parish funds and the case of a triangle of adulterers. Even then, says the Rev. Nestler, the priest did not refuse communion on the spot. Instead, as advised in the Prayer Book, the priest spoke privately to them, advising them not to come to the communion table until they had given "clear proof of repentance and amendment of life."
But faced with an uncertain situation, says the Rev. Nestler, "I would say it's best to err on the side of generosity, because Christ's table is a generous table. Second-guessing at the communion rail is always a difficult call."
Open or closed
Other churches vary in their guidelines and their vigilance. The LDS Church, according to spokesman Robert Howell, extends the sacrament of communion to anyone who wishes to partake.
The bulletin at Hilltop United Methodist Church in Sandy notes that "we believe the communion table should be open to everyone. Come and share." Other churches practice "closed" communion, "guarding the table from those who might take it lightly," explains Salt Lake Theological Seminary President Jeffrey Silliman.
The churches that belong to the Lutheran Church's conservative Missouri Synod and the even more conservative Wisconsin Synod practice closed communion. The weekly bulletin at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Salt Lake City explains that people who want to receive communion must have already been baptized, instructed in Christian faith and "examined." The more liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church of America's policy is communion for all baptized believers in Christ.
That's the Presbyterian Church USA's official stance, too, although some congregations choose to also welcome those who aren't baptized, says David Gambrell of the church's General Assembly in Louisville.
"Why would we want to deny the opportunity to partake of the body of Christ?" asks Carolyn Knight, stated clerk of the Presbytery of Utah. After the communion, there could be follow-up to help the person understand "the depth of the intent of taking that sacrament," she says. "But who's to say that the opportunity you spend in reflection at the time of communion may not set a spark, and that you will want to have a deeper relationship with Christ? I would not turn anyone away."
What we sometimes forget, says Park City's Father Bussen, "is that communion is for people who need healing. It's not for the righteous. It's for the broken."
E-mail: jarvik@desnews.com