Missing the point of the whole Christianity thing

In what must be one of the all-time great acts of just not getting it, Reverend Cliff Jacobson of Saint Matthew’s Catholic Church has told a lesbian couple that they will no longer receive communion. The reason given was the pairs’ opposition to a state ban on gay marriage. One would think that the Catholic Church, with its recent “P.R” troubles, would try not to stir homosexual pot as it were but I guess not. And yes, the obvious bigotry at play here pissed me off, but it is the rank hypocrisy of a man of the cloth refusing another Christian that really puts this over the top.

Denying a Christian the ability to take communion is flat out spiteful. Communion is a sacrament and an act of supreme humility; essentially one submits before God and reaffirms one’s devotion to Him. Depriving a Christian of this act, as retribution for political activity, seems almost heretical to me. In the Book of Matthew, Jesus had the following to say:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

[Snip]

You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

One can call the Reverend’s actions many things, but act of love it is not. Unchristian is one word that springs to mind. For the leader of a congregation named for Saint Matthew, it is more than a little ironic that he should show such malice to a neighbor and fellow congregant. One last bit of scripture, also found in Matthew, was Jesus’ discourse on judgment from the Sermon on the Mount:

Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

It is high time Reverend Jacobson brushed up on his Gospels.

Hat tip to AmericaBlog.