While his flock is not voting on marriage equality this fall, the
Archbishop of Newark, N.J., has advised those Catholics who are backing
same-sex marriage to refrain from receiving holy communion at Sunday
mass.
Support for gay marriage “seriously harm(s) their communion with
Christ and His Church,” Archbishop John Myers wrote in a pastoral
letter.
Washington, Maryland and Maine will vote on marriage equality in
November.
Minnesota is voting on a state constitutional amendment,
backed by more than $1 million in Catholic Church money, that would
enshrine marriage as between a man and a woman.
Seattle’s Catholic Archbishop J. Peter Sartain has written letters
and recorded a video espousing Church dogma and urging a “No” vote on
Referendum 74.
But neither Sartain nor fellow bishops have questioned
the faith or threatened to penalize those who disagree with them.
Myers showed no restraint in his lengthy letter.
“I urge those not
in communion with the Church regarding her teachings on marriage and
family . . . sincerely to reexamine their consciences,” wrote the
Archbishop.
“If they continue to be unable to assent to or live Christ’s
teachings in these matters, that they must and in all humility refrain
from receiving Holy Communion until they can do so with integrity,”
Myers wrote.