Niederauer Apologizes

Bishop Niederauer Apologizes for giving communion to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence:

Although I had often seen photographs of members of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, I had never encountered them in person until October 7th. I did not recognize who these people were when they approached me. After the event, I realized that they were members of this particular organization and that giving them Holy Communion had been a mistake. I apologize to the Catholics of the Archdiocese of San Francisco and to Catholics at large for doing so.
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Someone who dresses in a mock religious habit to attend Mass does so to make a point. 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.

Therefore I conclude that the presence of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence at the Mass on October 7th was intended as a provocative gesture. In that moment I failed to recognize it as such, and for that, as I have said, I must apologize [emphasis added]

Kudos to Archbishop Niederauer for stepping up and admitting he made a mistake. It still seems to me to be a grievous misjudgement, but at least he has managed to avoid scandal. I have to give a ton of credit to the catholic blogosphere and especially The American Papist for shedding light on the matter. I am not confident that the Bishop would have apologized so quickly (if at all) had it not been for the outraged produced by my fellow bloggers.

Read the entire apology at the California Catholic Daily

UPDATE: The more I think about this, the more I am disturbed by it. Niederauer's first response when confronted with this issue is to defend himself even after he knew they were members of 'Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence' (SPI). Now that he is forced to apologize he said that he was wrong because they were members of SPI. This does not lend itself well in my mind as to Niederauer's integrity. If he believes this to be true, it would have been true immediately upon being informed that they were members of SPI, but that was not his initial reaction. I try to give the benefit of the doubt, but in this case and in the way it was so poorly handled by Niederauer, I am left with serious misgivings. I still believe that the Vatican needs to take some action here. I will go out on a limb here and declare that Niederauer still needs to be removed despite his apology.

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Nothing Sacrilegious Here, Move along

These two men are part of the 'Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence' (SPI) a Homosexual activist group who's motto is "go and sin some more". Cute huh?

This past Sunday these two received communion from the Archbishop of San Francisco George Niederauer. The picture was taken from the the actual Mass in which the event occurred. Niederauer's Response?

At Most Holy Redeemer Church Oct. 7, I noticed no protest, no demonstration, no disruption of the Sunday Eucharist. The congregation was devout and the liturgy was celebrated with reverence. Toward the end of the Communion line two strangely dressed persons came to receive Communion. I did not see any mock religious garb. As I recall, one of them wore a large flowered hat or garland. [emphasis added]

Really? No mock religious garb? These men dressed in full makeup wearing long black veils didn't seem odd? Were you not aware of the controversy of the SPI attending church there? This is simply disgusting. Niederauer continues:

In the past when the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence or other groups have ridiculed the Church I have denounced their actions. Only a week ago, Catholic San Francisco carried my remarks condemning the derisive use of the Last Supper on a poster printed by some other local group.

Niederauer could have used his response to condemn the group's actions, explain he made a mistake and that any attempt to receive communion by the group will be denied until they have made a full confession. In fact, this would have been the only appropriate action to take, but Apparently Niederauer sees no problem giving them communion as long as there are no protests or disruptions. He is one of those who obstinately chooses to violate canon 915

I have been hard on many of the US bishops lately, but apparently not hard enough. This simply cannot stand, I hope the Vatican will be quick to act. Please pray for the Church in America, we desperately need it.

The American Papist has some great commentary including the video of the event

The Curt Jester has a humorist take

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