At Pentecost service in St. Paul, gays showed up wearing rainbow sashes in protest of the Catholic Church’s traditional stand on homosexuality. By orders from the archbishop, the priest denied them communion. As he should have. I know it’s going to sound harsh to the secular world where the only, and therefore worst sin of any kind, is perceived exclusion. Many Christians will probably be angry too since a lot would agree with the secular definition of sin and for others Eucharistic discipline isn’t something they’ve ever encountered. But this is the Catholic Church and the mass matters, especially the Body and Blood of Christ.

People are not supposed to take his Body and Blood unworthily, which in the Catholic Church is mainly defined as having committed a mortal sin without sacramental confession. Homosexual acts are mortal sins. Although the priest does not ask one’s state of sin during communion, he is obligated to deny communion to those whose sins and lack of repentance are publicly known, not only for the sake of the Body and Blood of Christ, but also for the souls of the one attempting to commune. The rainbow sash wearers were denied communion not necessarily because they were gay (after all it could not be proved that all were actually practicing gays; many were sympathizers), but because by wearing them they were openly rebelling against Church teaching on homosexuality. If someone started a "sash" movement advocating heterosexual fornication, the Church would be obligated to deny them communion too.

David Morrison, Jeff Miller, and Amy Welborn all discuss the issue too