In other news: water wet, fire burns

A lesbian couple who got their picture in the paper with Ash Wednesday ashes have been barred from communion. And hey, that's okay. I mean, it's the Catholic Church's right to do whatever they want.

But ... the hypocrisy involved is breathtaking.

The parish priest said that after the couple put their engagement and marriage announcements in the local paper, he ran reminders of the church's teachings in the parish bulletin as a warning.

After the Ash Wednesday story, the priest sent this letter: "It is with a heavy heart, in obedience to the instruction of Bishop David Ricken, that I must inform you that, because of your union and your public advocacy of same-sex unions, that you are unable to receive Communion."

The bishop said the couple's sex life constitutes a grave sin, "and the fact that it became so public, that was their choice."

Vader [one of the women] said the couple never made any secret of their relationship. She pointed to statuettes of two kissing Dutch girls in front of their single-wide trailer home. She also said that the couple posed for a church directory family photo with Vader's children from a previous marriage, and that the church has sent mail to both of them at the same address for years.

Huskinson questioned why Catholics having premarital sex and using birth control are not barred from receiving Communion, too. But the parish priest said the difference is this: The other Catholics are "not going around broadcasting, `Hey I'm having sex outside of marriage' or `I'm using birth control.'"

So, essentially, the story here is: as long as we can plausibly pretend we don't know, we'll let you slide. Which indicates that they don't like what they're doing.

Don't ask, don't tell the papers.