Photo by York Minister

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington on Sunday suspended a priest who recently made waves for denying communion to a gay woman at her mother’s funeral. The Rev. Marcel Guarnizo, a pastor at St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Gaithersburg, Md., was barred from ministry in a March 9 decision by the archdiocese.

The Washington Post reports that other incidents contributed to the placing of Guarnizo of administrative leave. A letter from an archdiocese leader cited Guarnizo’s “engaging in intimidating behavior toward parish staff and others that is incompatible with proper priestly ministry” as reason for the punishment.

But an incident last month not mentioned in the church’s letter is more front-and-center. Guarnizo denied communion to Barbara Johnson, a D.C. art studio owner, while presiding over the funeral of Johnson’s mother because she attended with her lesbian partner.

Guarnizo’s action was widely viewed as politically motivated, coming just days after the Maryland statehouse approved legislation legalizing same-sex marriage. Johnson received an apology from the archdiocese after the funeral, but a later statement from the church published by the Post yesterday seems to imply that both she and the priest were at fault:

“We believe that to receive Communion, a person should be in the state of grace, which means that they are not conscious of having committed a sin serious enough that it ruptures their relationship with God. As with any relationship, it is not just a one-sided judgment that determines what hurts the relationship with God. This determination is based on what the Church teaches objectively from sacred Scripture and tradition of Christian experience. If a person is conscious of having committed a grave sin, he or she may not receive Communion until they have received absolution in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. A person who is conscious of grave sin but has no opportunity to go to Confession may receive Communion for a serious reason, but first that person must pray to Christ expressing their sorrow, also known as a perfect act of contrition, and have the intention of going to Confession as soon as possible.”

Still, Guarnizo being “barred from ministry” is a pretty serious punishment, the Post notes. And the priest has a history of making politically charged statements, such as an appearance at an anti-abortion rally last year in which he equated abortion with the Holocaust and called an area doctor who performs abortions the “Butcher of Germantown.”