(NYDAILYNEWS) — A priest who sparked a national uproar last month by refusing to give communion to a lesbian at her mother's funeral has been placed on administrative leave.
Barbara Johnson claimed that Father Marcel Guarnizo "humiliated" her by denying her communion at St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Gaithersburg, Md.
Johnson told the Washington Post that the priest "put his hand over the body of Christ and looked at me and said, 'I can't give you communion because you live with a woman and in the eyes of the church that is a sin.'"