‘They make the excuse that by practicing sodomy we cannot’

The tranquility in the Segovian municipalities of Torrecaballeros and Basardilla was disturbed this past Sunday after it was reported that the parish priest, with the support of the Diocese of Segovia, He had denied communion to two couples for being homosexual.

First it was Mario Calvo and her husband, José María López, who made public that on January 6, after having attended mass the day before with their young children, that The priest had informed his family that they would no longer be able to participate in the mass or receive the Eucharist.but they could continue to attend the ceremony. Then, Rubén García de Andrés, the mayor of Torrecaballeros, expressed his solidarity with them and said that he and his partner had also been prohibited from receiving communion.

“On Sunday the 5th I went to church with my family as I have always done, I participated, I went out to read and received communion, the same as always, but it was the next day when neither I nor my partner went to be with the children when They passed it on to my family. They excused themselves by saying that since we were civilly married and practiced sodomy, we could not participate.“says Calvo, who has been married to her husband since 2022 and who have two children, ages one and two, who they wanted to baptize.

According to what he says, it was a resident of the town who spoke with the priest Feliciano, who has been in the municipality for half a year, so that he could transmit it to the bishopric. It was this entity that made the final decision. “We think that neighbor short-circuited when he saw us with our children,” says this nursing assistant, who reiterates again and again that with the justification they have been given, they should have been prohibited from doing so at least a year and a half ago.

“We want them to be coherent and to tell us Why until Sunday the 5th we could go and why not from that day on. What has changed and what has happened? Because everyone knew that we have been together since 2018, married since 2023 and we have been going and everything is normal,” he complains, thus dismantling the argument they gave him that “they have nothing against homosexuals, but that it is something that is written 2000 years ago.”

When the parish priest asked García de Andrés for explanations, He told him that he and his partner were also excluded: “I contacted the priest, who is the same in both towns, to tell him that this news was reaching me and that what they had done was outrageous, that there are many people in that situation and that he knew about my sentimental situation because he never we have hidden.”

“He has been giving me communion for all these months. I have been part of the archpriest council and they know me and despite everything they have given me communion so far without any problem. And now it is just when The Diocese issues a statement that you have to be in a specific situation to be able to receive Communion.ry who support this decision,” adds the PSOE representative in Torrecaballeros, who has been mayor of the municipality since 2015.

Also, remember that Two years ago some neighbors also reported their situationsince he was a celebrator of the word and had an active life in the parish, something that he already communicated to the parish priest Feliciano when he took office this summer.

“I told him that until two years ago I was a celebrant because the parish priests had proposed me and the bishop, who is the one who messed up all this, allowed me to do it. Just like now, It was after two anonymous complaints that they told me that I had to leave it, but they gave me the explanation that it was for political reasons.although there were people from that environment who recognized that there were other things, just like now. At the time I did not make it public and it is something that I regret now, but what they have said to Mario and José María seems to me to be an aberration and a greater injustice,” says García de Andrés, who gets angry just by commenting that The priest told him that “If only I were gay and followed a path of conversion I could take communion.but since I live as a couple even though I am not married, I had to forbid it.”

“For now we are not going to return to this church”

Calvo does not take even half a second to confirm that He is not going to accept the proposal of going to church just to be present without being able to participate. A decision that, as he describes, is “painful” because for him going to mass at the church of San Bartolomé is a family tradition that he has been doing all his life.

“It’s a shame because I’ve been going to this church since I was a child, but For now it is the decision we have made with my family. In the end, a family is labeled or singled out for this reason. “It is not acceptable in front of everyone,” he asserts, adding that they may go to Segovia capital, where they have family and where it is more difficult for them to be recognized.

Likewise, he regrets that he had to go to this extreme in such a small municipality where no more than 15 people go to mass. “This Christmas there were 12 of us and half of us were my family,” he reports.

In fact, he highlights that the entire town has supported them and that others make a similar decision. “There are people who are rethinking what to do,” he says. Furthermore, he mentions that other priests have told them that he does not share this decision.

“Other priests in Segovia have said that they Yes, they accept that we participate because they are no one to deny some parishioners communion.. That’s throwing stones at your own roof. “This is that a neighbor who saw us with our children collapsed, moved him to the priest and that’s it,” reiterates Calvo, who is going to continue processing the faith as he has until now because .

The mayor of Torrecaballeros speaks the same words, ruling out going only to see the mass.“If I can’t take communion I’m not going to go because you are being deprived of the fundamental part of the ceremony. Although it is true that with these situations my faith shakes, I am going to continue living it because I am a believer and there are many people in the church who do not have any problem with us, it is just that in the most hierarchical positions there are people with that belief,” the councilor is sincere, who imagines that Now if they recognize him they will not give him the Eucharist and if not they will.

The mayor, given the change of bishop that will take place this coming Saturday, also asks a key question: “Who ordered the statement, the outgoing bishop, the incoming one, the vicar general? “Who did it because this causes a lot of pain?”

“Being homosexual is not being an atheist”

Both Calvo and García de Andrés make it clear that this complaint is not political or anything similar. Try to separate it and deny whoever says they want to politicize it.

“Being homosexual is not being leftist and atheist. There are right-wing people who are civilly married in homosexual marriages and who go to mass and participate in the life of the church, it has nothing to do with it,” clarifies the mayor, who adds that episodes like these only reinforce the thought of those who are more “dogmatic and conservative.”

“There are many practicing Christians in the LGTBIQ+ community”concludes the mayor. Calvo makes the same reflection and joins the mayor’s opinion: “It is clear that being homosexual means being purely leftist and being an atheist and it doesn’t have to be that way.”

For this reason, they are going to ask for a greater vision of the church to prevent cases like theirs from arising again. “We are believers, it is a family tradition that I would also like to follow it with my children and we do not want to be discriminated against“concludes Calva, who advances that they will take firm steps forward.