The Nation - News from Sept. 18, 1989

A Roman Catholic priest rebuffed an order that he stop refusing Holy Communion to people he considers inappropriately dressed. The Rev. Roger Griese said he would continue to bar people clad in shorts or mini-skirts from Sacred Heart Church in Dayton, Ohio. “I do not refuse the Sacrament . . . solely on the grounds of inappropriate dress, but rather on the unworthy motive of confrontation and attack which the wearers of inappropriate dress insist on wearing, even after several warnings,” he told his congregation after reading a letter from Daniel Pilarczyk, archbishop of Cincinnati, threatening him with suspension and loss of his pastorate unless he dropped the dress code. Griese said he would appeal to the Vatican any attempt to remove him.