Rainbow Sash Movement

A shepherd’s voice is being raised in Canada.  Archbishop Marc Ouellet  a senior Roman Catholic clergyman in Canada, seeking to get rid of church baggage and turn over a new leaf, asked forgiveness on Wednesday for sexual abuse and discrimination committed by Catholics in the past.

This is a wonderful attempt at building on pain with the balm of reconciliation. The Rainbow Sash Movement is impressed with the sincere language the Archbishop has used. This is certainly what Jesus would of done. We have been critical of the Archbishop in the past this will not however stop us from supporting his recent efforts at reconciliation.

"It is time to take stock and make a fresh start," Ouellet wrote. "Mistakes have been made which have tarnished the image of the Church and for which I humbly ask forgiveness."

The Archbishops primary concern was compassion, reconciliation, and not concern for the teaching authority of the Church.  Ouellet also sought forgiveness for certain "narrow attitudes" before the 1960s, when what is known as the Quiet Revolution ended the pervasive Catholic grip on Quebec society. He said some Catholics tended towards anti-Semitism, racism and indifference to natives, and discrimination against women and homosexuals. He spoke of the abuse of youth by priests, "causing them serious and traumatic damage that shattered their lives."

It is my prayer that the Archbishop continues on this path of reconciliation; he is a beacon in the darkness of hierarchal deceit. Many Bishops in the US Church could learn from this voice of Christ, if they were willing to listen. The U.S. Catholic Church has paid out hundreds of millions of dollars to settle abuse claims, starting with a scandal that had its epi-center in Boston in 2002.

 

Posted by Joden at 02:42 PM | Permalink

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I do believe that everything must be done in love and with Charity. However, that does not mean we must remain silent in the face of an abuse of power within the Church. Some Bishops and clergy have remained silent in the name of unity. Clearly the Bishops must be held accountable for their actions. The Rainbow Sash Movement stands with the Victims of clergy sexual abuse in opposition to the election of Cardinal Francis George of Chicago. What a slap in the face to all victims of clergy sexual abuse.

Cardinal George like Cardinal Law engages in circular logic when it comes to accountability, and transparency. Both men are part of structure of deceit, both have accused the victims of clergy sexual abuse of being at fault. Both men have hung the victims out to dry when it comes to compassion and justice.

The fact that Catholic Bishops of the United States elected Cardinal George clearly shows any accountability on their part, for making the hard choices that must be made to put this house in order.  Cardinal George’s election as President of the US Bishops Conference represents just how out of touch this group is from the reality of life in the US Church. They are deaf to needs of the victims,and  silent about Cardinal George’s involvement the scandal of clergy sexual abuse.

Cardinal George speaks for the Bishops of the United States when he says that the Victims of clergy sexual abuse are in it only for the money. What a sad commentary on the state of our Church. Visible hypocrisy only enables further alienation.

A cloud of Racism still hangs over Cardinal George’s head because of his handling of the St. Sabina Parish incident concerning the redlining of a Catholic School’s baseball league on the South Side of Chicago.

The Cardinal was clearly not the best pick for the job, but the siege mentality took hold, reason and responsibility went out the window; the wagons begin circling.

We pray that Cardinal George finds the courage to do the right thing not only for himself, but for the Church. He should not put his personal interests over the needs of his flock. His flock also includes the victims of clergy sexual abuse.

Posted by Joden at 03:20 PM | Permalink

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The question continues to challenge the leadership of our Church, Gay political community, and most recently the Obama Campaign. As GLBT Catholics we believe in the self worth of every human being. We recognize that diversity is a good thing, and that love of neighbor is the only road we can take as Catholic Christians, and in dialogue we seek common ground.

The Church cannot have it both ways it either stands for love and all that it implies, or it is hypocritical. We cannot say we follow Christ if we do not welcome all sinners to our Eucharistic table. In the present Church climate, bigotry is embraced in the name of dogma. The Church hierarchy assigns to GLBT people the same thing the Nazi’s did to the Jews. “He, who fights against the Jews, wrestles with the devil.” Just replace Jews with Gays. Homophobia, racism, and sexism should be unacceptable in Catholic Theology, and at the Eucharistic table.

The GLBT political community recently had to look in the mirror at its own form of hypocrisy. I am talking about ENDA. Last September our political types understood that they did not have the votes to pass an all inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and were willing to sell out the employee rights of Transgender people in order to achieve its passage. We all lose when we take this type of approach to human rights.

The Advocate recently ran a letter from Anne Stockwell, Editor in Chief, basically saying it was necessary to drop the employee rights of Transgender people, in order to get rights for GLB people. Apparently some believe that Transgender people are Johnny come lately in our gay alphabet soup acronym.

Like the Church hierarchy some elements of the GLBT media and political world are willing to rewrite history in order support their uniformed positions. What was Stonewall all about? Trans-gendered people are a part of our movement, and were on the front lines of the Stonewall riots. Thank God I am old enough to remember.

 As for Barney Frank he is a politician I did not expect that much out of him, I did however expect more out of the Human Rights Campaign fund. This movement welcomes all who want to be a part of it, acceptable and unacceptable.

Hypocrisy is not limited to religion it is alive and well in the straight political arena. Recently Senator Barack Obama gospel concert was held on Sunday, October 28, in Columbia, South Carolina as the final stage in what the presidential candidate billed as a "Forty Days of Faith and Family" tour of the Palmetto State. Was the senator pandering to anti GLBT Black Homophobia, when he allowed homophobic "ex-gay" preacher-singer Donnie McClurkin to appear at Obama’s event?

There are GLBT Catholics who support Obama’s campaign. My question to them is what actions have you taken in response to this promotion of hatred directed at the GLBT Movement. Appeasement will only enable even more hypocrisy? Our Catholic Social Justice Tradition demands more.

So who belongs and who does not? I think we are all wrestling with this question, but we must never be willing to step on others, accept unethical behavior or listen to the hypocrisy of a big Tent mentality that welcomes bigotry. My prayers are with our political leadership as they grapple with this question.

Posted by Joden at 05:12 PM | Permalink

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