Quote of the Day

Even the Vatican has marked singer David Bowie’s passing, praising the artist whose life and career perpetually challenged sexual and gender norms, and who, at varying points in his life, identified as gay and bisexual.

. . . The Vatican’s praise for Bowie has generated global headlines, fueled by the dissonance created in bringing together rigid Catholic officials and the unconfined seeker that was David Bowie. That the Vatican’s newspaper was so affirming* is a positive sign for LGBT issues in the church, likely [an] outcome from Pope Francis’ improved engagement with the world and demand for all people to be respected and valued.

I think Cardinal Ravasi and those behind the L’Osservatore Romano article are touching a deeper truth that connects Pope Francis, David Bowie, and all of us in between: the path to holiness is the journey towards authenticity. To paraphrase the Trappist monk Thomas Merton, “To be a saint is to be yourself.”

– Bob Shine
Excerpted from "Vatican Marks David Bowie’s Passing By Praising Him"
Bondings 2.0
January 12, 2016

* Notes The New York Times:

The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano has eulogized David Bowie as a singular musician, "never banal," who grew artistically over five decades thanks to his interest in art, film and theater.

The paper, which frequently weighs in on pop culture, noted the "ambiguous image" Bowie cultivated early on in his career and blamed it on his aim to attract media attention. But it said that aside from such "excesses," Bowie's legacy "is one of a sort of personal sobriety, expressed even in his dry, almost thread-like body."

It listed "Heroes", Bowie's ode to Berlin, as one of his "pearls" in his 25 albums.

Related Off-site Links:
David Bowie Dies at 69; Star Transcended Music, Art and Fashion – Jon Pareles (The New York Times (January 11, 2016).
Saint David Bowie? Not Yet, But Faith Leaders Pay Respects to Dead Rocker – David Gibson (Religion Dispatches, January 11, 2016.
Rebel Rebel: The Fantastic Voyage of David Bowie – Stephen Thomas Erlewine (All Music, January 12, 2016).
Celebrating David Bowie, a Star Who Burned Bright to the Last – Michael Cooper (The New York Times, January 11, 2016)
How David Bowie Sexually Liberated Us All – Tim Teeman (The Daily Beast, January 11, 2016).
David Bowie Allowed You to Be Gay – Arnold Wayne Jones (Dallas Voice, January 11, 2016).
David Bowie and My Queer Awakening – Brynn Tannehill (HuffPost Gay Voices, January 12, 2016).
The Complicated Sexual History of David Bowie – Philip Lewis (Yahoo! News, January 12, 2016).
David Bowie Allowed His Art to Deliver a Final Message – Joe Coscarelli and Michael Paulson (The New York Times, January 11, 2016).
David Bowie: Did He Change Attitudes to Sexuality? – Vincent Dowd (BBC World Service, March 23, 2013).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Daniel Helminiak on the Lesson of Jesus: "We Will Be True to God by Being True to Our Deepest and Best Selves"
• The Challenge to Become Ourselves
• David Whyte: "To Be Courageous is to Stay Close to the Way We Are Made"
• LGBT Catholics Celebrate Being "Wonderfully Made"

Opening image: David Bowie in the 1976 film The Man Who Fell to Earth.