Weekend in Kansas City

I spent this past weekend in and around Kansas City, Missouri with my friends Kathleen and Joey.

Kathleen and I left the Twin Cities on Thursday afternoon to drive to
Ottowa, Kansas, where Kathleen's son Joey was concluding a week-long music camp. Regular readers of The Wild Reed would know that over the years Kathleen, Joey and I have traveled together to a number of destinations, including St Louis, Wisconsin, and Trempealeau Mountain.






Kathleen and I spent Thursday night in Iowa, as guests of the Des Moines Catholic Worker Community. Pictured above is the Bishop Dingman House – one of the community's four houses of hospitality.







Above: Kathleen with Frank Cordaro on the front porch of the community's Phil Berrigan House.

The community describes itself as follows:

The Des Moines Catholic Worker Community, founded in 1976, is a response to the Gospel call to compassionate action as summarized by the Catholic Worker tradition. We are committed to a simple, nonviolent lifestyle as we live and work among the poor. We directly serve others by opening our home for those in need of food, clothing, bedding, a shower, or a cup of coffee and conversation. We also engage in activities that foster social justice.

Above: The Imes Bridge, one of the famous bridges of Madison County.

The Imes Bridge is actually the oldest of the county's remaining covered bridges. Built in 1870, the 81 foot long bridge was originally located over the Middle River west of the town of Patterson. It was relocated in 1887 and then again in 1977 to its present site over a natural ravine just east of the township of St. Charles.

The interior of the bridge was covered in declarations of love – including the one at right.




Above: Iowan skies!




Above: Joey's final concert at the Sound Encounters music camp – Ottowa, KS, Friday, June 15, 2012.



Left: Joey (center) and friends.







Above: The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Kansas City, Missouri – Saturday, June 16, 2012.





Above and below: The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Kansas City, Missouri – Saturday, June 16, 2012.





Notes Wikipedia:

The building, which took nearly five years to complete, contains 40,000 square feet of glass, 25,000 cubic yards of concrete, and 27 steel cables. The main lobby, Brandmeyer Great Hall, is built of a glass ceiling and sloping glass walls that provide a panoramic view of Kansas City to the south. The twenty-seven steel cables on the south façade are anchored in embeds that weigh approximately one and a half tons, and the embeds are an extension of the foundation and bedrock beneath the building. When the steel cables were pulled taut during the construction process, the entire steel structure shifted two to six inches to the south. This tensioning provides stability to the structure and keeps the glass lobby securely in place. . . . The Kauffman Center was designed by lead architect Moshe Safdie, acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota, theater consultant Richard Pilbrow, and engineering firm Arup.

The center’s exterior consists of two symmetrical half shells of vertical, concentric arches that open toward the south. Each shell houses one acoustically independent performance venue, although the backstage area is shared. The south façade of the Center is made entirely of glass. Safdie describes the lobby as “an expansive glazed porch contained by a glass tent-like structure.” For those inside Brandmeyer Great Hall, the glass puts Kansas City on display; for those on the outside, the Kauffman Center becomes like a terrarium, revealing the thousands of attendees backlit against the white interior.

Above and left: Kansas City's famed 18th and Vine District. Along with New Orleans's Basin Street, Beale Street in Memphis, 52nd Street in New York City and Los Angeles's Central Avenue, the 18th and Vine area is internationally recognized as one of the cradles of jazz.





The building above houses the American Jazz Museum and the Negro League Baseball Museum, both of which we visited.



Above: One of Kansas City's most famous BBQ joints – Arthur Bryant's at 18th and Brooklyn.




Above: The famed Blue Room jazz club at which we saw Darcas Gates perform (right).


Says Blue Room General Manager Gerald Dunn:

Named after the famed 1930s Street Hotel club in the Historic 18th & Vine Jazz District, the Blue Room simultaneously honors the past and showcases the present names in jazz. A multifaceted exhibit highlighting the countless musicians who crafted "Kansas City jazz," a sound known all over the world, the Blue Room also provides a distinctive platform to present dynamic performances from the best local and national jazz talent in an intimate setting.

Above: Darcus Gates and her band performing at the Blue Room – Saturday, June 18, 2012.


Left: Joey with Darcus. As well as being a gifted vocalist, Darcus is an incredibly warm, funny and down-to-earth person.





Above: Kathleen and Joey with Lyvette, another warm and friendly Kansas City resident we met when spending time in the 18th and Vine District.



Above: When both traveling to and coming back from Kansas City, we enjoyed the good food at Nana Greer's Family Table Restaurant in Osceola, Iowa!



Above: Homeward bound!


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
Road Trip to St. Louis – Part 1: Following the Mississippi
Road Trip to St. Louis – Part 2: Dubuque
Road Trip to St. Louis – Part 3: St. Louis
Road Trip to St. Louis – Part 4: The Arch
Road Trip to St. Louis – Part 5: Carondelet
Wisconsin Adventure – Part 1: Black River Falls
Wisconsin Adventure – Part 2: The Elroy-Sparta Bike Trail
Wisconsin Adventure – Part 3: Potosi
Trempealeau
River Walk
Mississippi Adventure
Climbing Barn Bluff
Adventures in Mississippi River Bluff Country

Quote of the Day

. . . By avoiding the divisive politics of this election year, Maine's Catholic [hierarchy] has seemingly learned from past mistakes. In 2009, more than 140 [parishes] across Maine took a second collection to oppose marriage equality for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

When this happened, many people stood up and walked out of church. Sadly, many have never come back. In fact, according to a study by the Pew Research Center, one in three Catholics born into the faith have stopped calling themselves Catholic.

They leave because Catholics want their faith known for its ability to inspire a culture, not for the political activities of its leaders.

I believe that engaging in the politics of fighting secular laws regarding civil same-sex marriage is wrong for any church. And a review of public opinion polls illustrates that the strong majority of Catholics agree with me.

According to a public opinion survey conducted in March by the Public Religion Research Institute, nearly 60 percent of adult American Catholics support civil marriage for same-sex couples. This is a higher rate of support than among the general public or members of other Christian denominations.

It would seem the Catholic Church in Maine is listening to the voices of the faithful in choosing not to promote discrimination. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Maine has signaled that it will not actively campaign against this November's ballot question allowing civil marriage for same-sex couples. The diocese's decision to "take a pass" on the second collection is a good indication that it will keep that promise. . . .

– David Flynn

"Maine Diocese Makes Right Move by Choosing Not to Promote Bias"
Press Herald
June 16, 2012

Photo of the Day

Image: Michael J. Bayly.

The Theology of Gay Pride

As I've done previously (see here, here and here), I'll be sharing throughout June a series of informed and insightful writings to mark Gay Pride Month . . . or, as I now like to think of it, Queer Appreciation Month.

I begin this year's series with a wonderful piece on the theology of gay pride written by fellow Catholic blogger Thom. It's a thoughtful reflection that Thom originally wrote last year for his must-read blog Faith in the 21st Century. Enjoy!

________________________

An Introduction to the Theology of Gay Pride

By Thom, OFS

June is Gay Pride Month.

Gay Pride is, simply, being proud of being gay, being proud of who God created you to be, recognizing the gift of human diversity, and that one's sexual orientation is inherent, not "learned."

June came to be recognized as Pride Month because the Stonewall uprising ("Stonewall riots") took place in June 1969.

Some Christians, who for various reasons do not like "Gay Pride," will often point to the use of the word "pride," and say that pride is a sin.

Pride is, of course, a sin. But sinful pride is not what is referred to by "Gay Pride."

Sinful pride is the desire to be more important or attractive than others, not recognizing the good work of others, and loving oneself excessively. Dante, when speaking of the "seven deadly sins," says of the sin of pride that it is "love of self perverted to hatred and contempt for one's neighbor."

If we consider pride (superbia) as vice, its corresponding virtue is humility (humilitas).

Gay Pride, then, is not sinful pride. This sort of pride is the antonym of shame, not humility. Shame has been used for centuries to control and oppress gay people. Therefore "Gay Pride" is liberation from that oppression, and not the vice of superbia.

For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.

My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.

[– from Psalm 139]

NEXT: Bi God, Somebody Listen


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
Dan Furmansky: "Why We Have Pride"
LGBT Catholics Celebrate Being "Wonderfully Made"
Gay Pride: A Celebration of True Humility
A Message to a Young Man of Integrity

Image: Michael J. Bayly (March 2012).

Something to Think About . . .

See also the previous Wild Reed post:
Out Gay Actor Neil Patrick Harris: "I'm Striving to Be An Example of Normalcy"

Recommended Off-site Links:
New Poll Suggests Knowing Gays Can Shift Attitudes on Same-Sex Marriage – Lila Shapiro (The Huffington Post, June 8, 2012).
Neil Patrick Harris and Partner David Burtka Talk Fatherhood with Oprah – Oliver Gettell (Los Angeles Times, June 1, 2012).
Majority of Americans Support Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage, Poll Shows – Phil Pruitt (Yahoo News, June 6, 2012).
What Gays and Lesbians are Teaching Us About Marriage – Michael Leach (National Catholic Reporter, May 22, 2012).

Quote of the Day

.

If Margaret A. Farley’s fine theo-ethical work [Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics] causes “grave harm to the faithful,” Catholics live very graced lives. War, poverty, ecocide, racism, colonialism, sex and gender injustices of all sorts come to mind in the “grave harm” category. But not in the wildest imagination of anyone other than a Vatican bureaucrat would Dr. Farley’s sexual ethics qualify. How fortunate we are to have a scholar of her caliber, and how appropriate that she is appreciated widely. Recent attention to her work only serves to deepen her impact and broaden her audience; 24 hours after news broke of the Vatican censure the book was propelled from an Amazon ranking of 142,982 to 16.

The June 4th Notification from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) titled “Regarding the Book Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics by Sister Margaret A. Farley, R.S.M.,” left many scandalized by the intellectually embarrassing and morally tawdry work of a group that obviously needs a permanent vacation. William Cardinal Levada and company at the CDF are simply out of their league theologically when it takes them 6 years (the book was published in 2006) to comment on an important work—and they still get it wrong.

A first-year graduate student could have handled the analysis in a week. S/he would have figured out that Dr. Farley was dealing with ethical method—how we frame and approach moral questions—not defending the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

. . . Dr. Farley’s scholarly work is characterized by a careful, reasoned, realism about the human condition. She brings a thorough grounding in the Christian tradition with an emphasis on Catholic thought to her books on commitment, embodiment, respect, and, the most recent and controversial one, on love. Rather than embrace her project and explore, as she does, the range of ways that good people try to love—with an emphasis on the demands of justice in every intimate relationship—the CDF theologians boiled down her opus into five cherry-picked nuggets on sex and marriage that reflect their priorities, not hers. They missed the forest for the trees. Their statement is deeply insulting, not to mention morally suspect, in that such a stellar scholar’s reputation is impugned. As my mother would say, “Consider the source.” . . .

– Mary E. Hunt
"Notify This! Vatican Bungles Response to Sexual Ethics Book"
Religion Dispatches
June 9, 2012

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
Quote of the Day – June 4, 2012
Just Love
"A Wise and Thoughtful Study of Sexual Ethics"
In the News
An Energizing and Spirited Weekend
The "Ratzinger Letter" of 1986 as "Theological Pornography"

Recommended Off-site Links:
Why I Keep Blogging: People Are Suffering (and Notes on Margaret Farley's Vatican Condemnation) – William D. Lindsey (Bilgrimage, June 10, 2012).
Vatican Censures Sister Margaret Farley’s Theology of Sexuality – Francis DeBernardo (Bondings 2.0, June 4, 2012).
Vatican Criticizes US Theologian's Book on Sexuality – Jerry Filteau (National Catholic Reporter, June 4, 2012).
Book by Margaret Farley, RSM, Condemned by Vatican – James Martin, S.J. (America, June 4, 2012).
No Justice for Margaret Farley and Just Love – Jamie L Manson (National Catholic Reporter, June 4, 2012).

Photo of the Day

Image: Michael J. Bayly (Kordiak Park, Columbia Heights, MN).

Quote of the Day

Margaret Farley [left] is a careful and caring Catholic social ethicist, a woman of great integrity and a living legend among those she has taught and within the Society of Christian Ethics and the Catholic Theological Society of America, of both of which organizations she has been President. It is the vocation of Catholic theologians and ethicists to work on the boundaries of what is known and to explore the relationship between Gospel values and the challenges of different times and different cultures. Margaret has done this with grace and wisdom throughout her life. The Vatican notification is a dark day for Margaret, but a black day in the history of the Church.

– Paul Lakeland
Aloysius P. Kelley Professor of Catholic Studies and
Director of the Center for Catholic Studies at Fairfield University.
Quoted in "Academics React to Vatican Move Against Farley Book"
National Catholic Reporter
June 4, 2012

Related Off-site Links:
Vatican Censures Sister Margaret Farley’s Theology of Sexuality – Francis DeBernardo (Bondings 2.0, June 4, 2012).
Vatican Criticizes US Theologian's Book on Sexuality – Jerry Filteau (National Catholic Reporter, June 4, 2012).
Book by Margaret Farley, RSM, Condemned by Vatican – James Martin, S.J. (America, June 4, 2012).
No Justice for Margaret Farley and Just Love – Jamie L Manson (National Catholic Reporter, June 4, 2012).
The Call of the Baptized: Be the Church, Live the Mission – Paul Lakeland (The Progressive Catholic Voice, September 19, 2010).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
Just Love
"A Wise and Thoughtful Study of Sexual Ethics"
In the News
An Energizing and Spirited Weekend

Image: Zac Willette (March 2007).

Something to Think About . . .

.

Studies indicate same-sex-attracted young people may be several times more likely than heterosexual young people to attempt suicide. . . . It strikes me as obvious that church teachings on sexuality are wildly complicit in this shocking statistic.

The Catholic Church teaches that homosexuality is "objectively disordered", that homosexual acts are unnatural and sinful. Since for most of us sexuality is inseparable from the essence of who we are, the church is teaching adolescents (at a time when their self-image may be particularly vulnerable) that they are in some way rotten at the core. The church's unhealthy, misguided teachings and attitudes infiltrate and stain families and communities, conjuring up ancient, ignorant prejudices within us and validating them.

– Will Day

"Don't Tell the Cathedral"
Casey Weekly
May 28, 2012

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
The "Ratzinger Letter" of 1986 as "Theological Pornography"
The Pope's "Scandalous" Stance on Homosexuality
Listen Up, Papa!
The Blood-Soaked Thread
What the Vatican Can Learn from the X-Men
Beyond the Hierarchy: The Blossoming of Liberating Catholic Insights on Sexuality
The Non-Negotiables of Human Sex
Stop in the Name of Discriminatory Ideology!
The Challenge to Become Ourselves
Dave Navarro to LGBT Youth: "We Need Your Voice"

Related Off-site Links:
Just the Facts About Sexual Orientation and Youth – American Psychological Association.
The War on Gays – Chris Hedges (TruthDig.com, May 28, 2012).
Vatican Criticizes US Theologian's Book on Sexuality – Jerry Filteau (National Catholic Reporter, June 4, 2012).

Image: Mr. Fish.

Believing in the Trinity

Today is Trinity Sunday, and the following excerpt from theologian Leonardo Boff's 2000 book Holy Trinity, Perfect Community was shared this morning as part of the liturgy at Spirit of St. Stephen's Catholic Community in Minneapolis. I found it very insightful and helpful. Perhaps you will too!

What is God like? This is where the Blessed Trinity comes in. We believe that God is communion rather than solitude. It is not a "one" that is primary but the "three." The three comes first. Then, because of the intimate relationship between the "three" comes the "one" as expressing the unity of the three.

Believing in the Trinity means that at the root of everything that exists and subsists there is movement; there is an eternal process of life, of outward movement, of love.

Believing in the Trinity means that truth is on the side of communion rather than exclusion; consensus translates truth better than imposition; the participation of many is better than the dictate of a single one.

Believing in the Trinity means accepting that everything is related to everything and so makes up one great whole, and that unity comes from a thousand convergences rather than from one factor alone.

We never simply live, we always live together. Whatever favors shared life is good and worthwhile. Hence, it is worthwhile believing in this community-style of God's existence, of God's Trinitarian manner that is always communion and union of three.

– Leonardo Boff

Out and About – Spring 2012 (Part 2)

.

NOTE: For Part 1, click here.

If I were asked to describe this spring, or even this year to date, I'm not sure I would know how. So many things are unfolding in ways I'd not expected or considered. Amidst the beauty of new life there has been sadness and loss; in working on a much anticipated campaign for equality, a sense of disconnection.

As much as I can, I try to create sacred time and space so as to step back and observe and appraise the ways I'm choosing to respond to these situations. More often than not, the counsel I discern reminds me that it's not about me. It's first and foremost about listening to the needs of others and simply being a quiet, loving presence in the midst of grief and loss. In other situations, it's about welcoming the opportunity to let go of the past and discern where and how it is God is calling me to share my gifts and talents, now and in the future.

I noted in Part 1 that this blog is very much a journal, a testimony, to the challenge of living as a gay man, true to the gift of my sexuality, within the Roman Catholic faith tradition. Yet at the same time it's also true that The Wild Reed chronicles my moving away and beyond this tradition and, in particular, its corrupt-to-the-core clerical caste. I think I've always been aware of this, and, in retrospect, the signs of this journey's progress have been clear for all to see – from the very beginning (One of These Boys . . .) and onwards (The Onward Call, Keeping the Spark Alive, Dispatches from the Periphery, A Return to the Spirit, The Sufi Way, As the Last Walls Dissolve . . . Everything is Possible).

The journey, of course, continues – both metaphorically and literally. In terms of the latter, regular readers will know that I recently returned to Australia for a two-week visit – two weeks of autumn in the middle of spring! It was a difficult yet deeply meaningful and sacred time. Sharing details of this experience would intrude on the privacy of others, and so I'll refrain from doing so. What I can say is that it was a beautiful time of reconnection with beautiful friends! And some of the photos documenting and celebrating this aspect of my return home I happily share.

Above: My Australian friends Jeremiah and Kristy with their daughter Frankie. Most of my time in Australia was spent at the Leichhardt home of Jeremiah, Kristy and Frankie, a home shared with Jeremiah's sisters, Mim and Collette.

Above: Little Frankie!

Above: With Kristy and Frankie and my good friend Garth.



Right: With friends Dom and Bernie.

Above: Collette and Jeremy.

Above: Sydney's Broadway Shopping Centre,
where my friend Dom works.

The primary purpose of my visit to Australia was to spend time in Sydney with members of the McGowan family, including Raph who visited me last October in Minnesota.

I also spent three days with my parents at their home in Port Macquarie, where I also got to see my younger brother and his family. Then, during my last days in Australia, Mum and Dad traveled down from Port Macquarie to Sydney. It was great to spend more time with them (left), including a memorable afternoon on Sydney Harbour (above).

Left: Back in Minnesota with my good friends Brian and Kathleen.

Right: My friend Phil at his May 18, 2012 commissioning as a Second Lieutenant in the US Army Nurse Corps. Congratulations, Sunshine!

Above: A great shot of Phil's sister Alicia helping Phil with his beret.

We were all getting ready that morning for Phil's commissioning.

Above: Family and friends celebrating Phil's achievement – May 18, 2012.

Above: My friend Maya participating in this year's MayDay Parade.

For more images of this wonderful event, click here.

Above: Standing at right with (from left) Richard Carlbom, Campaign Manager of Minnesotans United for All Families, and Cheryl Maloney and Mary Beckfeld, fellow board members of Catholics for Marriage Equality MN.

Above: Friendly faces (and dogs) are always in abundance in this particular kitchen! From left: Noelle, Liana (with Eddie), Curtis, Phil and Jacob.

Above: With Charlie!

Above: Curtis and Eddie.

Above: Sitting center with friends (from left) Robert, Tim, Mike and Kim. Tim's hair color was the result of a visit earlier that afternoon to the St. Mark's Church fair!


Right: With Phil.

During the last week of May I joined with other Catholics to phone bank at the Minneapolis office of Minnesotans United for All Families. We were calling fellow Catholics to invite them to the upcoming June 10 "Catholics Vote No" event. Pictured above are my friends Ann, Chad, Eileen and Art.

As I walked through Loring Park to get to the Minneapolis headquarters of Minnesotans United for All Families, I snapped this beautiful image.

Above: Another image of the beauty of nature. This one was taken just a stone's throw away from my home in South Minneapolis, close to beautiful Minnehaha Creek. For more photos of this part of the Twin Cities, see here and here.


Images: Michael J. Bayly.

Never Say It Is Not God

I taste what you taste. I know the kind of lyrics
Your Soul most likes. I know which sounds will become
Resplendent in your mind and bring such pleasure
Your feet will jump and whirl.

When anything touches or enters your body
Never say it is not God, for He is
Just trying to get close.

I have no use for divine patience – my lips are always
Burning and everywhere. I am running from every corner
Of this world and sky wanting to kiss you.

I am every particle of dust and wheat – you and I
Are ground from His Own Body. I am rioting at your door;
I am spinning in midair like golden falling leaves
Trying to win your glance.

I am sweetly rolling against your walls and your shores.

All night, even though you are asleep. I am singing from
The mouths of animals and birds honoring our
Beloved's promise and need: to let
You know the Truth.
My dear, when anything touches or enters your body
Never say it is not God, for He and I are
Just trying to get close to you.

God and I are rushing
From every corner of existence, needing to say,
"We are yours."

– Hafiz

From The Subject Tonight is Love:
60 Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz
by Daniel Ladinsky.

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
It Happens All the Time in Heaven
Rumi and Shams: A Love of Another Kind
"More Lovely Than the Dawn": God as Divine Lover
"You and I Are One": Blessed Bernardo de Hoyos' Mystical Same-Sex Marriage to Jesus
Sergius and Bacchus: Martyrs, Saints, Lovers
Honoring (and Learning from) the Passion of Saints Sergius and Bacchus
Boris and George
Polyeuct and Nearchus: "Brothers by Affection"
The Many Manifestations of God's Loving Embrace
Getting It Right
Dew[y]-Kissed
Charis
Cherish
Lover of Us All
Just Now and Then
One Fearless Kiss
The Holy Pleasure of Intimacy
Song of Songs: The Bible's Gay Love Poem
The Gifts of Homosexuality
Something to Think About – October 24, 2011
The Journal of James Curtis: Part 4 – Carlos

Image: Subjects and photographer unknown.