It’s a Scandal

Minnesota bishops spend big on a misguided campaign that encourages Catholics to support enshrining discrimination into the State Constitution against gay couples and families.

As executive coordinator of the Catholic Pastoral Committee on Sexual Minorities (CPCSM) I’m quoted in an article in today’s Star Tribune about the Minnesota Conference of (Roman) Catholic Bishops’ campaign against same-sex civil marriage – a campaign that involves the mailing to over 400,000 Catholics of an 18-minute DVD with a strong anti-marriage equality message. As far as I know, the bishops have not disclosed the cost of their campaign, though some have estimated that it could be over one million dollars.

Perhaps, like me, you’re curious as to whether or not the DVD at the center of this expensive campaign explains just how preventing gay civil marriage reflects the Gospel mandate to minister to the least among us. And what was it again Jesus said about homosexuality and gay marriage? Oh, that’s right, absolutely nothing! (He did, of course, mention marriage and his words have been used by some to denounce same-sex marriage. For my take on this, see my 2009 Solidarity Sunday homily, Liberated to Be Together.)

And yet at this time when thousands of Minnesotans are suffering as the result of the economic down turn, and Catholic schools and parishes are threatened with closure, the local clerical leadership sees fit to spend a considerable amount of money on urging Catholics to support discrimination against a minority group in civil society. Yes, it’s a scandal.

And as for the argument that the bishops’ are simply doing their job and educating Catholics on what “the church” teaches about homosexuality and same-sex relationships, I can only say that I’m tired of the clerical leadership’s impoverished understanding of human sexuality being passed off as “Catholic belief” when clearly many of the teachings that comprise this closed-circuit belief system (be they concerned with contraception, masturbation, homosexuality, or the meaning and purpose of sex) have simply not been received and thus accepted by the faithful. We don’t believe what these teachings say. They need to be revisited, revised and updated in the light of science and human experience. Catholic thinking and teaching have changed around moral issues such as usury, slavery, nuclear arms, and labor standards. Our tradition is open, in other words, to its teachings being shaped by historical and scientific knowledge. Why should our understanding of sexuality be immune from such an openness, from such ongoing development? Why is the church's clerical leadership so adamantly opposed to teachings on sexuality and sexual morality being shaped by new insights? Why is a historically conscious approach to some moral issues permitted but an absolutist approach to others strictly enforced? Such inconsistencies comprise yet another scandal, especially given their implications for the intellectual standing of the church and for ordinary Catholics trying to live lives of integrity.

Good teachers are good listeners, and it’s time for the bishops to start listening. And what exactly do they need to start listening to? Well, they could start with gay people’s experiences of the loving and transforming presence of God in their lives and relationships. Hey, if nothing else, it would save them wasting big bucks on last ditch efforts to stave off the inevitable, and allow them to use that money to help those whom Jesus actually calls us to help.

Below is the Star Tribune article on this controversy, followed by a sampling of comments left by readers on the newspaper’s website.

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Catholics to Get DVDs Opposing Gay Marriage

By Mary Jane Smetank
Star Tribune
September 21, 2010

Critics say the mailing, from state bishops,
is aimed at November voters.

More than 400,000 DVDs are being mailed to the homes of Minnesota Catholics on Wednesday, courtesy of Catholic bishops in the state who want to stop the campaign to legalize same-sex marriage in its tracks.

The 18-minute DVD includes an appearance from St. Paul and Minneapolis Archbishop John Nienstedt in which he says it is time for Minnesotans – not the “ruling elite” of legislators and judges – to vote on a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman. Thirty-one states have passed such an amendment.

“It is the people themselves and not politicians or judges who should make this decision,” Nienstedt says on the DVD. “This is the only way to put the one man, one woman definition of marriage beyond the reach of the courts and politicians.” [The Archbishop comes across as a Tea Partier, what with his clear disdain for the role of government to protect the rights of minorities and his maligning of democratically-elected representatives as part of a “ruling elite.”]

Gay advocates who have worked to change the Catholic Church’s stand on same-sex marriage said that coming six weeks before the November general election, the DVD distribution is aimed squarely at voters.

“It’s an effort to have Catholics vote the way the bishops want them to vote, but by and large Catholic voters are well-educated and they are independent-minded,” said Brian McNeill, president of Dignity Twin Cities. The group for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people works to change what it calls the “antiquated sexual theology” of the church. “We would like to talk to the archbishop about it, but he won’t talk to us,” McNeill said.

Michael Bayly, executive coordinator of the Twin Cities-based Catholic Pastoral Committee on Sexual Minorities, said that because gubernatorial candidates Mark Dayton of the DFL and Tom Horner of the Independence Party support same-sex marriage, the chances are great that Minnesota could have a governor who supports what Bayly calls “marriage equality.” He called the DVD “almost a last-ditch effort to try and influence Catholics to turn the election to ensure that doesn’t happen.”

“It would be really tragic if they succeeded, but I don’t think they will,” Bayly said.
The “educational packet” produced by the Minnesota Catholic Conference, which represents bishops covering the state, includes the DVD and an introductory letter from each local bishop. The video includes Nienstedt’s six-minute appearance and a 12-minute video produced by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization, warning of the damage that same-sex marriage will do to families, especially children. [Mmm . . . that should be an incredibly short segment of the video! I mean, what and where is the evidence of this “damage”? Will the video include evidence to the contrary – such as, for example, these findings from Iowa, a state that has legalized same-sex civil marriage?]

The Knights of Columbus video includes appearances by a civil rights advocate who quotes the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and a Princeton University professor who says that the well-being of kids is threatened when they don’t grow up in a traditional family. [Patrick J. Ryan, an associate professor of childhood and social institutions at the University of Western Ontario, has penned an excellent response to the so-called “Defense of Traditional Marriage” argument against marriage equality. This response can be read here.] The video warns that if same-sex marriage becomes the law, public schools would teach that same-sex marriage is OK regardless of what parents think and that the religious liberty of Catholics and others would be threatened. [Another canard that is refuted in this Progressive Catholic Voice article.] It says that people who oppose same-sex marriage would be seen as bigots [!] who could be prosecuted and that the accreditation of parochial schools and tax-exempt status of those schools and churches would be threatened. [No, there is a separation of church and state in the U.S. Despite what you may have heard has happened in some other countries, schools and churches in the U.S. would not be threatened in this way. Surely the producers of this DVD know this. Are they therefore purposely lying? ]

Similar DVDs have been sent out in other states, including California and Maine, said Dennis McGrath, spokesman for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. He said it was his understanding that the bishops jointly decided to send out the packets here.

“I think they felt the situation had gotten to the point that they had to do something,” McGrath said. “They couldn’t stand by and let this thing go any further. The same-sex marriage train was chugging ahead.”

State Sen. John Marty, a Roseville DFLer who has authored proposals to make Minnesota’s marriage laws gender-neutral, said Tuesday that he will renew those efforts if he wins reelection this fall. He said the bishops are free to express their opinions but that he believes that shifting public attitudes about same-sex marriage and gay rights have moved Minnesotans past the debate the bishops seem to want to create.

“I think the constitutional amendment push died about four or five years ago,” Marty said. “Even the strongest proponents realize that it’s time has passed, and it’s not going to happen. Times are changing.” [And thank God! Sen. Marty, incidentally, was the keynote speaker at last year’s CPCSM Annual Community Meeting. To read what he had to say about his efforts to ensure marriage equality in Minnesota, see the previous Wild Reed post: “We Can Make It Happen.”]

The church mailings were paid for with a private donation, McGrath said. [Oh, and this is suppose to make it okay? The real issue isn’t where the money comes from but the bishops’ decision to spend it in the way that they have and the lack of input from the laity regarding such a significant expenditure.]

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Following are some of the comments that have been shared on the website of the Star Tribune in response to the above article.

Bellamn16 writes: This is an excellent example of why the Catholic church loses 75+% of its young adult (and typically more tolerant) population. And it’s one of the reasons why I stopped regularly attending church. I just don’t understand how a religion that was built on ‘love thy neighbor’ can act this way about a portion of our human population.

Cheiron55401 writes: The Catholics should clean up their own tarnished image before telling the world to clean theirs up.

Europea writes: I’ve had the pleasure of living next door to a lesbian couple raising two sons. One is Mommy and the other is Momma. These two young men are happy, well adjusted kids with really incredible talents. They play football and hockey, and they like girls, though most of their buddies are boys. They don’t seem to have any trouble modeling typical boy behavior. They have uncles and neighbors and other adult males around all the time. My personal experience has put the lie to these silly claims about the required membership of a nuclear family. Good parents can be of the same gender, and bad parents can be of opposite genders. If the Catholic bishops don’t want to perform gay marriage ceremonies, nobody in America will ever force them too, no matter what these foolish DVDs might be telling you. That’s written in the First Amendment. It seems that all the bishops really want to protect is their supposed right to demonize categories of non-Catholics. In that specific regard, I don’t see much difference between their claims and the religious position of the Taliban. It is one of degree rather than kind. I have to question why these bishops are so intent on lying to their own flock, and why so many Catholics are content to ignore their bishops in obvious acts of passive aggression. It really doesn’t seem like a healthy relationship to me.

Luciani writes: Catholics have nothing better to do with their money than this? What a waste. How many people are seriously going to watch it? Four hundred thousand more pieces of junk mail for the landfills.

Lawmusicguy writes: I guess I should stop being surprised when the Catholic Church sinks to yet another level of intolerance, hypocrisy, and absurdity. Yet each time I find myself wondering how this organization can be so out of touch with reality. There is no rational argument that suggests gay people and gay marriage will harm the Catholic Church. No one will force the Church to perform same sex marriages. What gay people want is to be with the partner of their choice, not to attack or be attacked by the Church. Funny that there’s another Strib article about many [Catholic] churches being forced to combine congregations and sell off church buildings due to dwindling numbers. Perhaps some day the Catholic Church will see the correlation between its intolerance and the shrinking parishioners. People are growing tired of the Church’s ignorant interference.

Datelessnerd writes: Sheesh! You really get your money’s worth when you put it in a Catholic collection plate. If it doesn’t go to pay child sex abuse settlements against priests, it’s used to produce homophobic DVDs during the election campaign.


See also the related Wild Reed posts:
• Misplaced Priorities
• Return to Sender
• The Minnesota Bishops’ Last Ditch Effort
• A Message for NOM
• Archbishop Nienstedt Calls (Again) for a Marriage Amendment to the MN Constitution
• Archbishop Nienstedt’s Unconvincing Argument
• Archbishop Nienstedt Has It Wrong
• Distinguishing Between Roman Catholic Theology and Civil Law in the Struggle for Marriage Equality
• Dale Carpenter on the “Win-Win” Reality of Gay Marriage
• At UST, a Rousing and Very Catholic Show of Support for Same-Sex Marriage
• Minnesotans Rally for Equality and Love at the State Capitol
• A Catholic Voice for Marriage Equality at the State Capitol

Recommended Off-site Links:
The Archbishop and the Gay Bogeyman – Tommi Avicolli-Mecca (BeyondChron.com, September 22, 2010).
Gay Marriage Causes No Harm to Traditional Marriage , Study Finds – Scott Raynor (The Iowa Independent, September 8, 2010).
NOM's Anti-Gay Marriage Ad Muddles Martin Luther King's Pro-Gay Message – Paul Schmelzer (Minnesota Independent, September 23, 2010).
Do Religions Reject Gay Marriage? – Daniel Maguire (Consortimnews.com, August 18, 2010).
Young Catholics Will Change the Church on Gay Rights – Michael A. Jones (GayRights.org, September 15, 2010).