Out and About – November 2011

On the evening of Sunday, November 6, 2011, I hosted a small dinner party at my St. Paul home, Hare House. It was one of over 100 gatherings that took place across Minnesota as part of "One Day United for All Families," a consciousness-raising and fundraising initiative of Minnesotans United for All Families. As executive coordinator of Catholics for Marriage Equality MN I serve on the steering committee of this coalition, one that is playing a leading role in working to defeat the proposed "marriage amendment" which would amend the Minnesota constitution to ban civil marriage rights for same-sex couples.



Above: Clockwise from left: Jerry, Marcus, Freeman, Greg, Walter, Brian, Bob and Kathleen.


Left: Freeman, Marcus and Jerry – November 6, 2011.

Above: Friends Bob, Brain and Walter – November 6, 2011.

Above: Honoring Tom Bottelene and Pepperwolf, key organizers and leaders in the AlliantACTION movement which for 15 years held non-violent vigils and actions outside the corporate headquarters of Alliant TechSystems. Before its recent relocation to Washington, D.C, Alliant TechSystems was the largest Minnesota-based weapons manufacturer and the primary supplier of landmines, cluster bombs, nuclear missile rocket motors, and depleted uranium munitions to the U.S. Department of Defense.

Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s I regularly attended the weekly AlliantACTION vigil. For images and commentary of this involvement, click here.

My friend Tom also maintains CircleVision.org, along with the websites of a number of Minnesota-based justice and peace groups, including Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) and Catholics for Marriage Equality MN.


Right: My friend Marie Braun, pictured earlier this month at the special gathering in St. Paul to honor Tom and Pepper.

In October, Marie was the recipient of The Courageous Woman Award from the Friends of the Anne Pederson Women’s Resource Center at Augsburg College. This award recognizes women who courageously strive for social justice and peace on campus or in the wider community and whose efforts make a difference to women. It's just one of numerous awards Marie has received over the years. In 2006, for instance, she and her husband John were the recipients of the Vincent L. Hawkinson Foundation for Peace and Justice Honorary Award.

Above: Thanksgiving trifle! I was fortunate to be able to spend time and share food with two groups of friends this Thanksgiving. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me when I enjoyed the company of Ken, Carol, Paul, Carrie, Cass, Oscar and SueAnn.

I did, however, get some snaps that night when at the home of the wonderful Jacquet-Morrison family!

Left: Liana and Curtis (with Eddie!).






Right: Phil and Ahmed.










Left: Hello, Quinny!










Above: Rosanne Cash in concert with the Minnesota Orchestra – Friday, November 18, 2011.

This concert was one of two great musical performances I saw in the space of two days. For more about my "musical weekend," click here.



Above: My friend Brian snapped this photo of me when we were recently at Butter Bakery Cafe in South Minneapolis. Next door is a great store called Present Moment Herbs and Books. Here I found two books that greatly interested me: Essential Sufism and The Art of Being and Becoming.



Above: I was going to wait until after Thanksgiving to put up my Christmas Tree, but decided I'd do so instead while listening as soon as I could to Kate Bush's latest album, the winter-themed 50 Words for Snow. It was released Monday, November 21. And that evening seemed the perfect time to set up and decorate my tree! Plus, outside there was still snow on the ground from a weekend snowfall!

For more about Kate's 50 Words for Snow, click here.



Above: The trees in front of my St. Paul home, aglow in the early morning light of the last day of November 2011.


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
Out and About – November 2010
Out and About – November 2009
Out and About – November 2008
Out and About – November 2007

Something to Think About . . .

Related Off-site Links:
More Than 200 Arrested in Occupy LA Raid – Christina Hoag and Kathy Matheson (The Associated Press, November 30, 2011).
Evicted Occupy Philadelphia Protesters Arrested – Associated Press (November 30, 2011).
Churches Help Occupy Movement Survive Crackdowns, Winter – Josef Kuhn (Religion News Service via The Huffington Post, November 29, 2011).
The Shocking Truth About the Crackdown on Occupy – Naomi Wolf (The Guardian, November 25, 2011).
Naomi Wolf’s ‘Shocking Truth’ About the ‘Occupy Crackdowns’ Offers Anything But the Truth – Joshua Holland (AlterNet.org, November 26, 2011).
Why Naomi Wolf's Occupy Conspiracy Theory Can't Explain Occupy LA – Tom Hayden (The Nation, November 29, 2011).
America Has Become a Fascist Police State – Carl Gibson (Reader Supported News, November 26, 2011).
Pepper-Spray Creator Decries Use of Chemical Agent on Peaceful Occupy Wall Street Protesters – Democracy Now! (November 29, 2011).
The Democratic Promise of Occupy Wall Street – William Greider (CommonDreams.org, November 28, 2011).
Occupy Everywhere: Michael Moore, Naomi Klein, William Greider and Patrick Bruner on the Next Steps for the Movement Against Corporate Power – Democracy Now! (November 25, 2011).

Quote of the Day

. . . As a Christian, I'm passionately opposed to American pretensions that we have special standing with God; to political office-seekers who play on our religious differences; and to the religious arrogance that says, "Our truth is the only truth." But I'm equally passionate about the urgency of creating a culture of meaning that responds to the deepest needs of the human soul. This is a task we have been neglecting at great peril, a task that demands the best of all our wisdom traditions, a task on which people of diverse beliefs can and must make common cause.

Viewed from this angle, the fact that America is not and cannot be a Christian nation is very good news. America's freedom of religion, and freedom from religion, offers every wisdom tradition an opportunity to address our soul-deep needs: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, secular humanism, agnosticism and atheism among others. These traditions are like facets of a prism, each of which refracts a different wave length of the Light that overcomes darkness, including the darkness created from time to time by every nation and every tradition. . . .

– Parker J. Palmer
"A Christian Gives Thanks That America Is Not A Christian Nation"
The Huffington Post
November 24, 2011

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
In the Garden of Spirituality – Parker Palmer
The Sufi Way

“You and I Are One”: Blessed Bernardo de Hoyos’ Mystical Same-Sex Marriage to Jesus

“The Mystical Marriage of Blessed Fr. Bernardo de Hoyos y Seña, SJ”

by William Hart McNichols.

As part of both her LGBT Saints series and Queer Christ series at the always insightful Jesus in Love Blog, Kittredge Cherry highlights and celebrates today the mystical same-sex marriage of Blessed Bernardo Francisco de Hoyos to Jesus. (Mmm . . . I’m thinking we should declare Bernardo the patron of Catholics for Marriage Equality MN!)

Following is an excerpt from Kitt’s post.

______________________________

Blessed Bernardo Francisco de Hoyos y Seña is an 18th-century Spanish priest who wrote vividly of his mystical gay marriage to Jesus. He was beatified in 2010 and his feast day is today (Nov. 29).

Bernardo (1711-1735) was 18 when he had a vision of marrying Jesus in a ceremony much like a human wedding. He described it this way:

Always holding my right hand, the Lord had me occupy the empty throne; then He fitted on my finger a gold ring. . . . “May this ring be an earnest of our love. You are Mine, and I am yours. You may call yourself and sign Bernardo de Jesus, thus, as I said to my spouse, Santa Teresa, you are Bernardo de Jesus and I am Jesus de Bernardo. My honor is yours; your honor is Mine. Consider My glory that of your Spouse; I will consider yours, that of My spouse. All Mine is yours, and all yours is Mine. What I am by nature you share by grace. You and I are one!”

– Quoted from The Visions of Bernard Francis De Hoyos, S.J.

by Henri Bechard, S.J.

Bernardo’s vision inspired artist-priest William Hart McNichols to paint an icon of Bernardo’s wedding with Jesus.

“I was so taken with this profoundly beautiful account of Jesus’ mystical marriage with Bernardo, including all the symbols of a human wedding. Personally, I am not aware of any other man in the history of Christianity who has had this marriage experience,” McNichols wrote. [Oh, I'm sure many others have. It's just that only Bernardo's has been acknowledged and celebrated in this way.]

. . . While the Catholic church refuses to bless same-sex marriages, the lives and visions of its own saints tell a far different story – in which Christ the Bridegroom gladly joins himself in marriage with a man.

To read Kitt's post in its entirety, click here.


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• “More Lovely Than the Dawn”: God as Divine Lover
• The Many Manifestations of God’s Loving Embrace
• The Catholic Hierarchy: Officially Homophobic, Intensely Homoerotic
• The Inherent Sensuality of Roman Catholicism
• Sergius and Bacchus: Martyrs, Saints, Lovers
• Honoring (and Learning from) the Passion of Saints Sergius and Bacchus
• The Allure of St. Sebastian
• “From Byzantine Daddy to Baroque Twink” – Charles Darwent on the Journey of St. Sebastian
• The Archangel Michael as Gay Icon
• The Archangel Michael: Perspectives and Portraits
• Song of Songs: The Bible’s Gay Love Poem?
• Terence Weldon on the “Disciple Jesus Loved” as a Role Model for LGBT Christians
• Jesus and the Centurion (Part 1)
• Jesus and the Centurion (Part 2)
• Getting the Word Out
• Jesus Was a Sissy
• Christ and Krishna
• It Happens All the Time in Heaven

Advent 2011: Thoughts and Reflections (Part 1)

The liturgical season of Advent began this past weekend and as part of my Catholic community's Sunday liturgy, we heard words of wisdom from W.H. Auden. What humans have in common, he once said, is that we are all waiting. And that what it is we are waiting for defines us.

These words have stayed with me for the past two days and have made me reflect upon what it is I'm waiting for. I've come to the conclusion that I'm waiting and longing and working for transformation – my own and the world's.

The type of transformation I'm referring to is grounded in love and blossoms in lives and relationships of compassion, justice, integrity and wholeness. The love that inspires and fuels such transformation dwells deep inside each one of us as well as beyond us.

Like I said, I'm waiting and working for this love's breaking through in ever more resolute and transforming ways into my life, the lives of others, the church, and the world. I do what I can to facilitate and embody this breaking through, but I also know that it's not all up to me. I have to also make room for the Spirit – working in and through others and within those mysterious ways beyond our human comprehension.

No doubt like many of you reading this, I look to the historical Jesus as the one who most beautifully and powerfully modeled such a balanced and integrated life of prayerful waiting and mindful action; as the one who embodied in his human form and expressions the transforming love that is God.

This is why Jesus is my man and why I enjoy so much discovering and sharing the work of those scholars, prophets, mystics and artists who identify, explore and challenge us with the liberating life and message of the one we know as both Jesus of Nazareth and Emmanuel, "God with us."

This Advent at The Wild Reed I intend sharing excerpts from two books that do just that. These books are: Fully Human, Fully Divine: An Interactive Christology by Michael Casey and The Wisdom Jesus: Transforming Heart and Mind – A New Perspective on Christ and His Message by Cynthia Bourgeault.

I start today with an excerpt from Casey’s Fully Human, Fully Divine.

______________________________

At the time the Gospels were written, the humanity of Jesus seemed self-evident. Jesus of Nazareth was a man who lived and died; he belonged to a particular family, was formed in a particular culture, and was heard, seen, and touched by his contemporaries. Various assessments of the quality of his teaching and the nature of his mission could have been made without going beyond the assertion that Jesus was no more than an extraordinary man.

. . . [Yet] the New Testament consistently affirms that there was more to Jesus than mere humanity. For the next several centuries, the Church struggled to define this “something more” in terms that did not negate the unyielding monotheism of the Old Testament and yet offered a corrective to those reared in the facile polytheism of late antiquity. To us who do not much care about theory, this slow honing of theological concepts seems tortuous and unnecessary. The Councils of the early Church were passionate about getting it right – they did not want to lose anything of the deep mystery of Jesus’ divinity. Unfortunately, the success of this theological evolution brought its own hazards. Once it became accepted among that Jesus was fully divine, the opposite error loomed.

The heresy named Docetism is almost as ancient as the Church. It represents a radical doubt about the reality of the humanity of Jesus, preferring to see it as no more than a kindly pretense adopted by God’s Son to accommodate himself to our weakened perception. It is like an adult pretending to participate in a doll’s tea party; or a visiting abbot, for the purposes of edification, sharing a morsel at the frugal table of the monks, before repairing to a more substantial repast away from the common gaze. Docetism insulates the person of the Word from the drama of human existence. Like most heresies, it means well. It has grasped the important truth that Christ’s personhood is untouchable – not limited or defiled by moral weakness, ignorance, or malice. It has failed, however, to appreciate the astounding “condescension” of God, who has created human nature precisely as a receptor of divinity.

Today, when speaking to believers, the Church faces the same challenge it met in refuting Docetism. It is necessary to affirm that there is nothing unseemly in the fullness of divinity dwelling bodily in Christ, because it was with this end in view that human nature was designed. We cannot emphasize enough that the humanity assumed by the Word was not the untainted boldness of Adam before the Fall, but the shriveled vulnerability we all share. As Bernard of Clairvaux reminds us: “Nothing so demonstrates God’s positive attitude towards the human race as embracing my humanity. I repeat: my humanity, and not the flesh Adam had before the fall. What manifests God’s mercy more clearly than that he would embrace such misery.”

The creedal statement that Christ is a “perfect” human being is easily misunderstood. It can make us imagine Jesus as a youthful man with a great body, good teeth, and attractive face – endowed as well with charm, intelligence, and high culture. It is unthinkable for many that the historical Jesus may have been shorter than we, overweight by our standards, middle-aged and bald, with the mind and manners of a first-century Palestinian tradesman. We don’t have any reliable data on what Jesus of Nazareth looked like; our personal picture of him probably reveals more about us than about him. Look at the devotional images that people have and ask yourself what these reveal about their owners; unconscious assumptions about the human condition and about themselves.

Much dubious Christology derives from the fact that many of us have trouble accepting the spottiness of our own concrete humanity, and loving what God has thus fashioned. In this scenario, perfect human beings demonstrate their perfection by being as unlike us as possible. And so we picture Jesus in such a way that he becomes a living reproach to humanity rather than its easily recognizable expression. By thus elevating him, we unprofitably abase ourselves and create a distance between us and him that defeats the purpose of the incarnation. God became completely human, omitting nothing that belongs to our nature. He was without sin, because sin does not belong to our nature.

– Michael Casey
Fully Human, Fully Divine: An Interactive Christology
pp. 2-4

NEXT: Part 2


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
Thoughts on Waiting . . . and a Resolution
Advent: Renewing Our Connection with the Sacred
The Centered Life as an Advent Life
My Advent Prayer for the Church
Advent Thoughts
Letting God Loose
Mystics Full of God
Thoughts on Transformation (Part 1)
Thoughts on Transformation (Part 2)
Thoughts on Transformation (Part 3)
Joy: The Most Infallible Sign of God's Presence

Image 1: Karen Horton.
Image 2: Valentin de Boulogne.
Image 3: Design: Pam Hummelsheim. Artwork: Domenico Morelli.

The Inspiring Zachary Quinto: “It is My Intention to Live an Authentic Life of Compassion and Integrity and Action”

I’ve noted before how I love a good coming out story. The latest to make an impression on me actually involves two coming out stories – that of actor Zachary Quinto and TV anchor Dan Kloeffler. Indeed, the coming out of Quinto last month inspired the on-air coming out of Kloeffler.

Of course, some people question all this attention given to “celebrities” who come out. Brian Moylan offers a good response to this when he writes that “the more public figures that come out, the more it inspires other public figures to come out. And the more out public figures we have, the easier it will be for gay people everywhere to find acceptance.” And then there's Lucy Jane Bledsoe’s observation, one that’s applicable to anyone and everyone: “Coming out, and by extension coming out stories, are important because people evolve when they tell the truth. Some people evolve when they hear the truth.”

There’s another aspect to the related coming out stories of Quinto and Kloeffler worth sharing. In a powerful October 16 message on his website, Quinto attributed his decision to come out to the suicide of gay teenager Jamey Rodemeyer.

When I found out that Jamey Rodemeyer killed himself I felt deeply troubled. But when I found out that Jamey Rodemeyer had made an “It Gets Better” video only months before taking his own life, I felt indescribable despair. I also made an “It Gets Better” video last year – in the wake of the senseless and tragic gay teen suicides that were sweeping the nation at the time. But in light of Jamey’s death it became clear to me in an instant that living a gay life without publicly acknowledging it is simply not enough to make any significant contribution to the immense work that lies ahead on the road to complete equality.

Our society needs to recognize the unstoppable momentum toward unequivocal civil equality for every gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered citizen of this country. Gay kids need to stop killing themselves because they are made to feel worthless by cruel and relentless bullying. Parents need to teach their children principles of respect and acceptance.

We are witnessing an enormous shift of collective consciousness throughout the world. We are at the precipice of great transformation within our culture and government. I believe in the power of intention to change the landscape of our society – and it is my intention to live an authentic life of compassion and integrity and action. Jamey Rodemeyer’s life changed mine. And while his death only makes me wish that I had done this sooner, I am eternally grateful to him for being the catalyst for change within me. Now I can only hope to serve as the same catalyst for even one other person in this world. That, I believe, is all that we can ask of ourselves and of each other.

See what I mean by powerful?

The coming out stories of Quinto and Kloeffler made international news. Following is how Xinhuanet, the top news website in China, reported the news on October 18.

The Star Trek actor Zachary Quinto’s coming out inspired an ABC anchor to publicly acknowledge his own sexuality on the air, according to media reports.

Dan Kloeffler, the World News Now anchor, reported the reasons why Quinto came out and then said, “He’s 34, I’m 35 – I’m thinking, I can lose my distraction about dating actors for that one, maybe.”

Neither Zachary Quinto nor Dan Kloeffler made a big deal about coming out. Quinto, who made the revelation in the new issue of New York magazine, just clarified some remarks about the recent homosexual suicides by saying “as a gay man.”

The actor’s behavior was greeted warmly by both the GLBT community and the vast majority of the general population, and it also encouraged Kloeffler to follow the lead.

Kloeffler later took to the ABC News website to give a more thorough explanation.

“There have been too many tragic endings and too many cases of bullying because of intolerance. As a kid I wanted someone to look up to, someone that could relate to the feelings I was having. Most of all, I wanted to know that it would get better.”

Related Off-site Links:
What’s Up, Spock? – Benjamin Wallace (New York Magazine, October 16, 2011).
Jamey Rodemeyer’s Suicide Leads to Bullying Spotlight, Caution – Carolyn Thompson (The Huffington Post, August 28, 2011).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Coming Out: An Act of Holiness
• The Raising of Lazarus and the Gay Experience of Coming Out
• Darren Hayes, Coming Out . . . Oh, and Time Travel
• Ian McKellen’s Two Great Achievements: Playing Gandalf and Coming Out
• Daniel Kowalski: “I Can No Longer Fight Who I Am”
• No Surprise, But An Important Event Nonetheless
• Adam Lambert’s Coming Out: It Shouldn’t Matter. Except it Does
• Out Gay Actor Neil Patrick Harris: “I’m Striving to Be An Example of Normalcy”
• Coming Out in Africa and the Middle East
• A Girl Named Sara: A “Person of the Resurrection”
• A Gay Catholic Man’s Testimony of Courage and Grace: “God Made Me and Loves Me Just As I Am”
• No Matter What
• Quote of the Day – July 16, 2010

And for my own coming out story, see The Wild Reed series, In the Footsteps of Spring:
• Introduction
• Part 1: The Light Within
• Part 2: Shards of Summer
• Part 3: Intimate Soliloquies
• Part 4: Coming Out
• Part 5: No Stranger Am I

Opening Image: Paola Kudacki.

A Musical Weekend

That's how I describe last weekend when I experienced two wonderful musical performances here in the Twin Cities.

The first was the incredibly talented Rosanne Cash in concert Friday, November 18, with the Minnesota Orchestra.

Jon Bream's November 20 Star Tribune review says it well:

For her orchestral debut, Rosanne Cash [left] wore black jeans, a sequined green top and a black jacket with (short) tails. The informality mixed with the formality worked for Cash and the Minnesota Orchestra Friday at Orchestra Hall. The symphonic sounds added emotions to a few numbers and buoyed Cash on a couple others. She also offered several tunes, accompanied by her three-man band or merely her husband/guitarist/producer, John Leventhal. . . . [The orchestra's] strings underscored the sadness of Patsy Cline’s "She's Got You" and added a fitting Irish flavor to Cash’s own "The Good Intent," a dreaminess to "The World Unseen" and a loneliness of "Sleeping in Paris." The best arrangements had to be the swelling "Seven-Year Ache," Cash’s biggest hit, and the closing "The Wheel," her most uptempo and dynamic tune.

Oh, and I'm happy to report that Rosanne sang one of my favorite songs: "Dreams Are Not My Home" from her 2006 album Black Cadillac. I particularly love the lyrics of this particular song, including the following.

The waves are breaking on the wall.
The queen of roses spreads her arms to fly, she falls.
If I had wings I'd cut them down.
Live without these dreams
so I could learn to love the ground.

'Cause I wanna live inside the world,
I wanna act like a real girl.
I wanna know I'm not alone,
and the dreams are not my home

The future's like a ringing bell,
the road to good intentions
wanders all the way through hell
The note that hangs in the gilded hall,
the clanging of my empty rooms.
Yeah, I could learn to love them all . . .

Yes, it was a wonderful evening of music, one that I shared with my friend Greg and which I have my generous friends Amy and Dawn to thank for.

The second musical event I attended last weekend was "Everything Changes," the first concert of the Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra's 2011-2012 season.

The concert was named after a 2006 piece by Erika Foin. This particular piece, which opened last Saturday's performance, was inspired by Cicely Herbert's poem "Everything Changes" which Foin was first introduced to ten years ago courtesy of the London Underground!

My good friend Kathleen (left) is the orchestra's Principal Second Violinist, and Saturday's performance was the first for Jacob Sustaita, the orchestra's newly appointed Music Director.

The MPO was founded in 1993 by Kevin Ford, a gay man who had a vision of a gay and lesbian orchestra that would build community and fellowship through the performance of classical music. Notes the MPO website:

Although Kevin succumbed to complications from HIV-AIDS in 1995, the organization he created continues to grow and diversify today. The MPO includes players from a variety of backgrounds and orientations who share a commitment to inclusivity, non-discrimination, and to the performance of works by under-represented composers.

Last Saturday's concert impressively showcased the MPO's high standards of musicality and artistic integrity. I particularly appreciated and enjoyed the performance of Rodrigo's "Adagio for Wind Orchestra," the nimble playing of guest violinist Andrew Sords, and the gracefully energetic conducting of Jacob Sustaita (right).

I look forward to future concerts of the MPO and strongly encourage my Minnesotan readers to get to know this "instrumental voice for the GLBTA community." You can learn about future performances of the MPO here.


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
The Beauty and Wisdom of Rosanne Cash
"Movin' On" with Rosanne Cash
The Potential of Art and the Limits of Rigid Orthodoxy to Connect Us to the Sacred
In the Garden of Spirituality – Rosanne Cash

Quote of the Day

. . . Most of us just want someone to hug us when we're happy or sad, to inhale life's problems, to hold our hand when we get that unexpected diagnosis and to answer "yes" to a question embedded in our soul: "Do you promise to love and care for each other, in good times and bad, in sickness and health, for better or worse, for as long as you both shall live?"

Some of us are lucky enough to have found the partner who loves us enough to say, "I will."

I have a life partner named Becky, my wife of almost 30 years. She helps me breathe after a day of hearing other people's saddest problems, pretends to laugh at my jokes, and walks around the lake without making me say a word, holding my hand.

Why should this be denied to us if Becky were a "Bob?"

– Lloyd Zimmerman
"Marriage Amendment: Can We Get Past the Idea
of What a Couple Should Look Like?"
Star Tribune
November 25, 2011

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
Quote of the Day – October 16, 2011
Minnesota Marriage Amendment: "Wrong and Impractical"
Quote of the Day – October 31, 2011
Talking Marriage Equality This Holiday Season
A Head and Heart Response to the Catholic Hierarchy's Opposition to Marriage Equality

Something to Think About . . .

Image: Greg Cook.

A Head and Heart Response to the Catholic Hierarchy's Opposition to Marriage Equality

Last month the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that Archbishop John Nienstedt had instructed the priests of the Archdiocese to establish special committees in their parishes to rally support for next November's "marriage amendment" ballot initiative. In response to this development I submitted the op-ed reprinted below, one which the Star Tribune declined to publish.

The paper did, however, publish a number of letters-to-the-editor and an online piece by Kevin Winge entitled "On This Issue, Archbishop, You Are Wrong." All these pieces were what some might call heart-based responses. Winge, for instance, stated, "I’m not a member of the clergy and I’m not a theologian, but I know [the Archbishop is] wrong because I know what’s in my heart; and what is in my heart is love."

I have no problem with these types of responses as, without doubt, they can reflect important truths. Yet I also believe that intellectually-based perspectives can also reflect truth. It's also important to remember that not everyone is convinced by a "because my heart tells me" argument. Some are actually turned off by overly emotional responses, and, rightly or wrongly, dismiss them as irrational.

It's also problematic when emotionally-based responses are pitted against intellectual ones as if they're automatically superior and/or the only way to respond to them. There can be an anti-intellectual bias in how we choose to respond to the intellectual arguments of others. I'm not saying that this is what the editors of the Star Tribune are exhibiting, but they definitely seem hesitant to facilitate an intellectually-based religious debate. They seem content instead to pit the Archbishop's heady arguments against the supporters of marriage equality's more heart-based ones. This is, however, a simplistic and ultimately unhelpful caricaturing of the two sides of this particular issue.

I strongly believe that as well as responding from the heart to the Archbishop's opposition to marriage equality, we can and should passionately critique and challenge it on its own terms, i.e., intellectually and theologically. I think it's this passion that can tap into the power of the heart and, in turn, help produce a response that integrates both head and heart. It's this type of integrated response that I attempt to make in the following op-ed.

_________________________________________

Archbishop Just One of Many Catholic Voices
in Gay Marriage Debate

by Michael Bayly

Not all Catholics support Archbishop John Nienstedt's and the Minnesota Catholic Conference of Bishops’ aggressive support of the proposed “marriage amendment” to the Minnesota State Constitution. Indeed, according to recent findings of the Public Religion Research Center, “Catholics are more supportive of legal recognitions of same-sex relationships than members of any other Christian tradition and Americans overall.”

Unlike the bishops, U.S. Catholics recognize and respect that in a pluralistic society such as ours, the Roman Catholic hierarchy should not be expending time and resources imposing its understanding of sexuality and marriage onto wider society. This is especially true when one acknowledges that the bishops’ understanding of these realities is out-of-step with the collective wisdom of the Catholic people. On issues relating to the intimate lives of heterosexuals (such as contraception) and homosexuals (civil marriage rights) the Catholic faithful have clearly moved beyond the hierarchy’s limited understanding of sexuality.

My sense is that the Catholic faithful are not, in theory, opposed to the bishops making statements on important social issues. After all, in the Catholic tradition the bishops collectively comprise one of the church’s three sources (or magisteria) of truth. However, the teachings they articulate must be reasonable. In other words, they must be informed by and in constant dialogue with the church’s other two sources of truth, namely the insights of Catholic theologians and the wisdom of the Catholic people (the sensus fidelium). Yet on issues relating to sexuality, the bishops tragically abandoned such dialogue years ago. As a result, official church pronouncements on sexuality are woefully impoverished and disturbingly fixated on specific sex acts rather than on the relational quality of consensual adult partnering. The bishops have forgotten that truth (including the truth of human sexuality) is discovered through time, and that tradition (including the tradition of marriage) evolves. Thankfully, the Catholic people have not forgotten these liberating hallmarks of our living Catholic faith. Accordingly, we not only respectfully listen to and consider what the hierarchy says, but also seek out the wisdom of theologians and our own and others’ lived experiences. All need to be prayerfully considered if we are to make an informed and authentically Catholic response.

It is also important to remember that in the past, when the bishops have weighed in on social issues such as racism and immigrant rights, they did so in order to reduce discrimination and expand the circle of acceptance and inclusion in our society. This is not the case with their activism around marriage equality. Indeed, they are advocating the exact opposite: discrimination and exclusion. For many Catholics this is a blatant and grievous betrayal – not only of Catholicism’s rich social justice tradition, but of the very way of being Catholic in the world. This “way” reflects the way of Jesus and is always seeking to discern and celebrate God’s presence in the lives and experiences of all. Many Catholics want their bishops to embody this way and to stand boldly for the principles of justice, compassion, equality, and inclusion. Yet when it comes to gay people, gay lives, and gay relationships, the bishops have chosen not to embody these Gospel principles in their words and actions. For many Catholics this is both painful and scandalous.

No doubt some parishes will follow the Archbishop’s recent directive and establish committees to rally support for the “marriage amendment.” They are free to do so. I hope, however, that they and others will take the time to be open to other Catholic perspectives on this issue. A good place to start is with the video series recently produced by Catholics for Marriage Equality MN and premiered last month at the Riverview Theater. It features local gay and lesbian Catholics and their loved ones sharing their perspectives on faith, family and marriage. This and other helpful resources can be viewed at www.c4me.org.

Michael Bayly is the executive coordinator of Catholics for Marriage Equality MN.


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
Progressive Perspectives on Archbishop Nienstedt's Anti-Gay Activism
Dialoguing with the Archbishop on Natural Law
Quote of the Day – October 7, 2011
Joseph O'Leary Responds to Carson Holloway's Arguments Against Gay Marriage
Responding to Bishop Tobin's Remarks on Gay Marriage
Catholic Attitudes on Gay and Lesbian: An Overview
Tips on Speaking as a Catholic in Support of Marriage Equality
Marriage Equality: Simple Answers to NOM's Complicated Lies
A Message for NOM (and the Catholic Hierarchy)
At UST, a Rousing and Very Catholic Show of Support for Marriage Equality

Talking Marriage Equality this Holiday Season

OutFront Minnesota, Minnesotans United for All Families and Freedom to Marry have produced a great Holiday Conversation Kit to help folks talk about marriage equality with family and friends around the Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner table. (My Catholic readers may also be interested in Catholics for Marriage Equality MN's Tips for Speaking as a Catholic in Support of Marriage Equality.)

Following is how OutFront MN's Organizing and Policy Director Chris Stinson introduces and explains the Holiday Conversation Kit.

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Thousands of pro-equality champions are heading home for the holidays. If you're not exactly looking forward to the conversation turning to the anti-marriage amendment you are not alone.

But this is an opportunity that we can't afford to miss. The single most important action you can take is to start a conversation about why marriage matters to you. How else will your friends and family know that defeating the constitutional amendment is important to someone they love?

We know it can be difficult, but it's worthwhile. That's why we've prepared some materials if you feel like you could use some help:

Download our holiday conversation kit and commit to talk with 10 friends and family about why marriage matters in Minnesota this Holiday Season.

Also, if you haven't already read our booklet Speaking from Faith for Marriage Equality, I really recommend it if you anticipate having a discussion with relatives for whom faith or religion is very important.

These conversations make a big difference: people who've talked to someone they know and trust about marriage equality are much more likely to support marriage for same-sex couples.

Not all Minnesotans have thought about how harmful a constitutional amendment banning marriage for same-sex couples might be for our state. We can't afford a Minnesota where our marriages may never be recognized: where you and the love of your life could be treated as strangers even after 5, 10, or 25 years of commitment to each other.

Defeating the amendment will not only be a huge achievement for marriage equality and all the couples and families it would have impacted, it will energize all other areas of work being done to bring full equality to Minnesota. Similarly, if we fail, the road to full equality for LGBT Minnesotans becomes much longer and more difficult.

Will you start a conversation with your family and friends?

– Chris Stinson
Organizing and Policy Director
OutFront Minnesota

Related Off-site Link:
Dale Carpenter on How to Talk About the Amendment at Thanksgiving – TheColu.mn (November 22, 2011).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
Javen Swanson: "Don't Get Disappointed, Get Organized"
Mary Bednarowski on the Power of Our Stories
Quote of the Day – November 1, 2011
The Minneapolis (and Online) Premiere of Catholics for Marriage Equality
Responding to Bishop Tobin's Remarks on Gay Marriage
Joseph O'Leary Responds to Carson Holloway's Arguments Against Gay Marriage
Two Attorneys Discuss Same-Sex Marriage
Catholic Attitudes on Gay and Lesbian Issues: An Overview
A Catholic Statement of Support for Same-Sex Marriage

Image: Photographer unknown.

Revolutionary Reconciliation

Earlier this evening a friend shared the above photograph on Facebook. It shows Egyptian Christians linking arms to protect praying Muslims from police violence in Cairo's Tahrir Square. I'm thinking it was taken earlier this year. One commentator says it depicts "true love," another, "revolutionary reconciliation." I just know that it's actions like this that give me hope in and for humanity.


Related Off-site Links:
Egyptian Muslims and Christians Rising Up Together – Sumbul Ali-Karamali (The Huffington Post, February 11, 2011).
Egyptian Revolution Enters New Phase as Thousands Brave Violence to Oppose Military Rule – Democracy Now! (November 22, 2011).
New Clashes in Cairo's Tahrir Square – Lyse Doucet (BBC News, November 21, 2011).
Protests Fill Tahrir Square, Again – Ann Wright (CommonDreams.org, November 21, 2011).
Is Egypt Syria? – Richard Dreyfuss (The Nation, November 21, 2011).

See also the previous Wild Reed post:
Quote of the Day – February 2, 2011

Image: Photographer unknown.

Something to Think About . . .

We always attract into our lives
whatever we think about most,
believe in most strongly,
expect on the deepest level,
and imagine most vividly.

– Shakti Gawain

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
First Snowfall
A Snowy October Day
Winter Garden
A Snowy December – with an Aussie Connection
Just in Time for Winter

Image: Artist unknown.