tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post7498771864050812877..comments2024-03-23T12:05:23.537-05:00Comments on The Wild Reed: “Take, All of You, and Eat” (Part II)Michael J. Baylyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03087458490602152648noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post-84406092227173589202007-06-17T19:40:00.000-05:002007-06-17T19:40:00.000-05:00Hi Winnipeg Catholic,Yes, a blessing is given by t...Hi Winnipeg Catholic,<BR/><BR/>Yes, a blessing is given by the Eucharistic minister when communion is denied to a someone wearing a Rainbow Sash. Those denied then return to their seats but remain standing with hands outstretched (as when one approaches the communion table) until the end of the Mass.<BR/><BR/>What are the sources for your claim that "many of the sash wearers are not even Catholic, but activist and former Catholics"? That's certainly not been my experience.<BR/><BR/>As for you being a "change-slowly-from-within sort of person," I think all who respond to God's call to question and transform oppressive structures need to do so as they see fit and according to their own prayerful discernment process.<BR/><BR/>Finally, I try not to "hate" anyone - not even those who support oppressive and dysfunctional structures of power. <BR/><BR/>Peace,<BR/><BR/>MichaelMichael J. Baylyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03087458490602152648noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post-1248643331815435372007-06-04T21:58:00.000-05:002007-06-04T21:58:00.000-05:00Hi Winnipeg Catholic,Shall do! Thanks for the rec...Hi Winnipeg Catholic,<BR/><BR/>Shall do! Thanks for the recommendation.<BR/><BR/>I'm not sure about the Guinness thing, though. The last time I drank Guinness was during my college days in the 1980s. I kept a case under my bed and drank a bottle a night in an effort to put on weight! It didn't work.<BR/><BR/>Peace,<BR/><BR/>MichaelMichael J. Baylyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03087458490602152648noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post-67013513943143080632007-06-04T21:01:00.000-05:002007-06-04T21:01:00.000-05:00Hi Michael,By the power vested in me as your loyal...Hi Michael,<BR/><BR/>By the power vested in me as your loyal reader I "demand" that you, as a catholic-gay-activist, immediately rent 'Saint of 9-11' and watch it.<BR/><BR/>Goes well with a Guinness or two, particularly with the whole Irish thing.<BR/><BR/>Thanks, BAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post-2941368351645306852007-06-03T00:33:00.000-05:002007-06-03T00:33:00.000-05:00Hi Winnipeg Catholic,First: I have not seen the do...Hi Winnipeg Catholic,<BR/><BR/>First: I have not seen the documentary <EM>Saint of 9/11</EM>, so cannot comment on it.<BR/><BR/>Second: “Critical outsider,” “loving insider” – what do these terms really mean?<BR/><BR/>At different times I’m any number of all four! – “critical,” “loving,” “outsider,” “insider.” The bottom line for me is this: the various Catholic communities I belong to consider, welcome, and accept me as a valued member. What more can anyone ask for?<BR/><BR/>As for my <A HREF="http://thewildreed.blogspot.com/2007/03/pans-labyrinth-critiquing-cult-of.html" REL="nofollow">commentary</A> on <EM>Pan’s Labyrinth</EM>, I don’t consider it a criticism of the Catholic Church, but rather of a certain mind-set that any institution – political, social, and/or religious can demand from its members – that being, unquestioning obedience. Without doubt, aspects of the Catholic Church has and, in many ways, continue to insist on this type of obedience.<BR/><BR/>Thankfully, there are Catholics calling for a deeper understanding of obedience. As I write, for instance, in my <EM>Pan’s Labyrinth</EM> commentary, theologian Diarmuid O’Murchu, in his book <EM>Poverty, Celibacy, and Obedience: A Radical Option for Life</EM>, notes that, “Obedience is not about submitting our will to a higher authority (why then did God give us a will in the first place?) but about exploring and proffering ever new ways to engage responsibly, collaboratively, and creatively with the issues of power and powerlessness that we encounter in daily life. . . . At the end of the day it is not laws but values that touch the depth of our human hearts.”<BR/><BR/>My commentary on <EM>Pan’s Labyrinth</EM> was written, in part, in response to conservative and reactionary critics of the film who charge that it unfairly attacks the Catholic Church. Yet as my research clearly demonstrates, director del Toro’s “rather mild ‘swipe’ at the Catholic Church isn’t ‘unfair’ in the least.”<BR/><BR/>As for writings of mine focusing on “the best that the Church has to offer,” I’d have to ask, How are you defining “Church”? If you’re meaning Church as institution, then, no, I haven’t many good things to say about it – and I think for good reason. But if you mean Church as people of God, then check out <A HREF="http://thewildreed.blogspot.com/2006/11/remembering-sister-rita.html" REL="nofollow">here</A>, <A HREF="http://thewildreed.blogspot.com/2006/09/paul-collins-and-marilyn-hatton.html" REL="nofollow">here</A>, <A HREF="http://thewildreed.blogspot.com/2007/03/in-garden-of-spirituality-joan.html" REL="nofollow">here</A>, <A HREF="http://thewildreed.blogspot.com/2006/05/reflections-on-associateconsociate.html" REL="nofollow">here</A>, <A HREF="http://thewildreed.blogspot.com/2006/07/in-search-of-global-ethic.html" REL="nofollow">here</A>, <A HREF="http://thewildreed.blogspot.com/2006/12/voice-of-good-heart.html" REL="nofollow">here</A>, <A HREF="http://thewildreed.blogspot.com/2006/05/remembering-rev-harvey-egan.html" REL="nofollow">here</A>, <A HREF="http://thewildreed.blogspot.com/2007/03/in-garden-of-spirituality-uta-ranke.html" REL="nofollow">here</A>, <A HREF="http://thewildreed.blogspot.com/2006/09/inspiring-brigid-mcdonald.html" REL="nofollow">here</A>, and <A HREF="http://thewildreed.blogspot.com/2006/07/decline-of-neocaths.html" REL="nofollow">here</A>.<BR/><BR/>I like to think that all of these posts lift up and celebrate, in one way or another, positive Catholic voices and life-giving aspects of our rich Catholic tradition. True, many of these voices come from the growing edge of this tradition, but that’s okay. After all, this is a blog of “progressive” Catholic thought.<BR/><BR/>Peace,<BR/><BR/>MichaelMichael J. Baylyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03087458490602152648noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post-24486285793578067782007-06-02T09:33:00.000-05:002007-06-02T09:33:00.000-05:00"I felt sorry for the lay people who were distribu..."I felt sorry for the lay people who were distributing the Eucharist, because they did not have a clue as to what they were doing."<BR/><BR/>How does she know they "did not have a clue as to what they were doing"? Millions of people believe that the Rainbow Sash crowd has no idea what it's doing!<BR/><BR/>If a contracepting woman wore her birth control pill case around her neck up to Communion - and told the whole world she was going to do it beforehand - do you think she'd be given Communion? <BR/><BR/>Kudos to the man who was yelling at those who hijacked the Mass (that's with a CAPITAL M!) for their political agenda. What about his rights and feelings?<BR/><BR/>I don't feel a bit sorry for this whiny woman. What did she expect?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post-47687866095588356322007-06-01T23:08:00.000-05:002007-06-01T23:08:00.000-05:00Hi Michael,Have you commented on the documentary S...Hi Michael,<BR/><BR/>Have you commented on the documentary Saint of 9/11, Mychael Judge?<BR/><BR/>I ask this in part because your view point continues to sound more and more like a critical outsider rather than a loving insider, a loyal dissenter as fr. Curran puts it.<BR/><BR/>You have this awesome, well-written review of Pan's labyrinthe from the perspective of criticizing the church in the tragedies of the spanish civil war, yet I do not see a review from you of the best the church has to offer and perhaps some of the best moments of Dignity prior to the vatican condemnation. In fact, having just viewed the film I feel my own stance towards dignity softening. Where are you on it?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post-67596197518773127392007-06-01T16:15:00.000-05:002007-06-01T16:15:00.000-05:00I am curious, what is actually done when communion...I am curious, what is actually done when communion is refused? Is the blessing performed as with small children?<BR/><BR/>I am not completely sure that I agree with wearing a rainbow sash adn asking for communion. First of all, many of the sash wearers are not even catholic, but are activists and former catholics who are not in communion at all with the RCC.<BR/><BR/>Secondly I would wear a pin or some taseteful and subdued sign of affirmation as a catholic but I don't knoe if I agree with wearing such a massive display of defiance as a sash, and then organizing with a bunch of non-catholics to got to mass together in a big display.<BR/><BR/>I'm more of a respectful, obedient change-slowly-from-within sort of person. I know activists hate that type of person as much as the people they actually disagree with, but that's how it is for me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com