And now, boys and girls, a Public Service Announcement, brought to you by your friendly local bishop. Today’s lesson, just in time for Same Sex Attraction (Gay) Pride Month — What’s good drag and what’s bad drag? Please pay attention.
First up, some BAD drag.
(Click on the thumbnail images for a slideshow.)
Now, some GOOD drag.
(Click on the thumbnail images for a slideshow.)
Let’s do that again, shall we?
First, some BAD drag.
(Click on the thumbnail images for a slideshow.)
Now, some GOOD drag.
(Click on the thumbnail images for a slideshow.)
Okay, boys and girls, let’s review.
Men in dresses with an arrogant attitude and flamboiant makeup. = BAD!
Men in dresses with an arrogant attitude, without flamboiant makeup, but lots and lots of bling. = GOOD!
File under: When the people lead the leaders will have to follow.
By Nancy Haught
Parishioners from St. Andrew Catholic Church, which has a longstanding commitment to social justice issues, will march in Sunday’s Portland Pride Parade with a banner proclaiming their parish identity, despite the wishes of Archbishop Alexander K. Sample.
At least four Catholic parishes are expected to participate in the parade, according to the Rev. Tara Wilkins, executive director of the Community of Welcoming Congregations. Members of St. Francis of Assisi, St. Philip Neri and St. André Bessette (the Downtown Chapel) also are expected to march. In the past, they have carried parish banners, Wilkins said.
Monsignor Dennis O’Donovan, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Portland, called St. Andrew’s pastor, the Rev. Dave Zegar, on May 31 on behalf of Sample, parishioners say. O’Donovan relayed the message that individuals could walk in the parade but that the archbishop did not want St. Andrew’s members to walk as a community.
Sample, who was installed as archbishop April 2, is in San Diego to attend the annual summer meeting of United States bishops, according to Bud Bunce, spokesman for the archdiocese. He could not be reached for comment.
Bunce confirmed that O’Donovan had made the phone call. While the archdiocese respects all people, Bunce said, “this was not an event that St. Andrew’s parish could be in as a parish.”
On June 4, Zegar met with a group of St. Andrew’s parishioners, who decided to stand by their 17-year commitment to Portland’s gay community. At Mass on Sunday, Zegar shared the group’s decision with the congregation, who responded with a standing ovation, according to Tom Karwaki, who chairs the parish’s pastoral council.
The Rev. Steve Newton, a Holy Cross priest who is pastor of St. André Bessette, said no one from the archdiocese had called him about the parade. Parishioners from the Downtown Chapel have walked in the parade for years.
“The Catholic Church supports gay people, even though there is a broad difference of opinion on their lifestyle,” Newton said.
Darling, where did you get that pretty hat?
At St. Andrew’s on Sunday, a bulletin insert recounted the history of the parish’s welcoming ministry. A formal committee began meeting in 1996. St. Andrew’s helped staff a booth at Portland Pride in 2000, and members began marching with their banner, which reads “Welcoming the Whole Family,” in 2001.
Susan Kelly, a member of St. Andrew’s since 1969, said the move to become a welcoming congregation was partly due to a respected couple within the church who were parents of identical twin girls. The twins “came out” in high school, and their parents agonized over how the church would react. The mother finally confessed to a friend at St. Andrew’s.
“It got us all thinking about how we deal with this issue,” Kelly says. “How can we reach out and get over this Christian – not just Catholic –attitude that if you’re gay or lesbian, you’re not part of the community?”
The official teaching of the Catholic Church is that homosexual acts are contrary to natural law and incompatible with living a Christian life. But 2006 pastoral guidelines from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops say the church must welcome homosexuals to full and active participation in the faith. St. Andrew’s bulletin insert quoted the document.
“Essential to the success of ministry to persons with a homosexual inclination will be the support and leadership of the bishop and other pastoral leaders,” the guidelines read. “This is particularly important because more than a few persons with a homosexual inclination feel themselves to be unwelcome and rejected.”
How many feel unwelcome became evident Thursday when the Pew Research Center released the findings of an April survey on the religious attitudes of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender adults. Eight in ten adults said the Catholic Church, along with Islam and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, were “unfriendly” to the LGBT community.
Kelly summarized the reasons that parishioners are insisting on carrying their banner in one word: visibility.
Joy Wallace, a member of St. Andrew’s since 1998, says it is common for members of the gay community and their advocates to seek out St. Andrew’s because they’ve seen the parish represented in the annual Pride Parade.
“The banner is important because it says we are a community of faith,” says Jane Braunger, a parish member since the 1980s. “For us not to embrace this statement as a core commitment about openness and acceptance and living the Gospel is cowardly.”
Karwaki said parishioners would like a chance to talk to the archbishop about their ministry and explain their commitment to the Pride Parade. He says Zegar asked for such a dialogue and the parish is drafting a letter to Sample.
“We’re not acting out of disobedience,” Karwaki said. “We’re acting out of obedience to the Gospel and the mission of this parish.”
File under: Ya gotta admire those Gospel-Lovin’ Catholics!
By Neetzan Zimmerman
A domestic violence victim has come forward this week after being fired from her teaching job at a San Diego Catholic school because she was deemed a liability for having an abusive ex-husband.
Earlier this year, Carie Charlesworth and her four children were removed from Holy Trinity School after she gathered up the courage to disclosed her struggles with domestic violence to the school’s principal.
After what the second-grade teacher’s called “a very bad weekend with [her ex-husband],” the unidentified man arrived outside the school, prompting a lockdown.
She was subsequently put on “an indefinite leave,” and then formally terminated three months later.
Charlesworth’s letter of termination read, in part:
We know from the most recent incident involving you and Mrs. Wright (the principal) while you were still physically at Holy Trinity School, that the temporary restraining order in effect were not a deterrent to him. Although we understand he is current incarcerated, we have no way of knowing how long or short a time he will actually serve and we understand from court files that he may be released as early as next fall. In the interest of the safety of the students, faculty and parents at Holy Trinity School, we simply cannot allow you to return to work there, or, unfortunately, at any other school in the Diocese.
“I mean that’s why women of domestic violence don’t come forward, because they’re afraid of the way people are going to see them, view them, perceive them, treat them,” said Charlesworth after being informed that several parents were planning to pull their children out of school if she returned.
The San Diego Diocese Office for Schools has said it would not comment publicly “about personnel issues.”
Meanwhile, Charlesworth says the entire ordeal has caused her to lose her religion. “I have not been back to a Catholic church since this happened,” she said.
Her ex-husband, who was jailed on two felony charges back in January, is due to be released this month.
File under: I couldn’t have said it better myself…
By Charles P. Pierce
Well, it seems the kitty came leaping out of the burlap around the Chair Of Peter.
Pope Francis has admitted the existence of a “gay lobby” inside the Vatican’s secretive administration, the Roman Curia, allegedly exposed during a leaks scandal, according to a Latin American Catholic website. Back in February Italian media claimed that a secret report by cardinals investigating the leaks included allegations of corruption and blackmail attempts against gay Vatican clergymen, and on the other hand, favouritism based on gay relationships. “In the Curia, there are truly some saints, but there is also a current of corruption,” the pope is quoted as having said during an audience last week with CLAR (the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious Men and Women). “There is talk of a ‘gay lobby’ and it’s true, it exists. We have to see what can be done,” the 76-year-old pontiff is quoted as saying on the Reflection and Liberation website, which was flagged up by religious news agencies on Tuesday.
I would like to believe that this revelation will lead the pope to the conclusion that a vast, secretive bureaucracy modeled on a Renaissance court is anathema to spirituality and a positive breeder reactor for intrigue and criminality, and generally not at all what a certain wandering revisionist First Century rabbi had in mind, and that it’s time to blow up this absurd feast of fat things and get back to the basic message of the gospels.
I would like to believe that the overall reaction is not going to be, “Oooooh, scary gays are bad!”
What if, during his recent travels with a couple of Catholic youth groups, the Rev. Michael Fugee had a relapse and groped another child? There’s no evidence that happened, but it’s a legitimate concern. There’s a reason prosecutors made him promise never to work with children again.
Years from now, what if a child says Fugee crossed a line?
As we speak, New Jersey’s Catholic leaders are spending big bucks to make sure the church, its bishops and, most importantly, its bank accounts can’t be held responsible for crimes committed on their watch.
Princeton Public Affairs Group is the most high-powered, high-priced lobbying outfit in Trenton. That’s whom the New Jersey Catholic Conference has hired to fight legislation meant to give victims of childhood sexual abuse the time they need to seek justice.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex), extends the statute of limitations from two years to 30 years for victims to file suit against their abusers and the institutions that failed to protect them. That includes the Catholic Church, but it also covers all religious organizations, state and local governments, and schools.
The priest sex-abuse scandal has cost the Catholic Church $2.5 billion. Its interest in limiting the damages is obvious.
For some victims of childhood abuse, time is critical. It may take years before they can talk about it. When they’re finally ready, they should find a justice system that’s ready to listen.
If Catholic leaders get their way, many will be told they’re too late.
It’s not a new tactic. The church has lobbied states for stricter time limits for victims to sue their attackers and those who protected them. In New York, for example, the church helped stop legislation that opened “windows” for victims to sue for past abuse.
The priest sex-abuse scandal has cost the Catholic Church $2.5 billion since it broke a decade ago. The church’s interest is obvious. By hiring Princeton Public Affairs, it is pulling out the big guns. Vitale’s job just got harder.
Cutting costs might be good business, but trying to escape sins of the past by silencing victims is cowardly. Lawsuits are chances for those child victims, now grown, to have a voice. We have to be ready to hear them.
