Catholic Bishops Meet Queer Catholics aka Rainbow Sash Movement in Washington DC in November

    CHICAGO, Sept. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The Rainbow Sash Movement (National
 Organization of Gay and Lesbian Catholics) will be sending a delegation to the
 National Council of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) Fall Meeting in November.
 Additionally, we will be attending the Plenary Liturgy at the Basilica of the
 Immaculate Conception. Our purpose is to call for dialogue, and ask the
 Bishops to focus on who could be harmed by their decisions rather than simply
 counting who is in favor and who is against the Church's position on
 homosexuality. We feel the Bishops need to expand their current horizon of
 theological development about Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender Persons, and
 say no to witch hunts against gay priests and gay seminarians.
     Should the Bishops speak out on the economic rights and human rights of
 GLBT Community, the RSM believes they should, and so does the Social Teaching
 of the Church.  The Bishops are in no place to point their collective finger
 at anyone. Concern over all that has happened with the scandals should cause
 them to take a more realistic look at sexuality in general and especially how
 it relates to celibacy.  Witch hunts in the seminaries will do what it has
 always done; drive many men underground, hiding, sublimating, denying,
 overcompensating in a plethora of unhealthy ways.  Didn't all the revelations
 of the scandals teach us that?  Joe Murray the US Convener said, "Just look at
 the deposed former bishop of Springfield, MA, Dupres.  He was in charge of the
 Massachusetts Bishops' campaign against gay marriage, till his own past came
 out."
     Over the years the Rainbow Sash Movement (RSM) Delegation has been denied
 the Holy Eucharist, we believe this has happened because of miscommunication.
 We have listened first to Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, then to
 Archbishop Harry Flynn of Minneapolis/St. Paul as they spoke of protest and
 the Rainbow Sash Movement. We also understand people of good will can look at
 the same act and see two different things. We are certainly willing to seek
 common ground, but only the Bishops can make that decision.  Murray said, "We
 believe it is time to focus on the Lord and seek common ground with our
 bishops. We believe our Bishops are called to be more than they are in
 relationship to GLBT Catholics and the Gay Community, and we believe Christ is
 calling us to be more than we are in relationship to our bishops."
     To find out more about the Rainbow Sash Movement please visit our web site
 http://www.rainbowsashmovement.com.
 
 

SOURCE  Rainbow Sash Movement