Protests and sit-in besiege meeting of U.S.
bishops
By PATRICIA LEFEVERE
Special to the National Catholic
Reporter Washington
Gays and lesbians, an advocate of womens ordination, and
Catholic schoolteachers seeking better wages besieged the Catholic bishops with
protests and a sit-in during the annual meeting of the bishops Nov. 13-16 here
at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.
A small group of gays and lesbians attended an opening Mass Nov.
13 at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and were ushered by
shrine officials to a rear pew.
Before the bishops concelebrated Mass, a spokesman for the shrine
told the more than 2,000 gathered, There are a few here who have said
they plan to receive the Eucharist not as a sign of community but as a sign of
protest. The spokesman said that Communion would not be offered to
them.
When members of the group calling themselves the Rainbow Sash
Movement went forward to receive the host, they were offered a blessing
instead. The day before, the group had also been denied Communion at St.
Matthews Cathedral in Washington.
Members of the 3-year-old movement, founded in Melbourne,
Australia, want the church to conduct a public dialogue on human sexuality and
to come to an appreciation of the gifts, wisdom and experience that gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgender people bring to the church, said spokesman
Michael Kelly.
An Australian, who has worked as a campus minister at Holy Name
College in Oakland, Calif., Kelly told NCR that the protest was a simple
action that gays and lesbians can do at their churches and cathedrals.
While confrontational in tone, the group stands reverently
and prayerfully, wearing their sashes throughout Communion, Kelly said.
Previously they have been refused Communion by Cardinal George Pell in
Melbourne and the late Cardinal Basil Hume in London.
If the bishops had difficulty seeing the Rainbow Sash group at the
back of the huge church, they could not miss the 250 members of Soul Force and
Dignity, other gay rights groups, which lined the street in front of the
shrine. Dignity President Mary Louise Cervone and Dignity Executive Director
Marianne Duddy helped hold up a banner that read Open Wide the Doors --
Dignity or Discrimination.
Our message to the bishops is that their policies and
teachings have been interpreted by some people in a way that causes us physical
pain, Cervone told NCR. What the bishops are saying has to
stop, she said, noting that it is harmful to us for them to split
hairs over our orientation and our activity.
She said the group, a national interfaith body that has protested
at other large assemblies of mainline Protestant groups this year, appreciated
apologies made by Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton and Los Angeles
Cardinal Roger Mahoney for the times the churchs words or deeds have hurt
gays and lesbians.
Arun Gandhi of Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tenn.,
stood in solidarity with the gay group. The hate and discrimination that has
marked much of the 20th century has contributed to its being the most
violent century in history, said the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. He
called for the creation of an atmosphere of love and respect.
Coadjutor Bishop Joseph Galante of Dallas and Auxiliary Bishop
A.J. Quinn of Cleveland spent 90 minutes Nov. 11 meeting with a delegation of
Soul Force and Dignity at the urging of Bishop Joseph Fiorenza of
Galveston-Houston, president of the bishops conference. While both sides
agreed that the discussion would remain private, Galante told the bishops he
wanted to go on record as upholding the fidelity of the gospel teaching on
marriage and sexuality as an essential part of being a disciple of Christ.
Another protester, Janice Sevre-Duszynska, surprised the bishops
Nov. 13 when she grabbed a microphone just after Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston
had proposed a statement on the situation in the Middle East. Im
here to use my voice for many who cannot speak. Theres an injustice
within our church that affects the whole world, she said, urging the
bishops to be compassionate to your sisters who are women
called by God to ordination.
Fiorenza ordered members of the bishops communication staff
to turn off Sevre-Duszynskas microphone. They asked her to leave, but she
sat quietly in protest on the floor while the bishops meeting continued.
Journalists who waited to talk with her were instead urged to attend the
bishops 12:30 p.m. news conference. While the news conference was going
on, police ushered Sevre-Duszynska out of the room and the hotel.
It was the second time in less than three years that the woman who
has wanted to be a priest since childhood had interrupted church officials. In
January 1998 Sevre-Duszynska approached the altar presenting herself as a
candidate during an ordination ceremony in her home cathedral in Lexington, Ky.
In June she took part in the Womens Ordination Conferences
prayerful vigil outside the bishops meeting in Milwaukee.
While many bishops told NCR that they had not been able to
see her protest, which occurred in a far corner of the ballroom-sized meeting
room, Bishop Raymond Lucker of New Ulm, Minn., said that the woman was
appropriately frustrated. It needs to be discussed, Lucker said.
The churchs arguments against it havent been
persuasive.
Sevre-Duszynska, 50, a playwright, teacher and artist, had applied
for press credentials to report on the meeting as a freelance journalist
interested in immigration.
St. Joseph Sr. Christine Schenk, executive director of
FutureChurch, said that while she would not have chosen this way to
approach the bishops, I can understand her passion.
I have some sympathy for the bishops, many of whom,
she said, believe the day will come when you can talk about this.
The truth is women have no voice in the church, despite the fact that
they comprise 82 percent of all lay paid ministers.
Catholic schoolteachers also sought the bishops attention,
protesting outside their hotel the evening before their meeting. Some 70
teachers unveiled a report card grading the church leaders on labor issues.
The teachers noted that while Catholic schools significantly
outperform public schools in overall student tests scores, graduation rates,
minority achievement and lower dropout rates, Catholic schoolteachers are paid
substantially less than their counterparts in the public system. Rita Schwartz,
president of the National Association of Catholic School Teachers, based in
Philadelphia, said that parochial school teachers lagged 23.3 percent behind
public school teachers in starting pay.
On the report card, the bishops scored 10 Fs in such subjects as
salary, job security, conflict resolution and the right to organize and three
Ds including one in family benefits.
National Catholic Reporter, November 24,
2000
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