Rainbow Sash Movement

Last updated
Rainbow Sash Movement Logo.jpg

The Rainbow Sash Movement is an organisation of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Catholics, with their families and friends, who are publicly calling the Catholic Church to a "conversion of heart around issues of human sexuality". [1]

Contents

History in Australia

The Movement was established in 1998 in Melbourne, Australia in response to the refusal of London's Cardinal Basil Hume, and Melbourne's Archbishop George Pell and New York's Cardinal John O'Connor, to provide communion to two openly gay Catholic men, one a priest, in 1997. [2]

On Pentecost Sunday 31 May 1998 a group of 70 people attended Mass in St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne, wearing a Rainbow Sash. [1] [3]

The movement acted again on Pentecost Sunday in 2002. [4] [5]

The Australian Rainbow Sash Movement became an incorporated group, and supported a number of events over the following years, before winding up in 2003.

History in the United States

The Rainbow Sash Movement was taken up in US in 2000, with Melbourne-based Michael B. Kelly as the group's international spokesperson. The movement is largely based out of Chicago, Illinois.

The movement acted on Pentecost Sunday in 2001- 2007, [2] [6] [7] [8] [9] and 2010. [10] In 2012 the movement criticized the Knights of Colombus for supporting and funding homophobic messaging and campaigns. [11] The organization also acted in October 2010 in Collegeville, Minnesota, [12] and in October 2013 in Springfield, Illinois. [13] [14]

As of 2023, the movement is still ongoing. [15]

History in England

English Catholics have also taken part in the movement since the late 1997. [8] The movement was ongoing as of 2010. [16]

Activity

The Rainbow Sash itself is a strip of a rainbow-colored fabric which is worn over the left shoulder and is put on at the beginning of the Liturgy. The members go up to receive Eucharist. [16] If denied, they go back to pews and remain standing, but if the Eucharist is received then they go back to the pew and kneel in the traditional way. [17]

Pentecost Sunday was chosen because the day is "a celebration of God's gifts", including the gift of sexuality. [2] [8] The sash is meant to serve as an act of celebration rather than an act of protest. [2] [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christianity and homosexuality</span> Relationship between Christianity and homosexuality

Throughout the majority of Christian history, most Christian theologians and denominations have considered homosexual behavior as immoral or sinful. Today, within Christianity, there are a variety of views on sexual orientation and homosexuality. Even within a denomination, individuals and groups may hold different views, and not all members of a denomination necessarily support their church's views on homosexuality. The Catholic church and Orthodox churches officially condemn homosexual activity as sin. Various Mainline Protestant denominations have taken a supportive stance towards blessing homosexual clergy and same sex marriage while others have not.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass (liturgy)</span> Type of worship service within many Christian denominations

Mass is the main Eucharistic liturgical service in many forms of Western Christianity. The term Mass is commonly used in the Catholic Church, Western Rite Orthodoxy, Old Catholicism, and Independent Catholicism. The term is used in some Lutheran churches, as well as in some Anglican churches. The term is also used, on rare occasion, by other Protestant churches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metropolitan Community Church</span> International LGBT-affirming Protestant Christian denomination

The Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), also known as the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC), is an international LGBT-affirming mainline Protestant Christian denomination. There are 222 member congregations in 37 countries, and the fellowship has a specific outreach to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender families and communities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Open communion</span> Protestant Christian religious practise

Open communion is the practice of some Protestant Churches of allowing members and non-members to receive the Eucharist. Many but not all churches that practice open communion require that the person receiving communion be a baptized Christian, and other requirements may apply as well. In Methodism, open communion is referred to as the open table, meaning that all may approach the Communion table.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genuflection</span> Bending a knee towards the ground

Genuflection or genuflexion is the act of bending a knee to the ground, as distinguished from kneeling which more strictly involves both knees. From early times, it has been a gesture of deep respect for a superior. Today, the gesture is common in the Christian religious practices of the Anglican Church, Lutheran Church, Catholic Church, and Western Rite Orthodox Church. The Latin word genuflectio, from which the English word is derived, originally meant kneeling with both knees rather than the rapid dropping to one knee and immediately rising that became customary in Western Europe in the Middle Ages. It is often referred to as "going down on one knee" or "bowing the knee". In Western culture, one genuflects on the left knee to a human dignitary, whether ecclesiastical or civil, while, in Christian churches and chapels, one genuflects on the right knee when the Sacrament is not exposed but in a tabernacle or veiled.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Pell</span> Australian Catholic cardinal (1941–2023)

George Pell was an Australian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as the inaugural prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy between 2014 and 2019, and was a member of the Council of Cardinal Advisers between 2013 and 2018. Ordained a priest in 1966 and bishop in 1987, he was made a cardinal in 2003. Pell served as the eighth Archbishop of Sydney (2001–2014), the seventh Archbishop of Melbourne (1996–2001) and an auxiliary bishop of Melbourne (1987–1996). He was also an author, columnist and public speaker. From 1996, Pell maintained a high public profile on a wide range of issues, while retaining an adherence to Catholic orthodoxy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic Charismatic Renewal</span> Movement within the Catholic Church that began in 1967

The Catholic Charismatic Renewal is a movement within the Catholic Church that is part of the wider charismatic movement across historic Christian churches.

The origin of the LGBT student movement can be linked to other activist movements from the mid-20th century in the United States. The Civil Rights Movement and Second-wave feminist movement were working towards equal rights for other minority groups in the United States. Though the student movement began a few years before the Stonewall riots, the riots helped to spur the student movement to take more action in the US. Despite this, the overall view of these gay liberation student organizations received minimal attention from contemporary LGBT historians. This oversight stems from the idea that the organizations were founded with haste as a result of the riots. Others historians argue that this group gives too much credit to groups that disagree with some of the basic principles of activist LGBT organizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Communion and the developmentally disabled</span>

The accessibility of the Eucharist to intellectually disabled Christians varies depending on the Christian denomination or community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Rite</span> Most widespread liturgical rite in the Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Rite is the most common manner of performing ecclesiastical services of the Latin Church, the largest of the sui iuris particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. The Roman Rite governs liturgical rites such as the Roman Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours as well as the manner in which sacraments and blessings are performed. It developed in the Latin language in the city of Rome and, while distinct Latin liturgical rites such as the Ambrosian Rite remain, the Roman Rite has gradually been adopted almost everywhere in the Latin Church. In medieval times there were numerous local variants, even if all of them did not amount to distinct rites, yet uniformity increased as a result of the invention of printing and in obedience to the decrees of the Council of Trent of 1545–63. Several Latin liturgical rites that survived into the 20th century were abandoned voluntarily after the Second Vatican Council. The Roman Rite is now the most widespread liturgical rite not only in the Catholic Church but in Christianity as a whole.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne</span> Catholic ecclesiastical territory

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne is a Latin Rite metropolitan archdiocese in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Erected initially in 1847 as the Diocese of Melbourne, a suffragan diocese of Archdiocese of Sydney, the diocese was elevated in 1874 as an archdiocese of the Ecclesiastical Province of Melbourne and is the metropolitan for the suffragan dioceses of Sale, Sandhurst, Ballarat, and the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Ss Peter and Paul. The Archdiocese of Hobart is attached to the archdiocese for administrative purposes. St Patrick's Cathedral is the seat of the Archbishop of Melbourne, currently Peter Comensoli, who succeeded Denis Hart on 1 August 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Courage International</span>

Courage International, also known as Courage Apostolate and Courage for short, is an approved apostolate of the Catholic Church that counsels "men and women with same-sex attractions in living chaste lives in fellowship, truth and love". Based on a treatment model for drug and alcohol addictions used in programs like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Courage runs a peer support program aimed at helping gay people remain abstinent from same-sex sexual activity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic Church and homosexuality</span> Attitude of the Catholic Church to homosexuality and gay people

The Catholic Church broadly opposes the acceptance of same-sex sexual activity and same-sex marriage, while also opposing discrimination against, and supporting the acceptance of homosexual persons within society. The Catechism of the Catholic Church promulgated by Pope John Paul II considers sexual activity between members of the same sex to be a mortal sin against chastity. This teaching has developed through a number of ecumenical councils and the influence of theologians, including the Church Fathers.

This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the 1970s.

Canon 915, one of the canons in the 1983 Code of Canon Law of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church, forbids the administration of Holy Communion to those upon whom the penalty of excommunication or interdict has been imposed or declared or who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin:

Those who have been excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty and others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stop the Church</span> 1989 protest in New York City

Stop the Church was a demonstration organized by members of AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power on December 10, 1989, that disrupted a Mass being said by Cardinal John O'Connor at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. One-hundred and eleven protesters were arrested, 53 of whom were arrested inside the church. The main objective of the demonstration was to protest O'Connor's opposition to the teaching of safe sex in the public school system, and his opposition to the distribution of condoms to curb the spread of AIDS. During planning, the protest was joined by Women's Health Action and Mobilization (WHAM!), who opposed the Catholic position on abortion rights.

During the lead-up to the 2014 Winter Olympics, protests and campaigns arose surrounding the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Russia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Catholic Church and homosexuality</span>

The Christian tradition has generally proscribed any and all noncoital genital activities, whether engaged in by couples or individuals, regardless of whether they were of the same or different sex. The position of the Roman Catholic Church with regards to homosexuality developed from the writings of Paul the Apostle and the teachings of the Church Fathers. These were in stark contrast to contemporary Greek and Roman attitudes towards same-sex relations which were more relaxed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dissent from Catholic teaching on homosexuality</span>

Dissent from the Catholic Church's teaching on homosexuality has come in a number of practical and ministerial arguments from both the clergy and the laity of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church teaches that while being gay is not a sin in and of itself, any sex outside of marriage, including between same-sex partners, is sinful, and therefore being gay makes one inclined towards this particular sin.

References

  1. 1 2 "Our history and vision". geoffreybaird.com. Retrieved 2023-01-07.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Rainbow Sash Movement History in the United States, Australia, and England Archived 2012-03-28 at the Wayback Machine
  3. "Vale Michael Bernard Kelly (1954-2020)". AQuA. Retrieved 2023-01-07.
  4. "Pell lashes out after gays refused communion". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2002-05-20. Retrieved 2023-01-07.
  5. "Communion and Denial". ABC Radio National. 2002-05-21. Retrieved 2023-01-07.
  6. "Nation: Protesting gays denied Communion". natcath.org. 18 June 2004. Retrieved 2023-01-07.
  7. Bill (2005-06-13). "GAYS PROTEST AT MASS". Catholic League. Retrieved 2023-01-07.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Cooperman, Alan (5 June 2006). "Communion Denied to Activists Gay Rights Supporters Wear Rainbow Sashes to Minn. Mass". Washington Post. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  9. "Rainbow Sash Members to Disrupt Masses across US, Again". Catholic Exchange. 2007-05-26. Retrieved 2023-01-07.
  10. "Rainbow Sash Movement (Gay Catholics) Call for 'Zero Tolerance' of Homophobia in the Catholic Church". www.prnewswire.com. 14 May 2010. Retrieved 2023-01-07.
  11. "Rainbow Sash Movement (LGBT Catholics) Takes on the Knights of Columbus". www.prnewswire.com. 18 October 2012. Retrieved 2023-01-07.
  12. "Archdiocese: Communion too sacred to be used as protest". MPR News. Retrieved 2023-01-07.
  13. Leone-Cross, Lauren (23 October 2013). "Bishop bans show of gay marriage support". The State Journal-Register. Retrieved 2023-01-07.
  14. Baim, Tracy (2013-06-16). "Cardinal attends AGLO, refuses communion to Rainbow Sash leader - Windy City Times News". Windy City Times. Retrieved 2023-01-07.
  15. Murray, Joe (2023-01-02). "Letter to the Editor: Pope Benedict XVI passes away". Windy City Times. Retrieved 2023-01-07.
  16. 1 2 "Rainbow Sash Movement at London's Westminister Cathedral" Archived May 21, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  17. "Group tries to block gays at communion in St. Paul Cathedral", by Chao Xiong, Star Tribune, May 31, 2004 Archived August 20, 2008, at the Wayback Machine