According to MinnPost, several parishoners at Windom's Church of the Annunciation are not happy.Along with members of several other Twin Cities Catholic Churches, Annunciation's attendees were listening to a mandatory reading of a new letter from St. Paul's Archbishop John Neinstadt reiterating his opposition to same-sex marriage.
At least half a dozen parishoners were so upset that they walked out of the service, MinnPost reports.
The Catholic hierarchy in Minnesota has been one of the biggest backers of a proposed constitutional amendment that would write a ban on same-sex marriage into the state constitution.
Minnesota currently has a law on the books prohibiting the same, but a constitutional amendment would be more difficult to repeal, proponents argue.
"As Catholics, we see that God’s plan for marriage is the holy family — the triune model of father, mother and child — a model that creates and fosters a love that goes beyond mere sexuality," the archbishop's letter read.
The archbishop's forceful lobbying on the issue has alienated some Catholics, including several at Southwest Minneapolis' churches, according to confidential interviews Patch has had with members of those communities.