John Nienstedt, Coadjutor Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, has been quoted as saying he believes homosexuality is the result of some kind of childhood trauma. Today, he is inflicting trauma of his own.That's the opinion of many Catholic friends and relatives of gay and lesbian people in the Twin Cities. They say they have been wounded and angered by comments Nienstedt made about homosexuals in the Nov. 15 edition of The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the archdiocese.
"Those who actively encourage or promote homosexual acts or such activity within a homosexual lifestyle formally cooperate in a grave evil," wrote Nienstedt, who is scheduled to succeed retiring Archbishop Harry Flynn in May. "If they do so knowingly and willingly, [they] are guilty of mortal sin."
Nienstedt went on to set three conditions for such church members to receive communion: They must experience a "conversion of heart," express "sorrow for their action" and receive absolution from a priest.
His views, a church spokesman said, merely reflect Catholic teachings as delineated in The Catechism of the Catholic Church which also requires individual homosexuals to be accepted with "respect, compassion and sensitivity."
The catechism, in my reading, says homosexual acts cannot be approved but does not label them a "grave evil." Homosexuals, like all baptized persons, are "called to chastity." But somehow, the sins of homosexuals always get denounced before the sins of straight people. And if gays must be accepted with compassion and respect, those qualities seem notably missing from Nienstedt's statement.
"He's the only archbishop in the country to put this aggressive of a spin on Catholic teaching," says Mary Lynn Murphy of Catholic Rainbow Parents. "We knew he was very conservative, but people had hoped that he wanted to bring people together. Then, right out of the chute, he fired this cannon. It's extreme talk, and it gives license not just to homophobia but even to violence. This bishop says gays are 'evil.'"
Dennis McGrath, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said Nienstedt's comments were not aimed at families of gays, or at individual homosexuals.
"It was about the sin, the activity -- not the person," McGrath said. "He didn't mean you must stop loving your child. But if you say, 'Why don't you go hit the gay bars tonight? ...' He was talking about those who encourage or promote homosexual activities, like a pornographer might."
But as Nienstedt prepares to succeed Flynn, who tried to steer a less confrontational course, gay Catholics and their families are feeling more and more isolated.
"It's getting worse and worse," says Brian McNeill of Dignity Twin Cities, a group of gay Catholics who have been pushing for acceptance in the church. "They want us to go away, to make the church so hostile for the gay and lesbian community that we won't want to be there anymore.
"And it is working."
Vigil planned
Maybe so, but McNeill and other members of the extended GLBT family in the church aren't giving up yet.
This Sunday, they plan to hold a 2 p.m. vigil on the steps of the Cathedral of St. Paul to demonstrate against Nienstedt's comments, and to deliver an open letter to the Chancery, across Summit Avenue from the Cathedral.
For Mary Lynn Murphy, who has been cursed, spat at and manhandled by good churchgoers in the past as she demonstrated on behalf of her grown gay son, it is important to speak up and show up.
"It is a human right to express your sexuality," says Murphy, who met last week with Catholic parents of gays who were in tears over Nienstedt's statements on homosexuality.
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