WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire/ — Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was scheduled to meet with members of the Rainbow Sash Movement in the Crypt Church of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, DC for a Listening Session." This meeting was to be in conjunction with the National Council of Catholic Bishops meeting in November. The Cardinal notified Joe Murray, the US Convener of the Rainbow Sash Movement that he had changed his mind, saying he thought now was not a good time to meet, and he felt this was in the best interest of the Church and the Rainbow Sash Movement. The Rainbow Sash Movement is a national Catholic Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender Organization.
Murray responding to Cardinal McCarrick’s change of heart said, "We are deeply disappointed, we had hoped the Cardinal would treat gay Catholics with the same standard he had treated Catholic Politicians." When dealing with Catholic Politicians the Cardinal said, "The question for us is not simply whether denial of Communion is possible, but whether it is pastorally wise and prudent." This standard however apparently does not apply to Gay Catholics who publicly identify themselves as Gay. [Source]
[Via Saintly Salmagundi]]
I had reported last June on the proposed listening session and panned it at the time. I think the sentence "We are deeply disappointed, we had hoped the Cardinal would treat gay Catholics with the same standard he had treated Catholic Politician" is in realty a stinging indictment on how the Cardinal has handled the Communion controversy. When you are wishy-washy on one subject people expect you to be the same with other subjects. If the Rainbow Sash Movement had wanted to go to the Cardinal about help in living a chaste life with some degree of same-sex attraction there would have been no problem. So while the Cardinal’s excuse was rather lame, it is better then going through a false listening session that could only encourage those who believe that the Church’s teaching on homosexually and same-sex marriage could change.
