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From Stella Borealis come this entry about the annual Pentecost challenge made my a homosexual activist group to the local Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis.  The group concerned is called Rainbow Sash. Adherents of Rainbow Sash publicly protest the Church’s teaching on homosexuality by making a public display of themselves during the time of Holy Communion during a Mass for Pentecost at the Cathedral of the Archdiocese.  In other words, they seek to receive Communion while protesting the Church’s teachings. My emphases and comments. Archbishop Nienstedt Responds to Rainbow Sash Alliance Archbishop John C. Nienstedt of the Archdiocese of...

The Rainbow Sash Movement is reconfiguring itself as a rainbow ribbon revue for this year's Whitsunstunt -- presumably on the grounds that a slenderer middle finger flipped at the Church will make those clergymen who refuse the flippers communion appear the more unreasonable. The Rainbow Sash Movement (RSM) announced today that they will be challenging the practices of the Catholic Church this Pentecost Sunday, May 27. RSM members wear a simple 2-inch wide ribbon of rainbow colors across their shoulders, and respectfully present themselves to receive communion. Priests have withheld communion from people wearing the rainbow sash in prior appearances...

The two Lexington gay men who made worldwide news by parenting quadruplets and then a fifth child have separated amid allegations of domestic violence that a judge dismissed, according to court records. Lexington attorney Michael Meehan declined to comment yesterday on Fayette Circuit Family Court Judge Kim Bunnell's decision earlier this month to reject his petition for a domestic violence order against his former partner Thomas Dysarz. Bunnell ruled on June 1 that there was "insufficient evidence" to issue a domestic violence order. Such an order would have put restrictions on Dysarz's interaction with Meehan. Court records show separate addresses...

Mass shows support for dozens of gays, lesbians 'Let go of anger and hate,' pastor says BY STEVE SCOTT Pioneer Press Responding to requests by families and friends of gays and lesbians, the Rev. John Clay celebrated a Mass of healing and support Thursday night at St. Stanislaus Catholic Church in St. Paul. Nearly 150 people at the church at West Seventh Street and Western Avenue heard Clay call for people to love "those who aren't like us." He implored them to "listen to what it feels like to grow up in a society in which the majority is hostile"...

    Consider as you read this that the parishes listed below are promoting sodomy and other perverted sex acts as legitimate ways of "loving."  They are encouraging those who engage in these acts to receive Holy Communion sacrilegiously.  That is an act of BLASPHEMY against God!  The Eucharist does not restore grace to a soul in mortal sin. Confession does that. If someone receives Holy Communion in the state of mortal sin, not only does he not receive grace, but he commits a mortal sin of sacrilege.  The minister who knowingly gives a sacrilegious Communion participates in that sin. THIS IS THE TEACHING OF THE CHURCH!      Consider,  many of...

More than 50 gay rights activists wearing rainbow-colored sashes were denied Holy Communion at a Pentecost service yesterday at the Roman Catholic Cathedral in St. Paul, Minn., parishioners and church officials said. In an act that some witnesses called a "sacrilege" and others called a sign of "solidarity," a man who was not wearing a sash received a Communion wafer from a priest, broke it into pieces and handed it to some of the sash wearers, who consumed it on the spot. Ushers threatened to call the police, and a church employee burst into tears when the unidentified man re-distributed...

CHICAGO, May 22 /PRNewswire/ -- The following statement was released today by the Rainbow Sash Movement (RSM). The RSM will respond to the fear and intolerance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Transgender (GLBT) persons, by many of our Catholic Bishops on Pentecost Sunday, June 4, 2006. We will be entering, with our straight allies, Catholic Cathedrals across the nation on Pentecost wearing Rainbow Sashes as a sign of identification. Some Bishops have welcomed us in the past, and we are thankful for their welcome.Nationally our Bishops have lobbied against our human rights. Our grief is intensified because many in the GLBT...

The Rainbow Sash movement distributed a press release saying it wants to disrupt the mass again and use the Holy Eucharist as a tool to gain attention. I think they have a right to their own opinions but it is wrong to impose themselves on others at holy mass and create a sacrilege by misusing the most holy gift and possession of the church for their own political use. I thought it might be fun to dissect their press release by comparing it to the Second Vatican Council documents while I drink my morning coffee. Quotes from the press release...

Most of you have seen the picture of a priest baptizing a naked baby by dipping its butt into a baptismal "pool". It constituted a thread here on FR and we all wondered where this had taken place. The full story appeared today in The Wanderer. Here it is, hand transcribed. * * * * * ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The Diocese of Rochester’s Sacred Heart Cathedral, which Bishop Matthew Clark insists is the model for Catholic worship for the entire diocese, was the setting for a bizarre baptismal ritual of questionable validity on Pentecost Sunday, as Rainbow Sashers received Communion....

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (AP) -- A Roman Catholic priest denied communion to more than 100 people Sunday, saying they could not receive the sacrament because they wore rainbow-colored sashes to church to show support for gay Catholics. Before offering communion, the Rev. Michael Sklucazek told the congregation at the Cathedral of St. Paul that anyone wearing a sash could come forward for a blessing but would not receive wine and bread. A group called the Rainbow Sash Alliance has encouraged supporters to wear the multicolored fabric bands since 2001 on each Pentecost Sunday, the day Catholics believe the Holy Spirit...

LOS ANGELES/ ST PAUL- MINNEAPOLIS, May 16, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Feast of Pentecost is the celebration in the Christian calendar of the descent of the Holy Spirit onto the Disciples of Christ after His resurrection and ascension into heaven as recorded in the bible. In recent years, homosexual activists have used the feast as an annual pretext for protests to make demands that the Catholic Church change her teaching on the sinfulness of homosexual acts. Archbishop Flynn of St. Paul-Minneapolis, Cardinal Mahoney of Los Angeles and bishop Matthew Clarke of Rochester New York have been singled out for praise...

A church that granted Holy Communion to members wearing rainbow sashes on Pentecost Sunday will not be reprimanded by Archbishop Harry Flynn, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said. A handful of St. Stephen's members wore the multicolored fabric bands, according to members of the south Minneapolis Roman Catholic church and Brian McNeill, organizer of the Rainbow Sash Alliance. The alliance has been encouraging supporters to wear the multicolored fabric bands each Pentecost Sunday since 2001 to show support to gay Catholics, but Flynn had told the group this month that they would not receive Communion...

The people who wore rainbow sashes to the Cathedral of St. Paul on Sunday were denied Communion. The archbishop, Harry Flynn, following the instructions of his superiors in America and in Rome, made it clear that the wearing of the sashes was a protest against doctrinal teaching and therefore Communion would be denied and that, furthermore, Communion was not the time to stage a protest. And what were the sashes if not a protest? Of course it was a protest. The people who wore the sashes could have received Communion by not wearing the sashes. Or they could shop around...

Note: This commentary was delivered by Prison Fellowship President Mark Earley. Over the weekend, I heard about what might be called “A Tale of Two Churches.” Each involved an attempt to discipline church members. Looking at the two together gives us a very instructive lesson. The first case was in Waynesville, North Carolina. In the past week, the East Waynesville Baptist Church split down the middle. The facts are not in dispute. During the last political campaign, the Reverend Chan Chandler told his congregation, “The question then comes to the Baptist church, how do I vote? Let me just say...

May. 16 (CWNews.com) - Homosexual activists of the Rainbow Sash movement were denied Communion in St. Paul, Minnesota, but welcomed at the cathedral in Los Angeles, during their annual Pentecost Sunday protest. Each year, members of the Rainbow Sash movement stage major demonstrations on Pentecost Sunday, wearing their distinctive sashes to advertise their disagreement with Church teachings regarding the morality of homosexual acts. In 2004, the group had its most noteworthy confrontation in St. Paul, where Archbishop Harry Flynn administered the Eucharist to protestors wearing their sashes, over the protests of other Catholics at the cathedral. Later, in response to...

Priest Denies Gays' Supporters Communion By JOSHUA FREED, Associated Press Writer Mon May 16, 9:59 AM ET A Roman Catholic priest denied communion to more than 100 people Sunday, saying they could not receive the sacrament because they wore rainbow-colored sashes to church to show support for gay Catholics. Before offering communion, the Rev. Michael Sklucazek told the congregation at the Cathedral of St. Paul that anyone wearing a sash could come forward for a blessing but would not receive wine and bread. A group called the Rainbow Sash Alliance has encouraged supporters to wear the multicolored fabric bands since...

Press Release Source: Rainbow Sash Movement The Following Statement Has Been Issued by the Rainbow Sash Movement: Pentecost Once Again Calls for Dialogue on Gay/Lesbian Catholics Sunday May 15, 9:28 pm ET CHICAGO, May 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Pentecost has come and gone, and the sky has not fallen. For members of the Rainbow Sash Movement (RSM) nationally it was a time of deep prayer. Around the Nation members of the Rainbow Sash Movement entered Cathedrals and parishes. Such as Rochester New York where individuals tried to block the way of Rainbow Sash Members from receiving communion. Eventually the Rainbow Sash...

CHICAGO, May 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Pentecost has come and gone, and the sky has not fallen. For members of the Rainbow Sash Movement (RSM) nationally it was a time of deep prayer. Around the Nation members of the Rainbow Sash Movement entered Cathedrals and parishes. Such as Rochester New York where individuals tried to block the way of Rainbow Sash Members from receiving communion. Eventually the Rainbow Sash Members received communion with the support of fellow parishioners. In the Archdiocese of Chicago Cardinal Francis George issued orders that Rainbow Sash Movement members were not to be given Communion at Holy...

Today: May 15, 2005 at 16:12:57 PDT Priest Denies Gays' Supporters Communion By JOSHUA FREED ASSOCIATED PRESS ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - A Roman Catholic priest denied communion to more than 100 parishioners Sunday, saying they could not receive the sacrament because they wore rainbow-colored sashes to church to show support for gay Catholics. Before offering communion, the Rev. Michael Sklucazek told the congregation at the Cathedral of St. Paul that anyone wearing a sash could come forward for a blessing but would not receive wine and bread. A group called the Rainbow Sash Alliance has encouraged supporters to wear...

A group of about 100 gay Roman Catholics and their supporters were denied Holy Communion at Pentecost Mass at the Cathederal of St. Paul today.

CHICAGO, May 15 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Peter LaBarbera, executive director of Illinois Family Institute, released the following statement today in response to the latest protest by the homosexual group "Rainbow Sash" in Catholic churches on Pentecost Sunday (May 15):"Illinois Family Institute encourages Catholics throughout Illinois to ignore the homosexual activist group 'Rainbow Sash,' which stoops to a new low by using the Sunday Mass as a platform for advancing a sinful lifestyle. We applaud Cardinal Francis George of Chicago for properly rejecting Rainbow Sash demands-- and for not welcoming them as have some Catholic leaders, including Cardinal Roger Mahoney of...

(CNSNews.com) - A group of homosexual activists plan to protest Mass at Catholic churches nationwide Sunday in opposition to the church's stance on homosexuality. The group, Rainbow Sash, explained on its website that they "stand opposed to homophobia at the Eucharistic table" and "make no apologies for God's gift of our sexuality." The group encourages its members to wear the Rainbow Sash in a parish or cathedral as "an act of faith in the Lord, who works through weakness." "This year, Rainbow Sash has upped the ante," Catholic League President William Donohue said in a statement. He pointed to a...

Responding to a directive from the Vatican, Archbishop Harry Flynn has advised all parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to deny communion to anyone wearing a rainbow-colored sash. For the past four years, supporters of the Rainbow Sash Alliance USA -- a group of Catholics who are active in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community -- have worn the sashes to receive communion at the St. Paul Cathedral on Pentecost Sunday, the anniversary date of the group's founding in 1998. Last year the service was disrupted when a group of 40 laymen protested the activists receiving...

Sash Wars V: The Archbishop Strikes Back 05/07/05 Four years ago, St. Paul-Minneapolis Archbishop Harry Flynn opened the cathedral’s doors to open homosexuals who desired to change Church teaching. Every Pentecost since, members of the Rainbow Sash Alliance have donned multicolored sashes for Sunday Mass and were given the Eucharist. This year that changes. In a move that surprised both members of the Rainbow Sash Alliance, and Catholics in the archdiocese and neighboring dioceses, Archbishop Flynn sent a letter to Brian McNeill, leader of the Rainbow Sash Alliance USA, a local affiliate of the international Rainbow Sash Movement —...

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Protesters who want the Church to change its teaching on the morality of homosexual acts will be denied Communion in the Cathedral of St. Paul if they step forward wearing a rainbow-colored garment Pentecost Sunday. For the past four years members of the Rainbow Sash Alliance have donned multicolored sashes for Pentecost Sunday Mass at the St. Paul Cathedral and were given the Eucharist.The organization is the U.S. affiliate of the international Rainbow Sash Movement. Because the movement’s actions have been perceived as a protest, St. Paul and Minneapolis Archbishop Harry Flynn has told the local...

Responding to a directive from the Vatican, Archbishop Harry Flynn has advised all parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to deny communion to anyone wearing a rainbow-colored sash. For the past four years, supporters of the Rainbow Sash Alliance USA -- a group of Catholics who are active in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community -- have worn the sashes to receive communion at the St. Paul Cathedral on Pentecost Sunday, the anniversary date of the group's founding in 1998.

Rainbow Sash Movement Calls for Integrity and Justice from both Pope Benedict XVI, and Cardinal Francis George VP of the NCCB, on Pentecost Sunday, May 15, 2005 Monday May 2, 6:00 am ET CHICAGO, May 2 /PRNewswire/ -- The Rainbow Sash Movement (RSM) with its supporters will be entering Cathedrals and parishes around the nation on Pentecost Sunday, May 15. We are inviting our supporters to join us, and wear the Rainbow Sash as a symbol of dignity and inclusion. We continue to call for public dialogue with Cardinal Francis George Vice President of the National Council of Catholic Bishops....

Archbishop Harry Flynn has told gay-rights supporters they will not be allowed to receive Holy Communion while wearing rainbow-colored sashes because the practice has come to be perceived as a protest against Catholic teaching and is unacceptable to the Vatican. Flynn's decision, conveyed in a letter this week to the Rainbow Sash Alliance USA, reverses his four-year policy of not interfering with sash-wearers receiving Communion at the Cathedral of St. Paul. Rainbow-sash supporters in St. Paul and elsewhere have typically organized their presence around the Christian celebration of Pentecost, which this year is May 15

Rainbow Sash Movement Calls for Integrity and Justice from both Pope Benedict XVI, and Cardinal Francis George VP of the NCCB, on Pentecost Sunday, May 15, 2005Monday May 2, 6:00 am ET CHICAGO, May 2 /PRNewswire/ -- The Rainbow Sash Movement (RSM) with its supporters will be entering Cathedrals and parishes around the nation on Pentecost Sunday, May 15. We are inviting our supporters to join us, and wear the Rainbow Sash as a symbol of dignity and inclusion.We continue to call for public dialogue with Cardinal Francis George Vice President of the National Council of Catholic Bishops.In the weeks...

New York's Gov. Al Smith not only opposed Prohibition, but in 1928 he became the first Roman Catholic ever nominated by a major party to be president. This resulted in some of America's worst anti-Catholic expressions of bigotry – including a rumor that Gov. Smith was planning to invite the pope to make an extended visit in order to supervise the conversion of this nation to a Roman Catholic country. When Gov. Smith lost to Herbert Hoover by 444 to 87 electoral votes, he had the good sense of humor and sportsmanship to announce that he had just sent a...

Vatican Cardinal Ends Debate: No Communion for Pro-Abortion Politicians or Rainbow Sashers Says "Are we going to change Divine Law, how God made us?" VATICAN CITY, February 16, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze, the top Vatican Cardinal in charge of the sacraments of the Catholic Church has made it plain in an on-camera interview with EWTN that pro-abortion politicians may not be admitted to Holy Communion. A February 11 EWTN broadcast of the news program, World Over Live, with host Raymond Arroyo, featured an interview with Arinze, the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline...

A Vatican official who is considered among the leading candidates to become the next pope has said activists who demonstrate support for gay Catholics by wearing a colored sash to mass are showing their opposition to church teaching and should not receive communion. The statement from Cardinal Francis Arinze, the Vatican's head of liturgy, amounts to a rebuke of a practice that has quietly gained favor among gay activists in the Twin Cities, where Archbishop Harry Flynn has accepted Rainbow Sash wearers when they appear at mass. A handful of people have appeared for the past four years wearing sashes...

  ST. PAUL — The pro-homosexual rainbow sashers appeared again at a Cathedral of St. Paul Mass, and Catholics Against Sacrilege also returned, praying the rosary in reparation.  This November 7 episode was the second time this year the groups have confronted each other at the cathedral of the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese. (See The Wanderer, June 10, 2004, p. 1 for an account of the May 30 protest and counterprotest.)  At the May 30 Mass, the Ushers of the Eucharist knelt near the altar to try to block sashers from receiving Communion.  This time, before Communion, Fr. Ralph Talbot of the cathedral asked that...

Dear fellow-priests, When I was ordained a priest, the bishop reminded me of the threefold task to which I was committing myself: to be a priest, to be a shepherd and to be a prophet; serving God at the altar (sacraments) and in prayer, leading the flock and keeping it together, preaching His Word of faith, hope and love and thus setting God's people free. Priests are in all this cooperating with the bishops and at the same time they also have their own responsibility. The words YHWH spoke to Jeremiah when He called him, have always been a source...

CHICAGO, June 5 /PRNewswire/ -- The Rainbow Sash Movement has just been notified that Cardinal McCarrick of the Archdiocese of Washington, DC has agreed to host a "Listening Session" on the weekend of the National Council of Catholic Bishops meeting in November. According to Joe Murray, spokesperson for the Rainbow Sash Movement, "I have been in direct communication with the Cardinal's representative since January 2004," trying to develop this "Listening Session," and I am thankful to God for this opportunity. A Listening Session is an ancient practice of the Catholic Church. The goal is to listen to the faithful, thereby...

<p>Roman Catholic laymen clashed with gay Catholics and their allies Sunday in a nonviolent confrontation over gays participating in the eucharist.</p> <p>About 40 men from a recently formed group, Ushers of the Eucharist, collected in the central aisle in the Cathedral of St. Paul during holy communion and asked the Rainbow Sash Alliance not to take part.</p>

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Priests denied Holy Communion on Sunday to a group of rainbow sash-wearing gay activists who showed up to protest a directive from Chicago's prelate that they violated church teachings by advertising their homosexuality. The volatile issue of denying Communion to Catholics who disagree with church teachings, a controversy that has recently entangled U.S. politicians, was fueled in Chicago after Cardinal Francis George sent a memo to priests in the second-largest U.S. archdiocese, ordering them not to offer Communion to sash-wearers. More than a dozen men and women activists sang and prayed with other parishioners filling the pews...

ST. PAUL - A group of Roman Catholic laymen tried to prevent gay Catholics and their supporters from taking Holy Communion on Sunday by standing and kneeling in the church aisles at the Cathedral of St. Paul. About three dozen men calling themselves "Ushers of the Eucharist" confronted members of the Rainbow Sash Alliance, a group that donned rainbow-colored sashes and ribbons in support of a right for gay Catholics to receive communion. The men took turns kneeling in front of the altar to block the path of those wearing rainbow sashes and ribbons. There were no physical altercations, but...

Cardinal Francis George has ordered priests to withhold Communion from members of the Rainbow Sash Movement. They attempt to receive the sacrament while wearing a sash signifying their defiance. CHICAGO - The volatile issue of denying Holy Communion to Catholics who defy church teachings, a question already tangled up in U.S. politics, has spread to a new controversy involving gay Catholic activists.

CHICAGO, May 26 /PRNewswire/ -- The Rainbow Sash Movement (RSM) is deeply saddened by the response of Francis Cardinal George to the presence of gay and lesbian Catholics at the Cathedral for Pentecost Sunday, May 30, 2004 at 12:30PM. In wearing the Rainbow Sash we call Cardinal George to honor our experience, we continue to call on him to honor his commitment to Rainbow Sash Movement for ongoing public dialogue, and to work with us for justice and understanding. Cardinal Mahony of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has notified the Rainbow Sash Movement that his Cathedral will welcome Rainbow Sash...

Cardinal says no communion for gay protesters Sunday May 25, 2004 BY ART GOLAB Staff Reporter Gay Catholics who plan to identify themselves by wearing a rainbow sash in church Sunday should be denied communion, according to a memo Cardinal Francis George has written to all pastors in the Archdiocese of Chicago. The wearing of the sash is sponsored by the Rainbow Sash Movement, which has several chapters across the country and plans to show up Sunday at Holy Name Cathedral.

SYDNEY, May 21, 02 (CWNews.com) -- Archbishop George Pell refused to distribute Communion to members of a gay-rights group at Mass on Pentecost Sunday in Sydney, Australia. Members of the Rainbow Sash Movement (RSM), in a gesture they had announced to the media before the Mass, donned rainbow sashes to symbolize their opposition to Church teachings regarding human sexuality. They then approached the altar, where the archbishop denied them the Eucharist. A similar incident occurred in Melbourne, and there too the RSM protestors were denied the Eucharist, by the city's new Archbishop Denis Hart. Archbishop Hart did offer a blessing...