Rainbow Sash Movement is a gay Catholic group that is responding to Cardinal George over his anti-gay comments he made about gays and comparing them to the KKK:
Cardinal Francis George’s recent statement comparing the Gay Community to the KKK is just another example of bigotry side stepping what it means to be pro-life. The Cardinal’s view appears to be that ethical concerns take second seat to promoting intolerance.
His cavalier approach to his form of narrow-mindedness is irresponsible and wrong. It is out of step with reason, and the Catholic laity that he claims to represent.
There are calls for Cardinal George’s resignation, but those calls seem too centered on this latest incident rather than the Cardinal’s track record. The Rainbow Sash Movement believes that the Cardinal should submit his resignation; not only for this latest issue but also for the way he has handled the Clergy Sexual Abuse Scandal, harassing women at family-planning clinics to threatening or killing doctors who perform abortion. We believe his silence on these matters is contravening the most basic of Jesus’ teachings and ethics.
The Cardinal refuses to hold that the Christ like relationship to pregnant women is one of service, requiring that Catholics provide financial, medical, and emotional support for pregnant women pre and postpartum. If the Cardinal was serious about his pro-life position he would understand in order to reduce abortion, one must remove the central financial and emotional reasons to abort.
Joe Murray, Executive Director of the Rainbow Sash Movement reminds Cardinal George that a consistent pro-life ethic demands what Joseph Cardinal Bernardin called “the seamless garment of life.” If one is pro-life, one must care for the poor, champion human rights, and oppose not only abortion but also capital punishment.
The Cardinal promotes his brand of bigotry based on a case of “selective Biblical literalism.
Why does the Cardinal who claims to use Scripture and Tradition as his guiding light not devote his energies also to oppose divorce, which the Bible explicitly condemns?
His attempts to unite Catholics in his political war against Civil Unions in the Illinois have failed miserably. Most Catholics support the right of Gay and Lesbian people to love who they choose to. Catholics have not bought into the Cardinal’s bigotry of trying to demonize GLBT people for legalizing their relationships under the law.
Catholics may not marry those who have been divorced, while Protestants and Jews can. But the neutral state should not enforce religious views of marriage – not religious views of gay marriage any more than religious views of heterosexual marriage.
Governor Pat Quinn who is both straight and catholic has stood in open opposition to the Cardinals brand of bigotry.
The Rainbow Sash Movement believes that Cardinal George has missed a teaching moment by associating the legitimate aspirations of the Gay Rights Movement with those of the KKK. Clearly the Cardinal is now trying to walk away from his original statement without apologizing to the LGBT Community.
Cardinal George, thank you for agreeing to submit your pending letter of resignation to the Pope for whatever reason, now it is time for you to apologize to the Gay and Lesbian Community.
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