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Rainbow Sash Movement Plots Papal Protest

Gay advocacy group to throw ashes and blow whistles at pope during April US visit

By Michael Baggot

March 11, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Rainbow Sash Movement, a homosexual activist group, announced their plans to protest Pope Benedict XVI's opposition to homosexual behavior during his April visit to the United States. 

The RSM plans to throw ashes at the Pope, because "ashes are an ancient and appropriate greeting for a sinner who has caused the Church so much division and pain," stated the movement.

"We will also be greeting him with whistles; these were used by the Polish People to show shame for the violation of human rights by the Communist Government prior to the end of the cold war," added a RSM statement.

"We are a community of Catholic GLBT along with our allies who work for change in the Church. To continue to hide our identity only enables shame and homophobia.  We are committed to working from within the Church," says the movement.

The RSM is best known for its large Pentecost Sunday protests, in which openly practicing homosexual, bisexual, and "transgendered" individuals identify themselves as such with multicolor sashes and demand Holy Communion during Mass.

The Pope has been a vocal opponent of homosexual "marriage".  In January 2007, after praising traditional families, the Pope said, "projects that aim to attribute to other forms of union inappropriate legal recognition appear dangerous and counterproductive."

The RSM contrasts with ministries in the Church that support Catholics in their efforts to live a life of chastity and to overcome homosexual inclinations when possible.  The Courage apostolate, founded by Fr. John Harvey, OSFS in 1980, has five main goals: Chastity, Prayer and Dedication, Fellowship, Support, and Good Example. 

Courage professes complete fidelity to the teachings of the Catholic Church, including those regarding homosexuality.

"Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that 'homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered,'" states the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The Catechism adds that those with homosexual tendencies "must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity.  Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided."

"It is deplorable that homosexual persons have been and are the object of violent malice in speech or in action. Such treatment deserves condemnation from the Church's pastors wherever it occurs.  The intrinsic dignity of each person must always be respected in word, in action and in law," stated a 1986 Vatican document on the pastoral care of homosexual persons, issued by the then Cardinal Ratzinger.

"But the proper reaction to crimes committed against homosexual persons should not be to claim that the homosexual condition is not disordered," added the document.

See related coverage by LifeSiteNews.com:

Learn about the Courage apostolate:
http://www.couragerc.net

Read the Vatican's document on pastoral care of homosexual persons:
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/docum...

Pope Benedict: Marriage is Between a Man and a Woman "Admit No Alternatives"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jun/05060602.html

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