Minnesota Catholic Church Disciplines Artist for Supporting Gay Rights

Lucinda Naylor is a Minnesota artist who believes that all people should be able to experience love. Because of that, she's been suspended by her church, where she served as a well respected artist in residence for 15 years.
The Basilica of St. Mary is a monumental church in downtown Minneapolis. Part of their mission? To "preach justice," and to "contribute to the celebration of the sacred arts" in the Minneapolis community. Yet despite this core identity, the Basilica of St. Mary has decided to discipline Naylor because she supports marriage equality. Art it seems, at least within the confines of the Basilica of St. Mary, is now only suitable if the artist making it believes that homosexuality is icky.
At the center of this story is the decision by the Catholic bishops of Minnesota to send out hundreds of thousands of DVDs to families in the state. Those DVDs, which include a cameo from the National Organization for Marriage's Maggie Gallagher, tell Minnesotans that gay people are a threat to families.
For Naylor, it repulsed her that Catholic bishops would spend so much money on these DVDs and invest mega resources in criticizing LGBT people. So she came up with a plan. She asked Minnesotans to send her their copy of the anti-gay DVD, and she pledged to create a piece of art from them that would honor the principle of equality and acceptance for all.
But those are principles that apparently get you the boot, at least if you're the Basilica of St. Mary.


Naylor took to her blog after receiving word that she was suspended, noting that the Catholic Church once also disciplined Galileo for his work.
"I must note that I am both startled and humbled to find that I join the ranks of people before me who been silenced or ousted one by one for disagreeing with the church. �Maybe in 500 years, I, like Galileo, will get my suspension lifted," Naylor wrote. And then she noted that the leaders of the Church, who spend so much time trying to demonize LGBT people, do a huge disservice to Catholicism and Christianity.
"All are welcome at the table is not just an Episcopalian saying. If Jesus was physically here today he wouldn?t be dining with tax collectors, he?d be dining with drag queens."
Awesome. And you can say that again, Naylor. Had the technology been available thousands of years ago, you can bet Jesus wouldn't be sending out DVDs blasting people for loving one another. He'd instead take the money used to produce such a thing, and give it back to those who are hungry, those without shelter, and those without a job.
And then he'd go drinking with folks who really know how to love beyond measure.
The bishops in Minnesota show no sign of stopping in their quest to blast same-sex marriage. But their DVDs, or their suspending of gay-friendly artists, or their working to elect anti-gay politicians won't give them the last word on this issue. All it takes is an alternative voice, urging the Church to get its priorities turned around. That's what Naylor provides. And that's what hundreds upon hundreds of others have been displaying, too, by sending a message to Minnesota's bishops that their intense focus on preventing same-sex marriage is both misguided and offensive.
Photo credit: blmurch

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