Fallout: A Minister's Story Of Police Brutality

In the last video video I posted on OAQ, if you watch carefully you can see a minister being knocked to the ground by police. Now Rev. John Helmiere alleges that the incident was a clear case of police brutality:

Yesterday evening, I was brutally beaten by my brothers on the Seattle Police force as I stood before an entrance to Pier 18 of the Seattle Port in my clergy garb bellowing, “Keep the Peace! Keep the Peace!” An officer pulled me down from behind and threw me to the asphalt. Between my cries of pain and shouts of “I’m a man of peace!” he pressed a knee to my spine and immobilized my arms behind my back, crushing me against the ground. With the right side of my face pressed to the street, he repeatedly punched the left side of my face for long enough that I had time to pray that the crunching sounds I heard were not damaging my brain. I was cuffed and pulled off the ground by a different officer who seemed genuinely appalled when he saw my face and clerical collar. He asked who I was and why I was here, to which I replied, “I’m a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, I believe another world is possible.” He led me shaking to a police van where began a 12-hour journey of incarcerated misery.

Click here to get his full account.

Mars Hill Attacks

According to a recent post (by recent I mean, nearly a week old) on the Seattle Weekly blog, local megachurch pastor Mark Driscoll has gone on record as saying that practicing yoga and reading Harry Potter are Satanic:

"Practicing yoga is Satanic, it leads to evil just like reading Harry Potter," he told a film festival in Umbria this week, where he was invited to introduce The Rite, a film about exorcism starring Sir Anthony Hopkins as a Jesuit priest. "

My response - well, only if you're doing it right.

Honestly, I just wanted a reason to post the above picture. That is all.

OneAngryCultist: Love Thy Neighbor

In a recent article on the Catholic Lane, retired schoolteacher and fellow, Seattle OCCUPY activist and writer Robert “Bob” Struble, Jr. writes about the ongoing problem of institutional child abuse. In his recent articles, Paterno, Pedophiles, Homosexuals, and Cowards; and Homosexuality/Pedophilia Correlation? Struble explores the recent Penn State sex abuse scandal in which assistant coach Jerry Sandusky had been found guilty of sexually assaulting or having inappropriate contact with at least eight underage boys as indicative of the moral decline of society due to the growing acceptance of homosexuality.

In the first article, Struble writes:

“Cultural commissars in the West urge citizens to worship at the altar of a much-touted triune ethic – tolerance, diversity and choice. This secular trinity militates against the influence of righteous indignation. It demands that people who express disgust at sexual sins be reprogrammed. Teach them to reconsider their negative attitudes. Show them that a tendency to look down on homosexual sex is wrong in itself. Brow beat them with the notion that such a critical attitude is condescending and judgmental.”

Putting aside any snarky reference I could make by invoking Matthew 7:1-5, there is a tendency in our culture to censor language that is perceived to be intolerant or that doesn’t respect the current values of diversity and choice and with good reason –this kind of language kills people!

 In a free society we do have the right to speak our minds, however the point at which this language and dialogue infringes upon the lives and liberty of others, I take serious concern.

In specific regards to Catholic social teaching, of which Mr. Struble should be well aware, sexual minorities, “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.” Quoting the controversial archbishop of the airwaves, Fulton Sheen, Mr. Struble writes in agreement:

“Tolerance is an attitude of reasoned patience toward evil…, a forbearance that restrains us from showing anger or inflicting punishment…. Architects are as intolerant about sand as foundations for skyscrapers as doctors are intolerant about germs in the laboratory. Tolerance does not apply to truth or principles.”

Immediately following, in his own words, Bob additionally calls for an end to, “the prevailing idolatry about inclusiveness. We need, rather, to exhibit the militancy and intolerance that Jesus modeled when he cleansed the temple.”

So, Bob, tell us what you really think about the teachings of Jesus who enjoins all Christians to, “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mk. 12:31). Thousands of Catholics struggle on a daily basis with deep-seated problems related to being faced with having to choose between being true to themselves or their faith – I for one think they are owed at least a modicum of tolerance.

In his second article, Bob attempts to make the case that the child abuse case at Penn state is not only a moral problem, with which I fully agree, but correlates homosexuality to pedophilia – clearly something I cannot endorse. Pedophilia cannot in any way be related to homosexuality.

Pedophilia, as defined by the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems is “a sexual preference for children, boys or girls or both, usually of prepubertal or early pubertal age” and has nothing to do whatsoever with homosexuality even in cases where the abused are of the same gender of the abused.

In essence, pedophilia is a profound psychological and emotional disorder that cannot be correlated in any way to homosexuality in which relationships formed between same-sex partners are most often consensual in nature, as with heterosexual relationships, and based on positive regard for partners and are not typified by power-dynamic disparity as in the case of pedophilia.

Continuing, Bob predicts:

“That if social mores continue their downward trajectory, and society reaches such a level that NAMBLA’s agenda gets mainlined into the culture (as was its equivalent in ancient Greece and Rome); then the social climate will be about as libertine as we read about in pagan antiquity, when there was not much about pedophilia that scandalized people… 

At that point, homosexuals and homosexualists (their heterosexual backers) will not be compelled to conjure up so much anger or indignation whenever someone associates them with pedophilia. To the extent that all sex is considered good sex, no stigmatizing of deviant sexuality will exert enough social suasion to make people feel guilty about sexual relations with children.”

With all due respect, Bob, NAMBLA represents a socially deviant organization that I can guarantee the majority of the LGBTQI community along with the rest of society views with equal disdain as you yourself hold. Also, as something of a lay-historian myself, I’m profoundly disappointed in Bob’s anachronistic reading into the fall of ancient Rome which most historians now assess as being due to extreme economic pressures brought about by territorial expansionism and not about sexual excess and moral denigration. 

Historically speaking, same-sex attraction as understood in the ancient world was understood differently than it is today. While the cultural practice of pederastry as practiced to a small extant in Ancient Greece and Rome may be to some extant equitable with hebephilia – a related but different disorder from pedophilia and something against which Paul rails in Romans – there are cultural contexts which separate making such a drastic comparison to NAMBLA.

These two articles fail to pass biblical and intellectual standards of editorial excellence and are indicative of a small-mindedness that should not be confused with the great academic and loving religious values present in Catholicism, instead they appear to regurgitate the same old “gays are bad because the pope says so” arguments that contribute to a strong social stigmatization of the Church.

I humbly, yet frankly, ask the author to look deeper into the issues at stake as well as inform himself better on the Spirit of the Gospel as opposed to the letter of the law and enjoin him to make a sincere and loving inventory based on love of his sisters and brothers and cease depriving what he likely would not appreciate having deprived himself – the right to love their partners as themselves.

In Dedication to Ss. Sergius and Bacchus
(Aren't they cute?!)

OneAngryCultist: The Spirit of Occupy - Witness Under Fire

Tuesday was a day in which I witnessed first-hand the Occupy community of Seattle undergo a rebirth, a baptism of sorts, as well as possibly one of the most atrocious acts of brutality against demonstrators during which many non-violent demonstrators were indiscriminately pepper-sprayed including a blind woman, a priest, a non-denominational chaplain, a pregnant woman as well as friends and acquaintances caught in the cross-fires.

Although I was blocked off from being able one of those caught in the fray due to an ill-timed restroom break, when I was able to catch up to the group the first thing I saw was people corralled between Battery and Wall Street on Third Avenue and the first person I met coming out of that was Reverend Rich Lang of University Methodist Temple in the University District; the same man I had been walking alongside earlier as an individual clergy person representing my own gnostic, religious tradition of Thelema. His face was red and tears were coming from his eyes and he was still determined. It was later that I would find out exactly what happened, but seeing his dedication and witness made a very clear impact on me.

The next morning, I woke up and read the following missive that he had written in response to the events that transpired that day, A Pastoral Lament For My Country:

“I praise the courage and compassion, the discipline and the decency of the Occupy Movement. Out of the rag-tag mob came help, grabbing my hands, leading me (I was blind by then) to the wall and administering care and concern for my well being. The protesters were assembled around all the wounded, and maintained the discipline of nonviolence (granted the nonviolence was in behavior but not language). And they were not afraid. The spraying had been a baptism sealing them into the security of knowing that their prophecy of repentance was indeed the Spirit-Word through them --- it is as if they did not prophecy their very bones would melt within them. Against the wall in increasing pain and burning I realized I was in the midst of church.”

Reverend Rich is but one of the chaplains and religious who were pepper-sprayed that day, the other being Tsukina Blessing, amidst many others of varying religious and non-religious stripes gathered as a community to demonstrate against this country’s grave social and economic inequalities. In the course of that baptism by pepper-spray, Occupy ceased being a group of rag-tag demonstrators and transformed into an ekklesía - a community of believers – indeed, a church.

Although some may object to my overt use of religious language in describing Occupy, the fact is that we are all here in faith that we can restore some level of sanity to this country that has for too long strayed away from its true course and which we are all determined to bear witness to and restore to the brightness and wholeness that is capable of being – in Christian terms, “a city on the hill” for all to see and share in its blessings. In Occupy I have seen proof that in this movement there are many mansions to be found in every tent and every committee meeting and there is room at every table. This is what America can look like and what we are all fighting for.

Rev. Rich and Tsukina are true spiritual warriors, among the many participating in Occupy across the country. They are inspirations of endeavor and I admire them and all clergy, chaplains and participants in Occupy. Their demonstration of peace under fire is something, I think, all occupiers can learn from and put into practice and something that will make the movement succeed and prosper even more.

OneAngryCultist: Voting for God

Hold on to your horses, kids, the current GOP-led Congress is finally voting on something that is nothing short of Biblical and will bring about the second-coming; cure cancer, AIDS, hemorrhoids, and result in the liberation of all humanity accomplish absolutely nothing except reaffirm, "In God We Trust" as the national motto of the United States. The proposed bill would also encourage public buildings to include the motto in their architecture because, you know, architectural redecoration is some kind of job-creation, right?!

Congressman J. Randy Forbes (VA-04), Co-Chairman of the Congressional Prayer Caucus and author of H.CON.RES.13 cites the following reasons why this bill is necessary:

"President Obama inaccurately proclaimed "E Pluribus Unum' as our national motto. Last November before a worldwide audience, in a much-anticipated and much-publicized speech focusing on the United States' relationship with the Muslim world, President Obama falsely proclaimed that our national motto was E pluribus unum. The President failed to respond to congressional entreaties to issue a correction; the uncorrected transcript remains on the White House website.

Misunderstanding of the phrase "Separation of Church and State". The Supreme Court has held, “The First Amendment, however, does not say that in every and all respects there shall be a separation of Church and State. . . We find no constitutional requirement which makes it necessary for government to be hostile to religion.” The words ‘separation of church and state’ do not appear in the U.S. Constitution. Rather, the phrase originates from a letter penned by Thomas Jefferson on January 1, 1802, to the Danbury Baptist Association.

Inaccuracies and omissions in the half-billion-dollar Capitol Visitor Center. In 2008, the over half-billion dollar Capitol Visitor Center opened for the purpose of educating over 15,000 Capitol visitors daily on the “legislative process as well as the history and development of the architecture and art of the U.S. Capitol.” Yet, Capitol Visitor Center historians had sanitized the public building of any references to our national motto, including replacing the inscription of ‘In God We Trust,’ inscribed above the Speaker’s Rostrum with stars in a replica of the House Chamber and cropping an actual picture of the chamber so you could not see the words ‘In God We Trust.’ Only until Members of Congress intervened publically [sic.] and legislatively were these omissions and inaccuracies corrected."

So, essentially, what I'm reading is that Congressman Forbes took one of President Obama's gaffes a little too close to heart and is using Congress to make sure this doesn't happen again lest we all fall into godless heathenry.

Now, "Why is your OneAngryCultist chiming in on this particular issue?" you might ask. Well, because religion is important to me - not just mine, but all religions and spiritual perspectives atheism inclusive. As much as I like a little ceremonial deism here and there, H.CON.RES.13 is decidedly sectarian in nature and is part of a growing trend of denying the religious pluralism upon which this country was founded. While the issue of "separation of church and state" does not exist in the Constitution in word, the kind of religion that politicians like Forbes, Perry and others want to enshrine into law is not the kind of religion that would be recognizable by the founding fathers, let alone the 25% of non-Christians in the United States.

OneAngryCultist: Religion and the 99%

In the past three and a half weeks the Occupy movement has spread from Wall Street across the nation to over one-hundred cities and seems to be growing by the day despite arrests and threats of eviction. The 99% represents a smorgasbord of different groups representing different political and social perspectives, but little has been mentioned about the religious aspects of the protests.

Last night, your very own OneAngryCultist joined Ian Awesome at the downtown Seattle Occupy Demonstration where he witnessed the dismantling of a Sukkot booth and the subsequent arrest of ten Occupy demonstrators in what amounts to an act of religious discrimination in addition to the growing intolerance Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn has toward protestors.

Sukkot tent being, not occupied, dismantled by Seattle Parks and Recreation

As a member of the minority religious philosophy of Thelema started by Aleister Crowley following the revelations of the central holy text, The Book of the Law, witnessing the destruction of a very clearly religious gathering place affected me deeply and viscerally. As I wrote in my own personal blog, The Digital Enchiridion:

“At the time of writing this essay, we have seen in our world one hundred and seven years of non-stop global conflict: entire civilizations rise and fall in a single generation; countries, states, cities, civil and municipal governments, religions, communities, and families torn asunder cruelly and mercilessly; the rise of the nuclear age and all the anxiety that came with the mastering of the atom; economies have taken on monstrous forms, strangulating countless millions under harsh labor and new slavery of debt; and, in short, the threat of the entire collapse of “the way things were”. Not a comforting image, to be sure, but a real one and one not without hope.”

Religion and spirituality play an important role in people’s lives giving them strength in difficult times and guiding them in their individual causes. I’m reminded of the central role it played in the protests of the Civil Rights Movement led by Rev. Martin Luther King, the protests against British imperialism in India led by Mohandas Gandhi and the responses to LGBTQ bullying led by the nominally non-religious but none-the-less spiritual Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (Note from the editor: the Sisters plan to demonstrate with #OccupySeattle tonight-- IA).

In many of the Occupy cities, there are varying degrees of religiously identified groups in attendance offering their support and the support for demonstrators. Both HuffPo and USAToday have coverage of some of the religious goings on and at the Jesuit run weekly, America Magazine, Tom Beaudoin observes:

“there seems to be fairly wide latitude for people to find their way into the economic focus from many different political (and I would presume religious) commitments. (No doubt some are serving as chaplains or spiritual advisors, formally or informally, for this movement, and if so, I would be interested to hear from you.)”

Personally, I too would be interested in and like to hear from more religious groups in my city as a show of unity among people of faith, without sectarian squabble. It is this OneAngryCultist’s belief that the more people come together, the greater chance there will be for dialogue and greater understanding to be gleaned from various perspectives. I would like to see a greater religious voice in the public squares hosting these events, as a show of support and representation of the diversity that makes up the Occupy movement.

Advertising Bigotry

Today in dumb billboards:

This billboard popped up in Toledo Ohio, and is a response to another billboard that appeared earlier this year:

The creator of the hate-y billboard has been receiving "hate mail" from gay and lesbian residents of Toledo and had this to say about the controversy his church has generated:

“I love everyone. There’s nothing on that billboard about hate. ... I’m getting hate mail from lesbian and gay people, but my point is that I love them too much to let someone believe a lie. I love this city too much to let a lie be sown.”

Right.  I have a suggestion for the Rev. Tony Scott: if you loved your town, you'd stop using tithe money to advertise oppression for gay people and put it to use-- say, with a homeless shelter.  That probably wouldn't gain you parishioners or additional tithing, unfortunately, as your billboard likely will.  Nothing says "come to our church!" in Ohio like "We hate gays old-fashioned style!"

Today In Creepy Asshole Weirdoes

Televangelist John Hagee below, warning his flock about the dangers of secular humanism.  Is he really comparing rape crisis centers and shelters for battered women to single's bars and penitentiaries?  Plus: I've tried the magic spells in Harry Potter (oooooh, some days I want to Expelliarmus the hell out of Adam) and sorry, they don't work.  No danger of teaching your children witchcraft there.

Joe Jervis of Joe. My. God. reminds us that John Hagee is the dude who blamed Katrina on the gays and has called for a pre-emptive nuclear strike against Iran.

Today In Smiting-- Joplin Tornado Was Caused By Barack Obama

This whackjob, coming via Right Wing Watch, blames Israel's eroding position in the Middle East, a hypothetical rise in racism which will rival 1967's struggle, and the tornado that destroyed a good portion of Joplin, Missouri on one thing: Barack Obama's speech in May 2011 calling for a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by bringing Israel's borders back to the defined limits before expansion in the late 60s.

Right.

Regardless of this loon's religious background, he clearly is mixing religion with politics in the worst kind of way: by blaming a deadly, tragic weather event on a political stance-- then saying that God was punishing Joplinites for that political stance.  That's more than crazy, it's outright disgusting and this man should be ashamed of himself.  I can think of a few Joplinites that would take umbrage over this crackpot's assertions.

Today In Intimidation: The Atheist Registry

"Pastor" Mike Stahl from Florida has a great new idea to improve America!  With the parlous state of affairs in our country, we clearly need some solutions now!  So who does Pastor Mike identify as the greatest threat that we need to target? 

Atheists.  Uh-huh, that's right.  Pastor Mike, who doesn't have a physical church but instead just an online ministry, is taking to the interwebz to advocate releasing personal information about atheists in America in order to boycott their businesses and proselytize to them:

Pastor Mike compares atheists to “convicted sex offenders , ex-convicts , terrorist cells , hate groups like the KKK , skinheads , radical Islamists , etc..”  He claims that the purpose of this organization/website called, "The Christian National Registry of Atheists" is to inform the public of known atheists so that they can be proselytize to and their businesses can be boycotted.

How would a Christian proselytize to an atheist if the atheist’s physical address is not included? This author speculates that this distinction was made more for legal reasons than for practical reasons. Should an address be supplied by such a website, the organization might be held responsible for any violence that “good Christians” might perpetrate on atheists.

 What's next?  Are atheists going to have to walk around wearing armbands with the Flying Spaghetti Monster on them so that they can be easily identified?  

And They Accuse US Of Indoctrination

Whatever.  If the 4 year old wants to preach, he wants to preach.  However, next time someone tells me it's unnatural for a child to learn that their teacher, family friend, or relative is gay, then I'm going to point right at this video.




In the spirit of sensitivity to others' faiths, I'll say that it is okay to teach your child your religion.  However, unless his parents have broken from the commonalities of Southern Pentecostal churches, it is sad that he has a long road ahead of him battling the misogyny, homophobia, and uneducated brainwashing so rife within those communities. 

Catholic Priest: Homosexuals Are Putrid And Depraved

The El Paso Times features this paid advertisement from local priest Fr. Michael Rodriguez.  I would otherwise ignore this, but Joe Jervis from Joe My God found his contact info.  Feel free to give Rodriguez a piece of your mind. I especially urge my Christian readers to give him a reality check.

"Engaging in depraved and unnatural sexual acts will lead directly to the ruin of both the homosexual's body and soul," [Father Michael] Rodriguez writes. "Our very anatomy cries out against the lie that homosexual acts are 'ok.'" Rodriguez closes his screed by saying we live in a "godless society" that condones homosexuality. "Reflect, first there are (a) individuals committing mortal sins of a homosexual nature; next, evil extends its tentacles to (b) society as a whole accepting homosexual and homosexual activity as 'normal"; and finally, iniquity's victory is all but sealed when (c) laws are enacted which impose the putrid homosexual ideology on everyone, while those who, rightfully resist it, are ridiculed, attacked, and persecuted," Rodriguez writes.

 

 Call his office:  915.779.1583  Fax him:  915.779.6263

 

The Pope Said Some Stuff Or Whatever

The Pope had a big Catholic party in Madrid this past weekend, with over 1.5 million faithful gathered to hear his words on pressing issues facing Catholics today. Instead of taking the opportunity to urge his followers to, oh, I don't know, END WORLD HUNGER, Il Papa addressed what is clearly the largest problem facing Christians in the modern world: gay marriage!!!11!!!

The 84-year-old head of the Roman Catholic Church had to cut short the speech, when powerful winds and sheets of rain struck at a vast air base, whipping off his skullcap, shaking the stage and knocking over at least one tent. 

Though he was unable to complete the homily, Vatican officials said on Sunday that the content of his entire speech the previous evening was still valid and could be published. 

In the address, he attempted to give at the airbase of Cuatro Vientos Spanish for Four Winds the pope struck at the heart of social reforms in countries like Spain. 

"The Lord calls many people to marriage, in which a man and a woman, in becoming one flesh, find fulfilment in a profound life of communion," he told the young pilgrims. 

Thanks, Pope, for your words of wisdom.

It's clear the continued anti-gay rhetoric from Vatican leadership has inspired some locals, as a scheduled kiss-in staged by LGBT activists was prevented from even approaching the event by police.  Even more disturbingly, a volunteer for the event posted an insane death threat in La Voz Libre, urging the faithful to bring deadly chemicals with which to attack queers:

“I have hydrochloric acid and 50 bottles of benzyl bromide, with that we can make a good asphyxiating mixture. We have less than eight days to get organised, to kill queers and in the name of God. Come on mates, we need some fertilizer, I repeat we do not need money, just bring fertilizer, naptha, gunpowder or matches or a lighter will do. The only aim is to kill these dirty queers. On their anti-pope march is a good time to get them together and impale them and then burn them as queers.”

 Of course, the nutjob didn't have the acid or any of that other crap and is now claiming the statement to be a joke.

Ha.  Ha.  Ha.

Jesus For President?

Harry Jackson, a professed lover of the Seven Mountains Dominionism philosophy and co-chair of Rick Perry's Christfest, has now come out spouting some bull that Jesus came to Earth to take over the whole show on Trinity Broadcasting Network:

It’s one thing to be in a church preaching all these messages, seeing people shout and whatever it is. But it’s another thing to command the attention of the nation, and then begin to tell these folks, ‘we vote too.’ We don’t just dance and sing, we vote. And some of what you’re doing has to be accountable to us, the people of God. There really is no separation of church and state. In God’s mind, the word of the Lord should impact everything that happens out there in the state. So time and time again we got folks who want us to say our place is just behind these four walls. But Jesus came not to take sides, but to take over.

To which I would like to point out Jesus' own endorsement of the separation of church and state:

“Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s." --Matthew 22:21

Watch his remarks:

Starbucks Wants You To Know It Has A Soul

Change.org petitions seem to be everywhere these days.  I've made on before and shilled my crazy on this here blog, and Dan Choi seems to have one you want to sign every other day.  I've, privately, mused to myself whether or not they are effective, but one example glares out in headlines today as a demonstration of online activism.

Starbucks CEO and founder Howard Schultz was slated to appear at a church and give a speech, "How Starbucks Fought for its Life Without Losing Its Soul" at the Chicago-based Willow Creek Community Church.  This raised some eyebrows, as WCC is associated with a megachurch that has ties to "ex-gay" reparative therapy organization Exodus International.

Naturally, a Change.org petition was created and it sufficiently pressured Shultz to cut his relationship with the church.  The petition reads:

The church that is sponsoring the event on August 11th and 12th has a long history anti-gay persecution. For decades the church was a member of Exodus International, the organization that seeks to cure homosexuality through dangerous conversion therapy. The church split ways with the group, but in doing so stated that it wasn’t a change in belief but a change in focus. The church also has their own “outreach” programs to the LGBT community to spread their anti-lgbt message.

The Chicago Tribune also notes that Starbucks recently came under fire for the very public firing of a gay employee at a Long Island store.  Did Schultz decide to step carefully in this incident due to past mistakes his employees have made?  It's unclear, but good for him for withdrawing from the leadership summit in question.

German Cardinal Doesn't Hate The Gays, Hopes For Change

There is a ton of radical invective against LGBTs in mainstream Catholic clergy, with the bishopric making firm statements against gay marriage and similar gay-related struggles, such as Nicholas Dimarzio of Brooklyn's refusal to extend services to pro-marriage equality legislators.  However, last May a survey indicated that the majority of Catholic Americans now support equal rights for gays, and it appears the Church leadership may be paying attention to this and other signs of the times.

In July, a service was held in the Boston archdiocese to minister non-judgmentally to LGBT parishioners, and one German Cardinal is taking a step further in softening the Vatican's approach to gay Catholics.

Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich, while far from giving his whole support to the gay community, had this to say:

"All who want to participate, open up to the Gospel and join the community of the Church, are welcome. I cannot bless a gay relationship, but I can pray for people who request it. It would be a big step if each were integrated, but this has not yet been achieved everywhere."

Is this statement a sign of the political times among Marx's flock?  Queerty notes that his statement comes while a push in Germany is underway to upgrade LGBT "registered partnerships" to full marriage equality. I hope that more Catholic leadership pays attention to current social and political climes and softens its stance against LGBTs.