Free Republic

In a follow-up letter sent to Archbishop John Nienstedt at the Archdiocese of Saint Paul in Minneapolis, MN, author Ben D. Kennedy of MaidOfHeaven.com applauds Nienstedt’s action forbidding the Gay Pride Prayer Service that had been scheduled at the church. Kennedy had previously sent a letter to St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church rebuking the congregation for “dishonoring and disgracing the name of Saint Joan of Arc.” In his letter to Archbishop Nienstedt, Kennedy also requested that the church be forced to change its name if they continued in their actions of “the linking of immoral sexual behavior, as defined...

Last week, controversy erupted when Archbishop John Nienstedt informed St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in Minneapolis that it could not hold a gay pride prayer service in its sanctuary. The service -- held for several years in conjunction with the annual Twin Cities Gay Pride festival -- celebrates the gay identity. In response, organizers moved the celebration outside the church. One gay activist attended in what must have struck him as a clown's outfit, given the occasion -- the robes of an archbishop, miter and all. David McCaffrey of the Catholic Pastoral Committee on Sexual Minorities (CPCSM) condemned what...