Rainbow sash communicants turned away

National Catholic Reporter, May 27, 2005 by Joe Winter

People wearing rainbow sashes to show support for gay and lesbian Catholics were denied Communion in the archdioceses of Chicago and St. Paul-Minneapolis on Pentecost Sunday May 15.

In the Los Angeles archdiocese members of the Rainbow Sash Movement decided not to wear their distinctive sashes at Masses because of the "warm welcome" they said gays and lesbians receive in the archdiocese.

About 125 people wearing rainbow sashes attended Mass at the Cathedral of St. Paul. Cathedral rector Fr. Michael Skluzacek read a letter before Mass asking that people not wear the sashes "out of unity and respect for the Eucharist."

Previously, sash wearers were allowed to receive Communion in the archdiocese, but earlier this month, Archbishop Harry J. Flynn reversed that policy after consultation with Vatican officials.

According to Brian McNeill, one of the organizers who distributed the sashes before Mass at the Cathedral in St. Paul, the group had discussed wearing the sashes into church and removing them to receive Communion but decided against it.

To remove the sashes and take Communion would be misguided, McNeill said, because it would run counter to the group's point, which is that wearing the sashes celebrates the gift that is sexuality. He has repeatedly denied the idea that the sashes are worn as a protest against church teaching.

McNeill noted that a woman wearing rainbow earrings was not allowed to receive the Eucharist, but a man who removed his shirt as he approached the communion minister was permitted to receive. "What kind of a message does that send?" McNeill asked.

In Chicago, a policy against giving Communion to sash-wearers has been in force for several years and at least four people wearing the sash were again refused Communion May 15. But a nun and three lay people who received Communion at Holy Name Cathedral said that they shared pieces of their consecrated hosts with sash-wearers.

For several years the national Rainbow Sash Movement has asked its members to attend Masses on Pentecost Sunday wearing their multicolored sashes to indicate "we are gay, lesbian and Catholic" and to illustrate their desire for dialogue with church officials.