Progressive Minnesota Catholics Plan To Return Thousands Of Anti-Gay Marriage DVDS To Archbishop Neinstedt

A group of Catholics opposed to the Minneapolis archbishop’s position on gay marriage plans to deliver an estimated 3,000 of the controversial DVD mailed to Catholics state-wide supporting a ban on gay marriage, and defending traditional marriage, according to a report by Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune. Bob Radecki, who along with his wife, created ReturnTheDVD.org, says the group was denied a meeting with Archbishop John Neinstedt to discuss the anti-gay DVD, and his office instead directed the organisation to write him of their concerns. 400,000 of the DVDs were mailed by Minnesota bishops just before the November elections, in the DVD Neinstedt emphasises that there needs to be a constitutional amendment on gay marriage in Minnesota, angering several Catholics who saw the act as political, and as an obvious betrayal of Christian principals. In a letter addressed to Neinstedt, the group said “These Catholics feel the church hierarchy’s priorities are misguided and that the DVD mailing was an extreme measure targeting a group of people who deserve the same love, compassion and acceptance that Christ shows each of us.” Radecki says that the group has to date received more than 3,500 of the DVDs, but gave an estimated 1,000 of those to Lucinda Naylor, an artist, who was with the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis for 15 years until she created a Facebook page seeking discarded copies of the DVD to build a symbolic wave-like sculpture of peace. Days after, she was suspended indefinitely. A spokesperson for the archbishop confirmed that the organisation would not be permitted a meeting with the archbishop, saying “The bishops of Minnesota have communication what the purpose of the DVD production and mailing was. And that was to reaffirm that centuries-honoured institution of marriage as a union instituted by God between one man and one woman. There’s no reason for future dialogue on these fundamental beliefs of the Church.”