ROAMIN'
CATHOLIC

2005 ROAMIN' CATHOLIC
November
July/August
May
March

ARTICLES

LETTERS

NEWS



Contents © 2005
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

ROAMIN' CATHOLIC
July/August 2005

---

CATHEDRAL OF OUR LADY OF THE ANGELS, LOS ANGELES

No Rainbows

I have been to many unusual events in Cardinal Mahony's unusual cathedral. I have seen Burt Bacharach play and sing, "What the World Needs Now (Is Love Sweet Love)" and seen Anjelica Huston speak movingly of Christ; I have seen a Chinese dragon and Korean round dancers. I have even seen an Easter Sunday Mass in Lent. But never, until May 15, 2005, Pentecost Sunday, had I ever experienced a regular liturgy there.

I had at least one burning question before attending this 10 a.m. Mass: would the Rainbow Sash Movement be there? Not to be confused with the Rainbow Girls (a sort of Girl Scouts for Masonic families), the Rainbow Sash is an organization of Catholic homosexuals who insist that gender inversion be accepted by the Church as a fully valid lifestyle choice, rather than as a perversion or sin. Earlier in the week, Rainbow Sash had announced that its members would be presenting themselves for communion in their trademark torso-gear (rainbow colored sashes, as it happens), in defiance of the United States bishops' declaration that all those who did so were to be denied the Eucharist. So, in addition to seeing how the cathedral's new mother church would handle Pentecost, there was the frisson of danger provided by how the cathedral's clerical staff would handle the threat from the Rainbow Sash Movement.

If the cathedral is not beautiful, it is at least enormous, with acoustics to match. A fully vested professional choir stood by as a cantor prepped us for the Mass by coaching us in the responsorial psalm. The congregation stood as the sanctuary party processed in to "Come Holy Ghost;" a crucifer, two lucifers, a thurifer, a well-dressed lectoring couple, two priests, and His Eminence of Los Angeles arrived at the center of the worship space. After the cardinal came two more servers, one an altar girl in humeral veil who made up for her minority status (she was the only female among the acolytes) by being the mitre-bearer. Standing as I was on the right side of the altar (in the kneelerless seats occupied by VIPs during interfaith civic services), I had a good view of the proceedings and the congregation — none of whom, I noted, wore the offending sash.

There were clouds of incense — the thurifer had one of the largest censers I have seen. The cardinal welcomed us to his cathedral, and the Mass began. There was no Kyrie; instead, a series of tropes were recited, to which we replied, "Lord Have Mercy" or "Christ Have Mercy," as appropriate. The lector and lectoress then delivered the readings. The first was Acts 2:1-11, which describes the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and their ability to preach as a result to the many different nationalities present in Jerusalem. Then followed 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13, with its message that the Holy Spirit is the one who both equips Christians with their gifts and gives them unity. At that point, something traditional occurred: the sequence for Pentecost was sung, albeit in English. Then one of the priests rose, censed the lectionary, and read the Gospel, John 20:19-23, with its account of Our Lord giving the Holy Spirit to the Apostle for the work of forgiving sins.

At that point, Cardinal Mahony stepped out in front of the holy table to share his homily with us. The cardinal began by saying that the whole world was even more present in the cathedral that Sunday then it had been on the first Pentecost, and he then proceeded to prove it. "I am going to take you on a tour of the world, without ever leaving here," he said. "First, would everyone who comes from Europe, or whose roots are there, please stand up!" Some of us did so. He then said, "we are going to hit all the continents, so — anyone from Antarctica?" No penguins rose, so he went on to tick off the others. Half the audience rose when he called out "the Philippines," which led to gales of laughter. At last, when the cardinal said, "the United States" and a few remaining folk got up, the tour was over, and we were all standing.

Motioning for us to sit down, the Cardinal observed that we were "more diverse than the crowd in Jerusalem. This has always been one of the Church' s great gifts!" He went on to say that he felt uncomfortable with many of the Church's Pentecost hymns and prayers, because they all call for the Holy Spirit to "come to us. But he is already with us, he lives in us!" Our prelate then declared that the Holy Spirit gives us all different gifts — art, cooking, music, or whatever. But He has given all of us a special gift, declared the cardinal, "that of evangelization. And what is evangelization? Well, there are several ways to exercise it. We all know or have in our family people who are no longer practicing the Catholic faith. We can invite them to come back. And we may know people who are not already members of other faith communities. We can invite them to come to church with us." Apparently, conversions from other faiths are not necessary, in His Eminence's view.

That concluded, it was time for the offertory. The cardinal addressed the crowd, saying, "I want to thank you for participating in our offertory collection." This direct reference to money seemed a bit strange, until I reflected on the cardinal's 1997 document on the Mass, Gather Faithfully Together, in which he declared, "writing a check or coming up with cash is a vital liturgical deed in the root meaning of liturgy...." One often forgets that money is sacred.

That holy rite performed, it was time for the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Although Cardinal Mahony had just participated in the conclave, his apparent view of Rome's authority remains unchanged. Although Redemptionis Sacramentum specifically forbids the use of carafes and glassware at Mass and does not give local ordinaries the right to void this legislation, the cardinal had said in 2004 that he would do so. This was in evidence when the army of Eucharistic ministers descended upon the holy table with carafes and stemware in hand. After encouraging those in the kneeler-less seats not to kneel, the cardinal plunged into Eucharistic Prayer III. The Sacrament confected, the enormous congregation were communed. None wore rainbow sashes.

Glass violations aside, the Mass proceeded according to the rubrics. After the blessing, the sanctuary party recessed, and the choir was applauded. There is no need for coffee and doughnuts at Our Lady of the Angels because sumptuous meals await one at the cathedral café. Not only does it boast a fine menu, but there is also San Antonio Winery's "Cathedral Cabernet" on hand. Rather than enjoy these epicurean delights, however, I went to venerate the Blessed Sacrament hidden in the megalithic tabernacle in the adoration chapel; the tomb of our archdiocesan patroness, St. Vibiana; and that of my old confessor, the late James Francis McIntyre.

Normally, this is where my account would end. But the Rainbow Sash carries the story on a little further. Returning home, I mentally congratulated the cardinal and the archdiocese on the fact that the Rainbow Sash folk had not shown up and forced Mahony to take a stand. The news coming in from the rest of the country reinforced this burst of Angeleno coziness on my part.

Not only had the American bishops declared that the Sashed Ones were to be denied communion, Rome had seconded the declaration. Even Archbishop Harry Flynn of St. Paul, Minnesota had written a letter to the local chapter saying that they would be obliged to remove their sashes before receiving communion; in the event, those who did not do so were refused. Another ally of the group, Bishop Matthew Clarke of Rochester, New York, had some trouble; when the sashayers arrived for communion at the cathedral, some of the parishioners blocked them from receiving. But others drove the obstructionists away and permitted the sash wearers to take communion. In some places, sympathizers gave their hosts to sash wearers behind them. In Chicago and Denver, to name a few cities, there were unsettling scenes.

All of this we in Los Angeles were spared — or so I thought. The truth came out a few day later. On May 7, the local Rainbow Sash had contacted the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to inform them of the upcoming event. Response was swift. "Please know that members of Rainbow Sash Movement will be warmly welcomed to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels this coming Sunday," Tod Tamberg, the archdiocese's spokesman, wrote to the Rainbow Sash representative. "Cardinal Mahony has been attacked repeatedly over the years by some members of the church who have taken issue with his consistent support for Gay and Lesbian Ministries throughout the Los Angeles Archdiocese. Nevertheless, because of his support and the dedicated work of people throughout the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, many gays and lesbians attend and participate fully in the life of their local parishes. Surely, there is still much work and education to be done, but we celebrate what has been accomplished to this point.

"Also, your letter mentions the controversy over who should receive Communion, as well as the discussion over the future of the NRB [National Review Board] and the audit process. If you have not already seen them, I would be happy to provide you with a variety of recent press reports regarding Cardinal Mahony's stance on these issues. I think you would be somewhat pleased with his positions on both of these issues. If you like, I can email or fax you the news stories.

"In any event, please allow me to say again that members of the Rainbow Sash Movement will be welcome at all of our Cathedral Masses on Pentecost Sunday."

The Sashers responded with a press release lauding the "warm welcome" they received on Sunday at Mahony's cathedral. Seeing no further need to protest in a region where their goals are already largely met, the protesters removed their sashes. The press release said, "because of this warm welcome members decided not to wear their Rainbow Sashes."

The archdiocese is indeed a warm place, as the Germans would say. But it appears to function in a place separate from that occupied by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Holy See. It will be heartwarming to some, at least, that the accession of Benedict XVI, at the moment, does not augur change in the realm of Roger Cardinal Mahony.

TOP