It's OK to Have a Queer-Friendly Rosary

by Michael Jones · 2009-10-04 06:41:00 UTC
Topics:

Rosary

Conservative Catholics are in an uproar over a progressive church tradition that gives an LGBT-friendly stance on the rosary -- the set of prayer beads that Catholics use to honor Jesus's mother, Mary. The rosary has been said to be a ticket for personal and world peace for Catholics. Shouldn't that ticket to peace belong to LGBT Catholics, too?

Not if you talk to some conservative Catholics. Some are saying it's blasphemy for gay Christians to pray the rosary. Others are saying it's akin to sexual immorality and a covert way for "homosexual activists" to infiltrate the church. But isn't it funny that they're using a religious icon devoted to peace to snarl venom toward LGBT folks? Maybe these folks should go back and say a few rosaries themselves...

At issue is a service performed in Berkeley, California in September entitled "Praying the Rosary in Solidarity with LGBT Catholics." It's based on a tradition developed by the Metropolitan Community Church, and a tradition that has been embraced by several groups, including a California-based group known as Catholics for Marriage Equality. It involves praying the rosary from a perspective that sees the Bible as an LGBT-inclusive text, and not one that promotes fire and brimstone toward LGBT people.

In other words, praying a queer rosary is a way of healing the divide that has existed between religion and LGBT people. It's a practice meant to foster love and acceptance, and a practice meant to honor peaceful representations of Mary. There should be nothing blasphemous about that.

What's blasphemous is a church that is seeking to root out LGBT people. What's blasphemous is a Pope that says LGBT people are as evil as climate change. What's blasphemous is a Bishop in Maine who says that it's OK to discriminate against gays and lesbians.

Besides, something tells me that if Mary were walking the earth today, she'd likely be praying the rosary with people who are marginalized and struggling for equal rights. It has something to do with that pesky goal of siding with those that are without power, with those that are cast aside by society, and those that face discrimination and persecution because of who they are. Funny how those religious principles usually manage to get tossed aside by the rabid religious right.

(Photo courtesy of Sir Mervs' photostream on Flickr.)

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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