DVDs dropped off at Chancery - Friday December 10th
We have collected well over 3000 DVDs and delivered them to the Chancery. The DVDs were disabled so they cannot be used again. We met briefly with Mr. Dennis McGrath, a spokesman for the Archdiocese. As reported earlier, the Archbishop was not willing to speak with us. We presented the DVDs, our letter, and hundreds of notes we received from people addressed to the Archbishop.
These DVDs were collected and delivered in the spirit of love, and with the hope that all will see that there are many Catholics who feel very strongly that the Church's hierarchy is wrong on this issue. We ask for prayers of acceptance, tolerance and inclusiveness for all. That is how we believe Jesus wants us to treat each other.
DVD Collection Comes
to an End
Now that we have returned the DVDs we have collected to date we are suspending the collection of DVDs. Thank you to all of you that have sent DVDs to us. We have also been touched by the hundreds of supportive notes and letters we have received.
If you would still like to return your DVD please mail it to:
Archbishop John Nienstedt
Archdiocese of St. Paul & Mpls
226 Summit Avenue
Saint Paul, Mn 55102
A Response to Critics
The vast majority of feedback we have received has been positive, but of course we have heard from people that disagree with what we are doing. We would like to respond to some of our critics.
"Just Leave...."
Some have said if we do not agree with the Church leadership we should just leave. To be honest, we have been considering that very thing. The question we ask ourselves is "Why should we stay and continue to support an organization that acts in ways that are inconsistent with the values that Jesus teaches?"
What the criticism has done is reinvigorated our commitment to stay in the Church and continue to fight for change. The human leaders of the Church have been wrong many, many times over the last 2000 years as they are today, and they have often changed their mind on important issues. To blindly follow mistakes made by the Church leadership is not "faith", it does not recognize the fact that they can be wrong. As Jesus says "A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit?"
"You have to be 100% Catholic."
This is something that Archbishop Nienstedt actually said in an interview and was also the tone of some comments we received.
We find this view interesting and hypocritical. No one on the face of the earth is "100% Catholic". If supporting gay rights makes us not "100% Catholic" and not welcome in the church then I guess all of the following people need to leave with us because none of you are 100% Catholic either:
- Anyone who disagrees with the Catholic Bishop's stand on increased rights for immigrants, including undocumented immigrants.
- Anyone who has divorced and remarried without an annulment.
- Anyone who has been unfaithful to their spouse and has not been honest with them and repented.
- Anyone who has cheated on their taxes and has not fessed up and turned themselves into the IRS.
- Anyone who uses any form of birth control
I could go on, but you get the point. If everyone who is not "100% Catholic" leaves the Church the pews will be EMPTY! So I guess you are just going to have to put up with some of us 95% Catholics hanging around.
Catholic Social Teachings - "an essential part of Catholic faith."
Dignity of the Human Person
Option for the Poor
Common Good and Community
Rights and Responsibilities
Economic Justice
Promotion of Peace
Stewardship of God's Creation
"Far too many Catholics are not familiar with the
basic content of Catholic social teaching. More fundamentally, many
Catholics do not adequately understand that the social teaching of the
Church is an essential part of Catholic faith. This poses a serious
challenge for all Catholics, since it weakens our capacity to be a
Church that is true to the demands of the Gospel. We need to do more to
share the social mission and message of our Church"
US Catholic Bishops
Questions We Are Asking
How could the over $1 million spent to distribute these DVDs have benefited the poor?
Why did the Minnesota Bishops choose same-sex
marriage as the central issue to educate Catholics about now? Shouldn't
we spend at least as much (or more) time and energy educating Catholics
about the plight of the poor in our area?
Catholic Social Teachings - "an essential part of Catholic faith."
Dignity of the Human Person
Option for the Poor
Common Good and Community
Rights and Responsibilities
Economic Justice
Promotion of Peace
Stewardship of God's Creation
Now is your last Chance to Donate to Help Fight Poverty and Homelessness in Minnesota
Over $10,000 has been
donated already!
Our campaign ends 12/31/2010
Send a strong message about what the Church should be focusing its attention on and make a donation today.
We believe that Jesus sends us a clear message that our primary responsibility is to serve the needs to the poor. We must not be silent as poverty and homelessness are increasing at alarming rates right here in our community. At the same time, the current leaders of the Roman Catholic church seem to be more focused on other misguided efforts such as their anti-gay DVD campaign.
You can make a strong statement that the church needs to rethink its priorities by donating to one of the organizations below; organizations that we think are doing the real work of Christ in our community and do not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.
Important Note:
Do not send donations to ReturnTheDVD.org, use the links below to donate directly to the organization of your choice
All donations go directly to the non-profit you select. ReturnTheDVD.org does not accept
donations.
Letter to the Archbishop
Friday, December 10th we delivered over 3000 DVDs to the Archbishop at the Chancery. We couldn't get a meeting with the Archbishop, so as requested, we brought along a letter voicing what our mission was and how this DVD campaign affected many of us. Here is the letter we delivered with the DVDs:
Dear Archbishop Nienstedt,
We write to you as a small group of faithful Catholics. This letter, however, represents the voices of thousands of families who were as disheartened as we were by the DVD Preserving Marriage in Minnesota.
After watching the DVD, we felt called to find a way to bring together other Catholics who were alarmed by this initiative. We created the website ReturnTheDVD.org, inviting people to send the DVDs to us with the understanding that we would return them to you. Thousands did. Many also sent letters, notes, and cards along with the DVDs, expressing thoughts and concerns around this campaign. Several similar themes ran through these messages. The following three are some of the most common.
First, the message in the DVD conflicts with core Christian values of love, compassion, tolerance, and respect. Jesus’ essential teaching is “love one another.” As part of our Catholic social teachings, the United States Conference of Bishops states, “The measure of every institution is whether it threatens or enhances the life and dignity of the human person.”
When religious leaders state publicly, as in the DVD, that the state of Minnesota should not recognize same-sex marriages, this constitutes an attack on human dignity. This denies individuals the legal equality both our state and federal constitutions guarantee. By the standards of Catholic social teachings, this message constitutes a social injustice.
Second, this DVD threatens the well-being of gay and lesbian people, particularly vulnerable young people. It hurts them and all who are connected to them. You claim the DVD does not carry an anti-gay message. That is not how it feels to gay people and those who care about them. The manner in which the DVD targets this group of God’s children contributes to dehumanizing and depersonalizing them. It subtly endorses bullying and blatantly endorses bigotry.
Today’s media has well publicized the struggles many gay and lesbian young people face. As a result of public humiliation, many become fearful, depressed, and self-doubting. Tragically, some have even felt driven to suicide by the intolerance of society at large, including that of the Church hierarchy. The Church should be reaching out to these kids and letting them know that they are no different from anyone else in the eyes of God. They are made in the image of God, and the people of God should embrace them just as they are and help them achieve the purpose God has for them.
Third, the cost and timing of this DVD disturbs us. Distributing 400,000 DVDs on the single subject of same-sex marriage shortly before a political election reflects misguided priorities, and strays from the essential teachings of Christ. We ask, “Where, instead, are the DVDs on the bigger issues of loving and caring for your neighbor? Where is the DVD explaining the negative impact current U.S. economic policies have on the poor, not just here, but around the world?” We would like to add that even if you did choose to produce a DVD on these issues, we would be opposed to releasing it shortly before an election where it would so obviously be politically motivated.
Imagine the positive effect the money spent on these DVDs could have had on homelessness and poverty in our communities, especially in this economy. We understand this money was donated. The Church, however, should never accept and agree to use donated money to disseminate partisan political messages, especially ones that hurt and divide the Church. The fact that the donor insists on remaining anonymous shows that the political nature of the donation would be exposed if the church was transparent about the source of the money.
In an outpouring of inclusion and love, and honestly much anger, more than three thousand Catholic households returned their DVDs to us. 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. Many asked us to pass along their DVDs to the artist Lucinda Naylor, to be included in her DVD to ART project. Thousands of other Catholics had already destroyed or thrown away their DVD before they knew of our efforts. The rest, we are returning to you.
Further, our Return the DVD group, and hundreds of other concerned individuals, donated over $10,000 to fight poverty and homelessness. This reflects our commitment to being a Church that attends to the needs of the less fortunate and doesn’t waste resources seeking to deny anyone’s civil rights.
Archbishop Nienstadt, we pray that you will take to heart the concerns of the thousands of Catholics who believe the Church hierarchy’s current actions, as reflected in the DVD, are inconsistent with what Jesus teaches us about how we should treat others.