The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis forced the cancellation of an LGBT event Saturday at the St. Frances Cabrini Church in Minneapolis. Pressure on the Archdiocese came from an anonymous Catholic who created a fake press release for the event and sent it to select religious media outlets, eventually prompting a campaign from CatholicVoter.org.

A spokesperson for the Archdiocese confirmed with the Minnesota Independent on Wednesday that an event at the Franklin Avenue parish for the Catholic Association of Lesbian and Gay Ministries (CALGM) was canceled late Tuesday. The Archdiocese declined to discuss the incident further.

CALGM was hosting a fundraising dinner at the church complete with an LGBT chorus and silent auction.

In a blog post titled “Dissent: Catholic Parish in Minneapolis to host Gay & Lesbian fundraiser with ‘same-sex marriage activist’ pastor,” blogger Thomas Peters called for the event to be canceled.

“Practically speaking, this event should be canceled because it deceives Catholics into thinking the Church does not teach what it does about the homosexual lifestyle,” he wrote. “I would prayerfully urge the Archdiocese to take action.”

He added, “Priests like [Cabrini's Father Leo Tibesar] and organizations like CALGM cannot continue to be allowed to deceive Catholics and lead them into sinful lifestyles while simultaneously claiming to be Catholic. It’s really that simple.”

It’s not the first time Tibesar has created controversy over his support for the inclusion of LGBT people in the Catholic church. In 2006, conservative Catholic bloggers attacked him for his support of Minneapolis-based Dignity, a group that works for LGBT inclusion. In 2007, those same bloggers claimed that Tibesar was blessing same-sex marriages, a charge that turned out to be false. Also in 2007, the Archdiocese called for the cancellation of a talk by a Catholic lesbian and her 82-year old father.

According to Michael Bayly of the Catholic Pastoral Committee on Sexual Minorities (CPCSM), someone using the pseudonym “Peter Canisius” had forged a press release to make it appear to come from the CALGM group.

“It seems to me that it was clearly meant to be a low-key event – the aim of which was not to question or challenge church teaching on homosexuality but to simply raise funds for a rather non-activist Catholic group that, from my experience, does its utmost to work within the church to promote respect for LGBT people – efforts that are actually mandated by the Roman Catholic Church,” wrote Bayly. (On its website, CALGM states that it strives “to clearly present Catholic doctrine on homosexuality” and lists the church’s doctrines and “core magisterial teaching on sexuality and sexual orientation from the last four decades.”)

He noted that the anonymous “Peter Canisius” had been behind a press release that distorted the event, as he has done in the past.

“This latest media release concerning the fundraiser for CALGN was deceptively written to sound as if it came from those organizing the event; to sound as if, in other words, it was an ‘official’ media release,” wrote Bayly. “Yet sprinkled among the legitimate information (time, place, venue, purpose, etc.) are clear attempts to stir-up the local traditionalists to inundate the chancery with calls demanding that this ‘scandalous’ event not take place on church property.”

He added, “That this stirring-up is undertaken using misinformation and outright lies seems not to bother [Peter Canisius].”

Bayly added that “Peter Canisius” has engaged in a campaign of deception and lies when it comes to events promoting respect for LGBT people within the Catholic church.

“His actions are nothing less than despicable,” he wrote. “He pretends to represent a group of people with whom he is clearly at odds; he deceives and spreads lies; and he causes hurt and pain to fellow Catholics who, in good conscience, are attempting to interact with LGBT persons in a spirit of ‘respect, friendship and justice.’”

CALGM, the group organizing the event, did not return requests for comment.

Archbishop John Nienstedt, whose office called for the cancellation, has moved the Archdiocese in a decidedly anti-LGBT direction since he took over in 2007.

“I believe that the dissent and theological speculation of the 60s and 70s is on the wane,” Nienstedt told the Catholic World Report in response to questions about dissent in the Archdiocese over LGBT rights. The magazine ran a lengthy profile of Nienstedt in its February edition.

He says that outrage over his decision to send out 400,000 anti-gay marriage DVDs in the weeks before a major election is surprising.

“In my recent attempt to catechize our Catholic people on the question of the theology of marriage, I have been quite surprised at the overt rejection to the teaching of the Church by a number of people who consider themselves good Catholics,” he added. “They appear to have been seriously impacted by the secularization of our time and the influence of the media. For example, when the media scooped the mailing of our DVD on marriage, the most hostile letters I received were within the first week of the media announcement. The DVD did not actually arrive in the homes of our Catholic people until later because we had sent it bulk mail in order to save money. This indicated to me that the people who wrote such negative commentaries had not even viewed the DVD before condemning it…I never thought that I would see in my lifetime a new persecution of the Church in this country. But there are signs around us that this is certainly a possibility.”

After years as a low-profile issue at the Minnesota Legislature, same-sex marriage is likely to become a source of controversy next session. New Republican majorities in both the House and the Senate bode well for efforts by the Minnesota Family Council and the Catholic Church, both of which hope to place a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage on the ballot in 2012. Republican leadership has been mum on the prospect so far, and despite long odds, LGBT advocates hope to advance a few key provisions of their own in 2011.

The Minnesota Family Council, which holds incredible sway with the majority of Republicans in the Legislature, has made the amendment a clear priority.

“Obviously, we’re going to work hard to firm up our support and get it on the ballot, and you know the message is we believe the people should decide the definition of marriage — not the courts or backroom political deals,” the Family Council’s Tom Prichard told OneNewsNow, a Christian website.

In a fundraising pitch for Give to the Max Day on Tuesday, the group said the money would go right to the marriage push. “The recent turnover of both House and Senate has cleared the way to pass a marriage amendment and put it on the ballot in 2012. This is a huge opportunity to protect marriage. Help us seize this moment with the funds to finish the job.”

“God has been ever so faithful to meet MFC’s budget needs to get us this far. I’m most thankful for His provision through your continued support and partnership!”

The group racked up 83 donations on Give to the Max day, compared with OutFront Minnesota, which got 273 donors to give. OutFront is advocating against the amendment.

“You can count on OutFront Minnesota to lead the opposition to any anti-GLBT legislation or constitutional amendment,” executive director Monica Meyer said in an email. “And if a proposed amendment succeeds in getting onto the 2012 ballot, we will fight it.”

She added, “OutFront Minnesota has been taking the cause of marriage equality to the people for years and the results are clear: poll after poll shows more Minnesotans favor marriage equality every year. Presumably the next two years will show more movement toward equality.”

The Minnesota Family Council conducted its own poll before the 2010 election which showed 54 percent of voters supporting marriage as between “one man and one woman,” compared to 40 percent who said it could be “any two people.”

The poll focused on Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer and showed he would win the race handily if he focused on opposing gay marriage; “voters strongly support a gubernatorial candidate who supports defending marriage,” the group said. Emmer completely avoided the issue on the campaign trail and currently trails DFLer Mark Dayton by 8,700 votes. A recount is likely later this month.

The Family Council and the National Organization for Marriage spent big money for the survey, but neither Emmer nor Dayton would have a hand in “protecting marriage,” as the Council’s Chuck Darrell explained after the election.

“Our opponents were publicly boasting that they would legalize same-sex marriage in the nest session assuming that they could retain the legislature and elect a governor who supported homosexual marriage,” he said. “Well, it looks like the Lord had a different plan and turned control of both houses over to pro-life, pro-family majority.”

He continued, “What that means is that we can pass a marriage amendment and put it on the ballot in 2012. Why? Well, an amendment only needs to be passed by both houses before being placed on the ballot for the next election — it completely bypasses the governor.”

But will evangelical conservatives see resistance from Republicans who ran on a “jobs and economy” platform largely devoid of social issues? That seems to be the indication from GOP leadership.

Future House Speaker Kurt Zellers told MinnPost, “If it isn’t about jobs, improving the business climate, it’s not a priority.”

And to TheUptake he said, “If that’s something that you care about and something you want to work though in your church or your synagogue or your mosque, you can’t get there if you don’t have a job.”

Future Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch echoed those sentiments.

“I am a social conservative, but we’ve had a conversation with the caucus,” she said. “They ran on the budget, the economy and jobs. We talked about how this is not the time to be messing around [with social issues]. We’re going to be unified on that.”

But Sen. Warren Limmer of Maple Grove broke from the leadership.

“The statement I’ll make is that there’s a keen interest by a majority of the members of both chambers to define marriage, and to allow the public to do so,” he told the Associated Press just after the election.

Republicans won’t only have to contend with the Family Council on the issue of an anti-gay marriage amendment; the Catholic Church in Minnesota will be looking for payback for the DVD campaign that Archbishop John Neinstedt launched just before the election that cost more than $1 million. That campaign urged voters to vote for candidates who would work to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot.

Following the election, the archbishop’s paper, the Catholic Spirit, defended the DVD campaign and spoke of the importance of an amendment.

“Whether the DVD can achieve its objective of getting a constitutional amendment on the ballot remains to be seen,” the paper wrote. The church is seeking a broad ban on rights for same-sex couples. “And because it seeks to morally guide the broader culture, the church does not support civil gay unions under any title.”

St. John Vianney Seminary rector Father Michael Becker said, “All of heaven is summed up in a consummation of a love affair, that Jesus Christ is marrying the church, that God is marrying his people.”

He said that’s why opposing gay marriage is the most important political issue. “The best way we can describe heaven is to speak about marriage. Is marriage just to be one other political issue, very low on the totem pole? Well, if all of heaven is summarized as a wedding, that’s pretty significant.”

Gay marriage isn’t the only issue of concern to the LGBT community or to evangelical conservatives.

Ann Kaner-Roth of Project 515, a group that is working to eliminate the 515 ways Minnesota statute discriminates against same-sex couples, said it’s too soon to know what issues they will tackle with a new Republican majority.

“Like everyone else, we are waiting to see how the new legislature will approach various issues, who the legislative leadership is, what committees are created… Not to mention the conclusion of the gubernatorial race as well as the handful of other races still in recounts,” she said. “So, it’s a bit too early yet to talk about our specific legislative approach for 2011, but we remain committed to full equality for same-sex couples and their families.

She added, “And we’ll continue to educate legislators and others around the 515 statutes that currently discriminate against these families in our community.”

Outfront’s Meyer said that anti-bullying measure will be a top priority as they have picked up Republican supporters in the past. The issue has become a critical policy for the LGBT community following four suicides in the past year that advocates say involved students who were harassed because they were LGBT or their peers thought they were LGBT.

“OutFront Minnesota will continue to lead efforts to pass safe schools legislation to protect students across Minnesota from aggressive bullying and harassment,” Meyer said in an email. “This legislation passed with bipartisan support in 2009, and can again in 2011, this time with a governor who will sign it into law.”

The Minnesota Family Council lobbied heavily in 2009 to defeat any changes to the state’s anti-bullying measures.

In a video accompanying Minnesota bishops’ anti-gay marriage campaign, Archbishop John Neinstedt says that “the time has come for the voters to be presented directly with an amendment to our state constitution.” The bishop’s video will be distributed to more than a million Minnesota Catholics in the coming weeks along with a DVD produced by the Knights of Columbus. Just in time for the November elections, the DVD distribution coincides with a similar ad campaign paid for by the National Organization for Marriage and the Minnesota Family Council.

“So called same-sex marriage would certainly be a declaration by the government that we have abandoned the idea that children need a mom and a dad,” said Neinstedt. “A question as important as the future of this great social institution should not be decided by a ruling elite. ”

Here are Neinstedt’s full remarks:

Cathedral of St. Paul. Photo: jpellgen, Flickr

Archbishop John Neinstedt says Minnesota’s bishops will be distributing “more than one million” DVDs across Minnesota just weeks before the election. Part of an orchestrated campaign against same-sex marriage, the DVDs were funded by an anonymous donor and produced by the Knights of Columbus, a group that donates to the National Organization for Marriage, which is also running anti-gay marriage ads in Minnesota. While Neinstedt says the effort isn’t about politics, the state’s largest LGBT advocacy group slammed the new campaign.

Dennis McGrath, spokesman for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, told the Minnesota Independent that the campaign is titled, “Preserving Marriage in Minnesota.”

The DVD itself,  “One Man, One Woman – Marriage and the Common Good,” is a hodgepodge of anti–gay marriage arguments including statements by Maggie Gallagher, founder of the National Organization for Marriage, who says gay marriage will be taught in schools if it is legalized. (The 14-minute video can be viewed at this Knights of Columbus website.)

“If same-sex marriage becomes the law then those who oppose it will increasingly be viewed as bigots,” says Catholic lawyer Anthony Piccirillo in the video. Legalizing gay marriage, the video charges, would result in loss of school accreditation and professional licenses for doctors who discriminate against same-sex couples and lead to the revocation of tax statuses for religious institutions. The video includes a segment on Courage, a Catholic group that works to change sexual orientation, and claims that same-sex marriage will lead to “polyamory.”

Echoing a theme of the newest TV ad by NOM and the Minnesota Family Council, it even makes the claim that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would have opposed same-sex marriage, a position at odds with statements by King’s late widow.

It was created by the Knights of Columbus, a group that gave $1.4 million to NOM over the last year.

“Our target is basically our Catholic people,” Archbishop Nienstedt told KSTP Monday. “To remind them of what we believe and why we believe it and why it’s so important that they believe it.”

“It’s not partisan politics in any way. But you know, it’s kind of rallying the troops around this issue and pointing out to Catholics that this is an important issue in every election year,” he said. “We’re not a political force, but we are a religious force. So we think we should be part of the conversation.”

But Outfront Minnesota, the state’s largest LGBT advocacy group, said politics is exactly what the DVD campaign is about.

“It is no accident that the Archdiocese’s clarion call for discrimination comes in the closing weeks of the 2010 campaign season,” said OutFront Minnesota Executive Director Monica Meyer. “Using the lives of GLBT people, immigrants, and poor people to provoke fear and advance a political agenda is a time-honored tradition among those whose vision for Minnesota is based on exclusion, marginalization, and demagoguery. It is shameful for a religious institution to stoop to such tactics when there are so many real, pressing issues facing people daily.”

The group is urging recipients to return the DVD.

“If you are one of the 800,000 Minnesota Catholics Nienstedt is targeting with this message of exclusion, intolerance and discrimination, you can send him a powerful message about his misguided priorities by writing ‘RETURN TO SENDER’ on the DVD and leaving it in your mailbox,” OutFront said in a statement on Tuesday.

Neinstedt, whose archdiocese is coordinating the DVD mailing, called same-sex marriage a “pervasive and socially destructive assault on marriage as a life-long, committed and procreative union between one man and one woman,” but said “there is neither prejudice nor bias against any individuals or groups in the statewide educational effort.” He added, “We must move this discussion from the polarizing positions that have played out in the media and begin to speak of the meaning that underlies the nature and purpose
of marriage.”

And while most Catholic leaders have danced around the issue, the Minnesota Catholic Conference says the campaign is really about getting a constitutional amendment to the Minnesota Constitution passed.

“Thirty one states have adopted constitutional amendments preserving the definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman,” Christopher Leifeld, executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference said in a statement. “Protecting marriage in this way benefits children, families and the common good of society itself. The Minnesota Catholic Bishops agree that Minnesota should follow this lead and let the people of Minnesota decide this issue rather than judges or legislatures.”

OutFront’s Meyer said that the Catholic church should stick to what they do best: charitable works.

“Americans, and Minnesotans, get the point: allowing same-sex couples to marry legally strengthens families and communities,” she said. “For the Catholic Archdiocese to divert funds badly needed to help people in crisis in order to respond to something that is patently not a crisis shows a mind-boggling detachment from the realities facing Minnesotans.”

Meyer said that even if the DVDs only cost $2 a piece, that’s over $1.6 million the Catholic church is spending on the campaign.

She asked, “How many meals could $1.6 million have provided?”

“I have just learned that you, as President of the University of Notre Dame, have invited President Barack Obama to be the graduation commencement speaker,” Nienstedt wrote in a letter to the Rev. John Jenkins, president of Notre Dame. “I write to protest this egregious decision on your part. It is a travesty that the University of Notre Dame, considered by many to be a Catholic University, should give its public support to such an anti-Catholic politician.”

The letter, dated March 26, comes as conservative Roman Catholic groups press Notre Dame to cancel the president’s appearance over his positions on abortion and gay marriage. Nienstedt says that if Obama speaks at the school, Notre Dame will get no support from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Jenkins said the school is honored to have Obama speak after the president accepted the school’s invitation last week.

“The invitation of President Obama to be our Commencement speaker should in no way be taken as condoning or endorsing his positions on specific issues regarding the protection of life, such as abortion and embryonic stem cell research,” Jenkins told the Notre Dame Observer.

“We are not ignoring the critical issue of the protection of life,” said Jenkins. “On the contrary, we invited him because we care so much about those issues, and we hope … for this to be the basis of an engagement with him.

“You cannot change the world if you shun the people you want to persuade, and if you cannot persuade them … show respect for them and listen to them.”

Nienstedt’s full letter:

Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.
President, University of Notre Dame
400 Main Building
Notre Dame, IN 46556

Dear Father Jenkins:

I have just learned that you, as President of the University of Notre Dame, have invited President Barack Obama to be the graduation commencement speaker at the University’s exercises on May 17, 2009. I was also informed that you will confer on the president an honorary doctor of laws degree, one of the highest honors bestowed by your institution.

I write to protest this egregious decision on your part. President Obama has been a pro-abortion legislator. He has indicated, especially since he took office, his deliberate disregard of the unborn by lifting the ban on embryonic stem cell research, by promoting the FOCA agenda and by his open support for gay rights throughout this country.

It is a travesty that the University of Notre Dame, considered by many to be a Catholic University, should give its public support to such an anti-Catholic politician.

I hope that you are able to reconsider this decision. If not, please do not expect me to support your University in the future.

Sincerely yours,

The Most Reverend John C. Nienstedt
Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

“Our nation and new president will be challenged by ongoing wars, an economy in severe recession, ballooning deficits, high unemployment and an environment and health care system in crisis,” wrote the Rev. Michael Tegeder of St. Edward’s Church in Bloomington. “Yet at this very moment the Catholic bishops have declared that they have this more pressing need.”

That need is to organize a postcard campaign targeting legislators and Obama over abortion legislation.

FOCA will stir a heated debate in upcoming months. Obama pledged to sign it if Congress passes it. “The first thing I’d do, as president, is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. That’s the first thing that I’d do,” he told Planned Parenthood supporters at a campaign event in 2007.

FOCA would essentially codify the reproductive rights that were interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade.

The bill reads:

“A government may not deny or interfere with a woman’s right to choose to bear a child, to terminate a pregnancy prior to viability, or to terminate a pregnancy after viability where termination is necessary to protect the life or health of the woman; or discriminate against the exercise of the rights set forth in paragraph in the regulation or provision of benefits, facilities, services, or information.”

Tegeder penned his opinion in a letter to the Star Tribune, targeting the bishops’ intent to pressure Obama on FOCA. Tegeder said that among the many problems with the postcard campaign, the bishops are attacking Obama instead of finding common ground.

“We can do many positive things. Indeed, Obama has stated that he wants to reduce the number of abortions. We should work with him on doing this,” Tegeder wrote. “During this season of goodwill, let us offer our new president some and hold back on the confrontation. And to the bishops: Your Graces, remember grace.”

Tegeder’s words directly confront his boss, the Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, John Neinstedt.

“When I signed up 35 years ago to be a priest, little did I realize that postcards would be an essential tool of ministry in the Catholic Church,” said Tegeder. He pointed to Neinstedt and his postcard campaigns pushing a Republican-led same-sex marriage ban several years ago.

“To someone who did not see this as necessary, it seemed a waste of time and money. It also generated some unnecessary ill will,” wrote Tegeder.

Neinstedt recently weighed in on the FOCA debate and seems to be enthusiastically in support of stopping the legislation. “In effect, FOCA would certainly be a boon to the abortion industry with the government forced to condone and promote such procedures,” Neinstedt wrote on the Archdiocese Web site. “It is hard to imagine a more radical piece of pro-abortion legislation.”

While the Archdiocese hasn’t publicly commented on Tegeder’s letter, members of the laity have. One Catholic blogger called for his excommunication.

Another is initiating a postcard campaign of her own, directed at Tegeder. “Reducing abortions is not an acceptable goal. Stopping abortion entirely is,” wrote a St. Paul Catholic blogger. “Education is a large part of the effort. Father [Tegeder] may need some help understanding this.”

Another Minnesota Catholic blog wrote that Tegeder “not only endangers his own immortal soul, but also those of his parishioners.”

Tegeder has been a controversial member of Minnesota’s Catholic hierarchy. He has supported moves toward inclusion of gays and lesbians in the church, opposes the church ban on priests marrying, and once called Neinstedt “self-righteous” and “a bully.”

Photo by Susan WD.