New York Victory and Unfinished Business: Catholic Church Still Anything but a Welcoming Place

And as I sit on this glorious landing place (this in reference to my previous posting about Langston Hughes) for a while, and rest a bit, I open today's newspaper (metaphorically speaking, since I'm reading online), and I read the following from Alex Pareene at Salon: 

Climbin' On, and Reachin' Landin's, and Turnin' Corners: Yesterday's Victory in New York

An historic day.  A day of jubilation.   

I begin the day listening to the voice of a gay man who died in 1967, not ever having felt able, somehow, to tell the world who he was in the innermost recesses of his being.  To tell the world whom he loved.  How his heart loved in that specific intimate way of heart speaking to heart for which every human being longs.  Which poets have made a primary theme of their poetry throughout history.

In the News: Obama and Marriage, Catholic Church's Welcoming Problem, Jim Wallis and Sojourners Again

As the week ends, a selection of articles from the week's news that have caught my eye:

A Week Ends, and I Prepare for the Doctor

Don't you hate those weeks--the ones that begin with a call from your doctor's office, the nurse on the other end saying, "Your blood work is in, and doctor wants to talk to you"?  For me, that call came Tuesday, and it's been rather a long week of waiting for the appointment today.

Tyree Keeps Spouting Off: "Don't Want My Kids to Think Homosexuals Are Normal"

And so now we hear from Mr. Tyree re: what it's really all about for him, when he calls same-sex couples "unnatural and spouts off about what his bible says:  it's about the children, for God's sake!   It's about that old canard to which NOM and other anti-gay hate groups inevitably return, when they gather than people's appetite for gay bashing is waning: it's about the old insinuations that "unnatural" gays are out to molest and recruit my children.  

David Tyree and NOM: Deconstructing the Latest Arguments against Marriage Equality

As New York legislators continue to haggle about whether to recognize the civil rights of LGBT citizens in the area of marriage, anyone following the debates will know that one of the spokespersons the anti-gay group National Organization for Marriage has pushed into the limelight to make its case now is a former member of the New York Giants, David Tyree.  I had decided to ignore Tyree and his case against gay marriage up to now, because it's, frankly, not in the least compelling or intelligent.

Continued Rumblings in Kansas City Diocese: New Allegations Issued v. Diocese in Current Lawsuit

The situation in the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese continues to rumble along.  Yesterday, Joshua McElwee reported at National Catholic Reporter that Bishop Finn has now directed the diocese's office of worship to "remove its participation in" the upcoming Latin Mass to effect diocesan unity, about which I blogged yesterday.  What's that about, I wonder?