Catholic Church in Prospect Park Under Fire for Openness toward Gays and Lesbians

Recent statements by the St. Frances Cabrini Church in the Prospect Park neighborhood of Minneapolis are likely to draw sharp criticism from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Father Leo Tibesar's Oct. 27 homily saying that those who are ostracized from the church yet who still love God are more worthy in Jesus' eyes -- namely LGBT Catholics. The church website has also drawn criticism from a Christian news outlet, Lifesite.com, because of statements asserting that the church will perform same-sex commitment ceremonies and that the church is willing to accept gay and lesbian priests and ministers.

"What would Jesus say today if he were telling the parable in our Gospel of Luke?," asked Tibesar in an audio clip widely circulated on Catholic blogs. "Two people came into church to pray. One was a Catholic archbishop who refuses communion to Rainbow Sash people at the Cathedral on Pentecost Sunday who prayed: 'I give you thanks, oh God, that I am not like others -- greedy, dishonest or like others who need to make their dissent from official church teaching so public and divisive."

"The others were Rainbow parents of GLBT people at the Cathedral on Pentecost who stood off on the side and prayed: 'Oh God, be merciful to us for failing to attend our own churches more often; they say they love God then turn their backs on us in hate directly contrary to John 1:4 -- whoever loves God must also love the neighbor. Jesus concluded the last ones went home more worthy in God's sight than the first.'"
The church's "statement of reconciliation," created in 1994, seems to be at the heart of recent criticisms. It reads, in part:

"As members of one body we are grieved by the separation of many of those Catholics who identify themselves as gay, lesbian, transgender or bisexual from the Catholic Church. We are aware of the centuries of oppression that these brothers and sisters have suffered at the hands of civil and religious authorities. We are aware of recent attempts by our bishops to label our brothers and sisters as "objectively disordered," and to fight against their being granted their full civil rights."

St. Frances Cabrini Church and Tibesar ran afoul of the archdiocese in late October after the church had scheduled a talk by a lesbian and her Catholic father, who together wrote a book describing the spiritual journey of coming out and acceptance within the Catholic tradition. The archdiocese forbade the church from hosting the talk.

The Rev. Thomas Euteneuer, head of Human Life International, told LifeSite that Tibesar's actions, and those of St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church, are anti-Catholic. "I can only say what the Scriptures say, this is an abomination. The blessing of homosexual partners is an abomination and the corruption of children is a scandal."

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has not yet responded to complaints by Catholics against St. Frances Cabrini Church or Tibesar.