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Pope Benedict XVI rides along Washington’s Rock Creek Parkway in the Popemobile Wednesday. It’s unknown if he was able to read the Dignity banner or if others accompanying him pointed out that it belonged to a gay group, but the pope waved cordially to members, a surprise to some as his doctrinal views have remained stridently anti-gay. (Blade photo by Henry Linser)
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HOME > NEWS > LOCAL
By: LOU CHIBBARO J COMMENTS
 
Pope Benedict XVI waved to members of the gay Catholic group Dignity Washington on Wednesday as his motorcade drove along Rock Creek Parkway near Dupont Circle shortly after he attended a ceremony in his honor at the White House.
The pope appeared to look directly at about a dozen members of the group as they stood behind a 10-foot long banner with the message, “Dignity Washington — Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Catholics, Our Families and Friends — A community of Faith in Action.”
“I thought it was a good chance for us to be seen and he obviously saw us and waved at us, so I think we got our message across,” said Raymond Panas, president of Dignity Washington.
The Dignity members remained silent as the pope’s glass-enclosed Popemobile drove past them along a section of Rock Creek Parkway that drew only a small number of spectators, allowing the Dignity contingent to stand out.
“Whether he actually saw or read our sign, we’ll never know,” said Dignity member Bob Miailovich. “It was nice to see him, and it was all very prim and proper. He waved in our direction and that was very nice.”
At the time he rode past the Dignity contingent, Benedict was accompanied in his vehicle by Archbishop Donald Wuerl, head of Archdiocese of Washington, and Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the Vatican’s ambassador to the U.S. The two also looked directly at the Dignity members.
Dignity USA President Marianne Duddy-Burke said she hoped the group’s presence during the pope’s appearances in Washington and New York would draw attention to efforts by gay Catholics to persuade the church hierarchy to moderate its teachings on homosexuality, which the church calls an “objective disorder” and an “intrinsic moral evil.”
Dignity members were also scheduled to display Dignity signs Wednesday evening at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception near Catholic University as the pope’s motorcade arrived there for a papal Mass for U.S. Catholic bishops.
The section of Rock Creek Parkway where the Dignity contingent greeted the pope is adjacent to P Street Beach, a public park well known as a gathering place for gays.
“It was not far from our thoughts,” said Dignity Washington board member Tom Bower, when asked about the group’s decision to unfurl its banner next to the park in a known gay neighborhood.
While Dignity members were pleased that the pope appeared to have noticed them, issues surrounding gays and the church were overshadowed in the news media during the pope’s first two days in the U.S. by reports of separate protests from groups representing victims of sexual abuse by American Catholic priests over the past decade. Calls by abuse victims groups for the pope to speak out on the pedophile priest scandal that engulfed Catholic parishes throughout the U.S. prompted Benedict to tell reporters during his flight from Rome that he was “deeply ashamed” of the improper conduct by priests.
The New York Times reported that Benedict made a clear distinction between priests with “homosexual tendencies” and those likely to sexually abuse children.
“I would not speak at this moment about homosexuality, but pedophilia, which is another thing,” the Times quoted Benedict as saying. “And we absolutely exclude pedophiles from the sacred ministry.”
The April 16 appearance by Dignity members along the pope’s motorcade route took place five days after another gay-supportive Catholic group, New Ways Ministries, delivered to the Vatican Embassy in Washington more than 40 letters addressed to Benedict from gay Catholics from across the country.
Among those who submitted letters addressed to the pope were Heather Mizeur, the lesbian member of Maryland’s House of Delegates, and Gregory Maguire, a gay author of best-selling children’s and adult novels. Both read their letters to Benedict at an April 10 news conference at the National Press Club.
“Three years ago, my spouse, Deborah, and I exchanged eternal vows at a large public ceremony with our closest family and friends,” Mizeur read during the news conference.
“Pope Benedict, I would challenge you to get to know us and our love for each other, for our Lord, and for our church — and compare our relationship against any other you consider as a role model,” Mizeur stated. “Honest reflection could lead you to only one conclusion: ours is a marriage blessed by God.”
Mizeur won election to the Maryland House of Delegates in 2006 and represents a district that includes Takoma Park and Silver Spring. She has been a strong advocate for a same-sex marriage rights bill.
McGuire, whose novel “Wicked: The Life and Times ...
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