Last week Lucinda Naylor, the artist in residence at the Basilica of St. Mary‘s, began planning a work of art – which would lead to the suspension of her job.
Despite the suspension, Naylor is still working on the art installation piece, which is meant as a protest to DVDs sent out by the Catholic Church.
The DVD defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman and includes an appearance from Archbishop John Nienstedt of St. Paul and Minneapolis saying the definition of marriage should be brought before Minnesota voters.
The videos were mailed to approximately 400,000 Catholic homes in Minnesota last Wednesday. They were paid for by an anonymous donor.
Naylor , who held her position at the Basilica for 15 years before her suspension Sunday, said she was planning to create the artwork because she "wanted to send the message that not all Catholics share the exclusionary views of the archbishop."
However, Naylor doesn’t want to dwell on her suspension.
"The church felt like they had no choice but to let me go. All I want to do is focus on creating a positive piece of art," she said.
In an interview with Minnesota Public Radio, Nienstedt said the church has "been labeled as discriminating against gay people. There’s no discrimination when there isn’t a basic right to something. And those who have the right to marriage are men and women who want to enter into a lifelong, mutually supportive and procreative relationship."
Kresta in the Afternoon Note: Kudos to our friend Archbishop Nienstedt. Keep fighting the good fight.
I read online that Lucinda Naylor claims to have been a lapsed Catholic who returned to the Church only after studying the medium of egg tempera in college. You know, somehow, I have just never been all that impressed by "all those" egg tempera reversion stories. Thank you Archbishop Nienstedt for defending what the Church of Christ has always believed: "Wow! What a concept!!!"
ReplyDelete