Yesterday was Pentecost, the seventh Sunday after Easter, which has been set apart to commemorate the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples.

Around the nation, members of the Rainbow Sash Movement (RSM) entered Catholic churches where they received mixed reactions:

• In Rochester, New York, some individuals attempted to block RSM members from receiving communion, while other individuals helped and supported them.
• Cardinal Francis George of the Archdiocese of Chicago issued orders that RSM members were not to be given communion at Holy Name Cathedral.
• The Archdiocese of Los Angeles gave such a warm welcome to the members of RSM at Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral that they decided not to wear their rainbow sashes.
• In Minneapolis/St. Paul, Archbishop Harry Flynn, who had given communion to RSM members in the past, this year refused communion to over 125 people.

You can find an account of the Minneapolis incident here.

According to this account, members vested in the rainbow sash entered the cathedral singing, "We Shall Overcome." When they went forward, those wearing the rainbow sash received a blessing instead of communion.They then returned to their pews and remained standing with hands extended, symbolizing that they had been denied communion.

Much has been made about the disruption of church services yesterday. For the most part, I have to agree with what they're saying.

Simply wearing a sash would not be disruptive. Entering the church singing could be, depending on how they staged their entrance. Even coming in singing before the service begins can be disruptive, especially in a Catholic church where many people pray quietly before Mass begins. Certainly, to remain standing in the pews, however quietly, while everyone else is sitting could hardly be called unobtrusive.

Regardless where one stands on gay rights issues, disrupting spiritual services, whether Catholic, Protestant, or whatever, is not the answer. It is, as Peter LaBarbera of the Illinois Family Institute rightly refered to it, "obnoxious homosexual activism." It can only hurt the cause.

While I will agree that, when it comes to LGBT issues, the average person in the pews doesn't have a clue. Yet, he probably takes his faith at least as seriously as the next guy. If the first clue he gets is an obnoxious demonstration interfering with his prayer and worship, I doubt very much he will slap his forehead and say, "We gotta let those gays marry!"

No, more likely he'll just shake his head and think, "Yep, Fred Phelps was right...."