About 100 people on Sunday gathered
outside the Cathedral of St. Paul to protest the archdiocese of St.
Paul and Minneapolis' support for a proposed constitutional amendment
which would define marriage as a heterosexual union, the
St.
Paul Pioneer Press reported.
The weekly protest, now in its third
week, is organized by the group Catholics
for Marriage Equality MN.
Archbishop John C. Nienstedt has
strongly supported the move to ban gay marriage in the state. In
January, he was criticized for ordering priests to support the
amendment or remain silent. The Minnesota Catholic Conference, the
Archdiocese's lobbying wing, is a member of the Minnesota for
Marriage Coalition, the largest group lobbying for the amendment's
passage.
“It's an attempt by Catholic people
to stand up and say no to the priority the archbishop has set in
spending last fiscal year, 2011, $650,000 of diocese's money to
promote passage in November of the marriage amendment,” Ed
Flahavan, a former priest, told the paper. “It comes at a time
when social agencies, including Catholic Charities, are hurting for
adequate resources to feed the hungry and give shelter to the
homeless.”