Brokeback Bishops

Okay, sure, the very notion of a gay pride day in Jerusalem sounds like a joke. But there was one last spring. The good news is that the newly-appointed papal nuncio to the U.S., Archbishop Pietro Sambi, then stationed in the Holy City, called the event "a provocation to the Jews, Christians, and Muslims of Jerusalem and all over the world." Time was you didn't have to be thankful when Catholic prelates denounced sin. But that was before the U.S. Catholic hierarchy had this to say about Brokeback Mountain, the new rave movie on gay love:

"While it is the story of an intimate relationship, more to the point it's the relationship of two emotionally scarred souls. Ranch hands Ennis (Heath Ledger) and Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal) share a sheepherding assignment on a mountain in Signal, Wyo., in 1963. Ennis is a man of few words; Jack is somewhat more open."

"While the actions taken by Ennis and Jack cannot be endorsed, the universal themes of love and loss ring true. ..."

Our brokeback bishops at first gave the movie an L (for limited audience) but changed it to O for offensive when complaints were heard from viewers apparently more conversant with Catholic moral theology.

I'm off to see the movie this afternoon--tried Friday, but the Dupont Circle area theatre was so full of cowpokes on a date that I could not get in. Expect my rave review momentarily.