John, I don't know if you're publishing this will do any good, but it is where "my head is at."
Thank you Laura!   John W                 (See previous article)

          2012-08-27   Minnesota Video - Background

I'm very proud of the video, though all I did was sing (over and over and over until we got it right) and give money. I much appreciate your comments, and I think the video is a treasure. It is sincere and filled with the best kind of passion. It really is people singing their hearts out for what they want their church to be. Interestingly, the composer is not Catholic. If you have an interest, here is his and the story of the video production. 

The video is the brainchild of Jim Smith, former Catholic priest. One of my friends, Therese, says that he is the best priest she ever had. He now works not only on marriage equality but on, in a very loving way, encouraging Catholics to raise their voices and say want they want their church to be. 

I'll add: do you know how hard it is to get 300 Catholics from all over a 20-mile radius to give up an afternoon for a cause? Do you know what it would have to mean to them? Do you know how hard it is to raise the money and get the volunteer help and find a Lutheran church (the Catholic churches would not allow us in) to let us in, taking the risk making the Catholic bishops mad? This was not an easy video to make. There were all sorts of points where it could have fallen apart. Now it is almost at 14,000 hits in 8 days. 

And, this is what we want our church to be. And, right now, in Minnesota this is NOT what a lot of our churches are, and that is awful.

Laura