Difference between revisions of "Bash, Dominic"

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'''Abstract:''' Dominic Bash, the coordinator of the AIDS ministry for Dignity of Philadelphia Inc., a church for homosexual Catholics, visits AIDS patients several times a week to act as a sort of spiritual guide. "I just give a little nurturing, loving, and caring that they're not getting from mother church," he says. Bash serves Communion during his visits, counsels the patients, and helps with other church-oriented tasks such as funeral services. Because the Catholic Church condemns homosexual acts, many members of Dignity feel alienated from it. "I had to separate who I was angry with," says Paul, a pseudonymous member of Dignity who is dying of AIDS. "I can't blame God for what the Pope believes. My quarrel is not with God. I don't agree with the Catholic Church's teachings." Bash, who himself is HIV-positive, says, "I was brought up as a Roman Catholic, being taught to love one another. Yet [the Church] couldn't love me and I couldn't live a lie."
 
'''Abstract:''' Dominic Bash, the coordinator of the AIDS ministry for Dignity of Philadelphia Inc., a church for homosexual Catholics, visits AIDS patients several times a week to act as a sort of spiritual guide. "I just give a little nurturing, loving, and caring that they're not getting from mother church," he says. Bash serves Communion during his visits, counsels the patients, and helps with other church-oriented tasks such as funeral services. Because the Catholic Church condemns homosexual acts, many members of Dignity feel alienated from it. "I had to separate who I was angry with," says Paul, a pseudonymous member of Dignity who is dying of AIDS. "I can't blame God for what the Pope believes. My quarrel is not with God. I don't agree with the Catholic Church's teachings." Bash, who himself is HIV-positive, says, "I was brought up as a Roman Catholic, being taught to love one another. Yet [the Church] couldn't love me and I couldn't live a lie."
  
 
 
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'''[[http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=798|From AJR, October 1998]]'''
 
 
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[[http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=798|Out Of Control An escalating dispute over coverage of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia ends with a reporter suing his boss and losing his job.By Alicia C. Shepard Alicia C. Shepard, a former AJR senior writer, is National Public Radio's ombudsman.]]
 
 
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One of Cipriano's first religion stories, in November 1991, angered the Catholic hierarchy, he says. The church didn't like his piece about Dominic Bash, a former seminarian turned hairdresser who ran a church group for gay and lesbian Catholics. Cipriano wrote: ``Like many members of Dignity, Paul [a gay Catholic] feels anger toward the traditional Catholic Church. The church condemns homosexual acts. Dignity has been banned from the Philadelphia Archdiocese, and holds Sunday night services at St. Luke & The Epiphany Church, an Episcopal church in Center City." The archdiocese rejected the implication that it was not helping homosexuals, he says, and sent him a long fax outlining its objections.
 
 
It was the beginning of what would become an uncommonly tense relationship between a reporter and a religious body, and set off the chain of events that would culminate with Cipriano suing his boss and losing his job.
 
  
  

Revision as of 07:24, 12 December 2009

Name: Dominic Joseph Bash

Photo Credit:  Jerry Gregory



Biography:


[DOMINIC BASH, HAIRDRESSER WHO HELPED AIDS VICTIMS]

Source: Ralph Cipriano, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER Dominic Bash, 46, a South Street hairdresser who ministered to men dying of AIDS and made flamboyant public appearances in drag, died Sunday at his South Philadelphia home of complications from AIDS. Mr. Bash, who had pale, shoulder-length, blond hair, loved to be outrageous. Last year, he led the Lesbian and Gay Pride Parade, strutting from Rittenhouse Square to Penn's Landing in a purple-and-pink sequined leotard and a lavender feathered boa. In 1991, Mr. Bash wasPublished on 1993-01-27, Page B06, Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA)


Dominic was a marvelous activist and hairdresser and salon owner in Philadelphia. He had a fabulous drag persona, Madominic. The name of his salon, The Abbey, reflected a deep religious faith that he often proclaimed, as in that name, with a great camp twist.


[Spiritual Guide for Men Dying of AIDS]

Philadelphia Inquirer (11/20/91), P. 1-A

Cipriano, Ralph


Abstract: Dominic Bash, the coordinator of the AIDS ministry for Dignity of Philadelphia Inc., a church for homosexual Catholics, visits AIDS patients several times a week to act as a sort of spiritual guide. "I just give a little nurturing, loving, and caring that they're not getting from mother church," he says. Bash serves Communion during his visits, counsels the patients, and helps with other church-oriented tasks such as funeral services. Because the Catholic Church condemns homosexual acts, many members of Dignity feel alienated from it. "I had to separate who I was angry with," says Paul, a pseudonymous member of Dignity who is dying of AIDS. "I can't blame God for what the Pope believes. My quarrel is not with God. I don't agree with the Catholic Church's teachings." Bash, who himself is HIV-positive, says, "I was brought up as a Roman Catholic, being taught to love one another. Yet [the Church] couldn't love me and I couldn't live a lie."



[AIDS quilt is here.]


[another quilt here.]


Picture: (Insert picture if available)


Date of Birth:8/14/1946

Date of Death: 1/24/1993

Age at Death: 46


Memorial:

File:bashmemorial.pdf


Employment: Hairdresser, The Abbey Salon.


Social/Political Groups: ACT UP, Dignity Philadelphia


Bars/Clubs he attended:


His friends included: Chris Bartlett, Matty Hart, Jim Littrell


Testimonials to him: Dominic was a fiery friend and the first man who ever took me inside a gay bar in the late 1960's. He wore leather then; feathers came later. JL