This subject has been beaten to death, and there’s probably not much I can add to it, but as a Catholic native of San Francisco I’d like to chime in. (I am a convert, having been confirmed this past Easter.)
First, I would point out that as much as it looks like things are “out of control” in San Francisco, MHR is a renegade parish whose views are not necessarily predominant in SF Catholicism. Yes, it is a liberal city, yes people here are “tolerant” of all sorts of perversion, and even encourage it. However, most San Franciscans aren’t churchgoers, and those who are generally are much more accepting of Church teachings. Father John Malloy, recently retired as pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul here, regularly lead pro-life and anti-gay “marriage” protests through the City. Even at a liberal Jesuit parish like St. Ignatius, we regularly pray for the protection of life from beginning to end, and there are no drag queens in the pews.
The men who received communion from the Archbishop were not simple “drag queens.” They are “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence,” who make a living out of mocking the Church and everything it stands for. These are men who dress in religious garb, give themselves names like “Sister Edith MyFlesh” and appear at the Folsom St. Fair, whose advertisements featured a mockery of the Last Supper, and hence the Eucharist, replete with sex toys and men in leather. One Catholic web site showed a “Sister” with a T-shirt proclaiming “Bottoms for Jesus,” referring to the passive partner in the act of sodomy.
I think the majority of us are disappointed at the Archbishop. There is simply no way that he, having been Archbishop here for nearly two years, was unaware of who the SOPI are. Seeing these men in their costumes, he assuredly knew who they were and what their organization represents. His being elderly has nothing to do with it. I met the Archbishop after the Rite of Election last year for my RCIA program, and he was a vital man in full command of his faculties.
The Archbishop is under tremendous political pressure here, and to refuse communion to the SOPI at that particular church, while being right, would have been extremely difficult. Not every Catholic has the courage of a martyr, and I would tend towards forgiveness of our Archbishop–if, he manages to seize this episode to finally do something about this renegade parish, a parish where SOPI receives communion and gay porn and sex “toys” are handed out as prizes in a bingo game. (No joke.)
Meanwhile, I pray for the conversion of these “Sisters,” and for the whole city.
)
) and I understand he has apologized. Of course, apology accepted, and yes he may be getting older and his “on the spot” decision making could be getting a bit rusty. The Church in San Fran (and throughout the world for that matter) needs to take a definitive stand against such atrosities in the future. IMO it needs to be voiced loudly and clearly in the media.
