Catholic bishops in the United States criticized the Los Angeles Dodgers organization for its decision to honor the group of drag queens that make up the “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence,” who dress up as nuns and mock Christian rites.
The Dodgers will celebrate LGBTQ pride this Friday night during the game against the San Francisco Giants.
Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, and Archbishop José H. Gómez of Los Angeles, denounced the Major League Baseball team for supporting “blasphemy” and called his faithful to pray this Friday, the day Dodgers plans to recognize the group of the “Sisters of the Perpetual Indulgence.”
Earlier, Bishop Robert Barrón of the Diocese of Winone-Rochester, Minnesota, called on baseball fans to boycott the Los Angeles team for inviting, uninviting and eventually backing down under pressure from LGBTQ activists.
“Friends, it is hard to imagine anything more offensive than some of the behavior of the ‘Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’, who I believe can only be described as an anti-Catholic hate group,” Bishop Barrón wrote.
“However, the Los Angeles Dodgers have invited this group to be honored at their stadium. Anti-Catholicism is the last acceptable prejudice in America, and we should not tolerate it,” he added. “I’m a big baseball fan; I’ve even thrown out the first pitch at a Dodgers game, but I would encourage my friends in LA to boycott the Dodgers.”
At the same time that Barrón invited Christians to pray, he urged them to make their voices heard in defense of the Catholic faith.
The prelate referred to previous performances by the group, including an instance in which a male Drag Queen dances erotically on a pole and lowers a “Christ” who is on a cross and drags him to his feet, for which he considered the act as part of an “anti-Catholic hate group.”
Answer
The “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence” are an order of queer and transgender “nuns” who believe that all people have the right “to express their unique joy and beauty,” their page says.
Since its appearance in 1979, on Easter Sunday, they assure that they have dedicated themselves to community service, and to the promotion of human rights, respect for diversity and spiritual enlightenment.
And, although there were voices against the initial invitation of the Dodgers such as Florida Senator Marco Rubio, the LGBTQ community pressured the sports organization and forced them to apologize.
“We, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence of Los Angeles, are proud to accept the Los Angeles Dodgers Community Heroes Award for our 27 years of service to the LGBTQIA2S community,” the group said in a statement on its website. .
“Our abbess, Sister Dominia, and another member of the group, Sister Bearonce Knows, met with Dodgers President and CEO Stan Kasten, leaders of LGBTQ community organizations, and members of the government in West Hollywood, County of Los Angeles and the California Legislature.
“An apology and full explanation was offered to us by the Dodgers staff and we accepted it,” the group said. “We believe the apology is sincere because the Dodgers have worked for 10 years with our community and have also asked us to continue our relationship with them.”
“They know of our power”
Renato Lira, director of the San Fernando Valley LGBTQ Center, told La Opinión that the Dodgers’ re-invitation of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence “is purely a political matter.”
“They made that quick change because they know very well that our power is strong and they know that more than 40% of those who are going to go to that game [contra los Gigantes de San Francisco] we are from the LGBTQ community and they realized they were going to lose money.”
Lira argued that the Dodgers responded “for economic interests” and calls from his organization, in addition to mayors, councilors, state and federal legislators.
“I think that if they are going to do something for us, that they do it from the heart and not for money or for political reasons,” he said.
Regarding the call made to Catholics and Christians to boycott the Dodgers, for the alleged offenses against their faith and God, he said: “Before they attack us, let them do their homework; the sisters want to raise funds for their non-profit organization and help those in need. There is nothing wrong with what they are doing and no one is making fun of God.”
“It’s a sacrilege”
This is not what Jack M. Guerrero, former mayor of the city of Cudahy and former Republican candidate for California treasury, thinks in November 2022.
“It’s disgusting what the Dodgers are going to do by paying tribute to an anti-Catholic group that has mocked the holy sacrifice of the mass, where it even uses sexual objects, a homosexual dressed as Jesus Christ,” he said. “We all need to boycott the Dodgers; The previous owners were Catholic, they respected our community and even sponsored Catholic schools, but what they have done now is sacrilege.”
Indeed, on May 31, 1981, the Dodgers franchise was proud because its top star for two decades, Mexican pitcher Fernando “El Toro” Valenzuela signed autographs on the mound for four religious nuns from the Catholic School of San José. , from the city of Valencia, California.
“Yet in 2023 the Dodgers have chosen to mock and demean the calling of those charitable women in the most despicable way, by acknowledging an anti-Catholic hate group,” Guerrero stated.
Carmen Lazcano, a Rosemead resident, told La Opinión that the Dodgers disappointed her, to the point that she already got rid of a Ddogers cap and jersey that she had had since the 1980s and that her love for the team has faded.
“We had been fans from my father, Pedro Quintero, to the youngest of my grandchildren, but, according to my faith, I cannot be a hypocrite supporting a team that has messed with my religion by inviting these gentlemen who dress in little nuns…what is that?” the woman said.
Cornelio Muñoz, who used to advertise his old Valparaíso Motors business at Dodger Stadium, said it hurt his heart that the MLB franchise decided to have the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. they make and a mockery for Catholics,” he said. “I will never support the Dodgers again.”
Attempts to contact the Dodgers were unsuccessful for La Opinión.
Thousands Sign Disapproval Petition Online
Rejecting the so-called “wake up and restore agenda, common sense and refusing to pay homage to such a blatantly sexualized and anti-religious group”, the Family Policy Alliance (FPA) launched an online petition to denounce and reject the actions of the Drag Queens from the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence “such a blatantly sexualized and anti-religious group”.
“These are not your parents’ Dodgers,” Craig DeRoche, president and CEO of the Family Policy Alliance, told Real America News. “The organization has taken measures in recent weeks that have distanced him from an important and important part of his fans.”
“The Dodgers seem unaware of the impact of their actions in choosing to honor a group of drag queens who openly ridicule devout Catholics and mock the cross,” he added. “It’s a strong message that won’t be forgotten anytime soon, that, for the Dodgers, political correctness has taken precedence even over fan and family values.”
DeRoche said that turning a family event like a Friday night Dodgers game “into a religious mockery show is unfortunate.”
“Don’t be surprised if the Dodgers have to learn the same lessons from Bud Light and Target in recent weeks, where fans and spectators choose to spend their money elsewhere,” he said.
“Thousands of Americans have already spoken to the Dodgers through our petition, and we’re sure thousands more are watching with disapproval.”
He considered it a shame if the LA Dodgers sacrificed their history, including iconic players like Fernando Valenzuela, Mike Piazza, Gil Hodges and legendary manager Tommy Lasorda, “all for political reasons.”
“Dodgers made a big mistake”
Richard Zaldívar, Executive Director of The Wall Las Memorias (TWLM), a community health and wellness organization dedicated to serving Latino, LGBTQ, and other underserved populations through advocacy, education, and leadership building, noted that the Dodgers organization made “a huge mistake” in honoring the “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.”
“They created a situation that would polarize the LA Dodgers fan base,” Zaldívar said. “Many people do not know what the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are, nor what they represent; they were wrong to revoke them. And, once they are revoked [la invitación]They say that the wishes of the right have become a big problem.
Zaldívar said the group’s presence at Dodger Stadium is now becoming an issue between the right and everyone else.
“This should be about baseball; it should be about pride, and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are no different than minor leaguers who run around the bases in public parks, who play baseball, who have Dodgers uniforms on,” he exemplified.
“Both are dressed and emulating role models. Minor league baseball players want to look up to professional baseball players as role models. And the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence look up to Catholic nuns as role models.”
According to the director of The Wall Las Memorias, the group does that work, and, “in a kind of trick” they dress up and are able to raise money to help the homeless, feed the hungry and care for people.
“They have cared for people with HIV and AIDS for many years,” he said. “As a Catholic I know that they have been doing it for a long time; that’s what Christ is all about. That is what the old Catholic churches teach us.”
However, he indicated that the reactions against the Dodgers come from right-wingers who are heavily influenced by politics and who “are taking every opportunity to go after the LGBTQ community.”
“Not well. It’s not fair, ”she lamented. “I think Catholics in general in Los Angeles and across the country realize that. They are the same people who attack our Pope (Francis)”.
And what do you think of the US Bishops’ call for reparation prayer this Friday?
“I think our archbishop (José Gómez) is part of that right-wing element of the church, calling for prayer, but I pray all the time, and I really do, for a united Church, a non-segregated church that uses politics to get involved in people’s lives,” he said. “They’re just fueling the kind of Trump politics, which I don’t think Los Angeles wants.”
Zaldívar, who in addition to being gay and a supporter of the Dodgers, said he felt saddened by a “childish game.”
“Any priest, or any element in the Catholic hierarchy who is familiar with the gay community, will not go out to protest on Friday,” he said. “Those who are already homophobic will use any motive to attack the LGBTQ community, and a lot of people don’t understand the concept of people dressing like nuns to help other people, but they do accept minor leaguers dressing like Dodgers and Giants to emulate Major League players.