Crazy? Angry? You decide and I couldn’t care less!

It’s Not Complicated for the Faithful

Drag queen ‘nuns’ will be included in LA Dodgers Pride Night. I have complicated feelings about it. 

Michael J. O’Loughlin
May 24, 2023”

If this is complicated, a coffee order must kill him.

News that the Los Angeles Dodgers had invited the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an L.G.B.T. activist group known for members who dress in drag resembling the black-and-white habits of Catholic sisters, happened to break as I was reporting on a forthcoming story about actual Catholic sisters. Earlier this month, the Sisters of Charity of New York voted to begin a process that will effectively bring to conclusion their nearly 200 years of ministry. Or as the sisters put it, they will now embark on a “path to completion.

Well, there’s two things that have nothing to do with each other. Do they have a word minimum at America? Let me clue Michael in. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (from here on known as SPI) is not really a religious order nor are they sisters.

In the days following the initial announcement of the Dodgers’ decision, especially as images of the drag troupe filled social media, my mind went to the women religious, including some Sisters of Charity, whose good work too often goes unnoticed and who are collectively the unfortunate target of mockery.

YES! Stick with that thought. You have a conscience. I know you can do it. SPI is literally mocking all things Catholic despite the fact that many sisters actually cared for their friends who have died from AIDS, AIDS related cancers and all other horrible diseases found in their community.

Last week, the Dodgers announced that they would honor what you might call “drag nuns” during their Pride Night on June 16, a common promotional event at many Major League ballparks during the month of June.

The conservative political advocacy group CatholicVote highlighted the news on May 12 and three days later, Senator Marco Rubio sent a letter to Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred.

…and every other faithful Catholic is offended, not only by the SPI being honored but by ”Pride Night” in general. Some of us remember that pride is one of the seven deadly sins, and while America Magazine is quite happy to support all sorts of distorted viewpoints, we don’t wish to see the physical, mental and spiritual mutilation going on in these communities. We don’t want to see people dying in sin, dying period, or mutilating themselves and becoming patients for the rest of their lives. The SPI is just a small portion of what’s wrong with pride. Oh, and BTW, Michael, June is actually the month of the Sacred Heart.

“Do you believe that the Los Angeles Dodgers are being ‘inclusive and welcoming to everyone’ by giving an award to a group of gay and transgender drag performers that intentionally mocks and degrades Christians—and not only Christians, but nuns, who devote their lives to serving others?” Mr. Rubio wrote.

The Dodgers responded by uninviting the group.

Go, Marco, but this is hardly one senator’s opinion. This is the FAITH.

“Given the strong feelings of people who have been offended by the sisters’ inclusion in our evening and in an effort not to distract from the great benefits that we have seen over the years of Pride Night, we are deciding to remove them from this year’s group of honorees,” the Dodgers said in a statement on May 17.

They miss the point completely. If you are going to take a stance on morality, either pro or against, at your event, you will have a backlash. The SPI was just an extra offense. Honestly, when will organizations learn that you don’t have to join in the madness?

But following a social media uproar over the decision, the Dodgers reversed course, posting an apology for the rescinded invitation and announcing that they had re-invited the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

They apparently missed the whole “Bud Light” debacle except, this time, there hopefully won’t just be empty Bud stands. Hopefully there will be empty stadiums. Drag strays so far from the mainstream we even have “Gays Against Groomers” now. Gays Against Groomers has 235K+ on Twitter. The SPI? 8,340. So, Dodgers…What are you thinking?

“We are pleased to share that they have agreed to receive the gratitude of our collective communities for the lifesaving work that they have done tirelessly for decades,” the team wrote.

Collective. How fitting.

“Some Catholic leaders expressed renewed outrage.”

No. There’s not “renewed outrage”. It’s still the same outrage we had. You act like faithful Catholics would simply forget about this. What you don’t seem to realize is that you don’t offend Our Lord and you don’t offend our nuns and sisters.

“Our Catholic sisters devote themselves to serving others selflessly. Decent people would not mock & blaspheme them,” Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco tweeted on Tuesday. “So we now know what gods the Dodger admin worships. Open desecration & anti-Catholicism is not disqualifying. Disappointing but not surprising. Gird your loins.”

And while the liberal far-left will whine about hate, Archbishop Cordileone is quite familiar with the SPI and knows their souls are in danger, too.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles released a statement saying, “The decision to honor a group that clearly mocks the Catholic faith and makes light of the sincere and holy vocations of our women religious who are an integral part of our Church is what has caused disappointment, concern, anger, and dismay from our Catholic community.”

Again, “Pride”, in general, is evil. Who wants that for anyone?

 

Who are the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence?

I had been vaguely aware of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence for a number of years, initially because of a spat between the group and the gay Catholic writer Andrew Sullivan. In 2011, Mr. Sullivan criticized the organization for hosting its annual “Hunky Jesus” contest on Easter Sunday, calling them “smug, liberal bigots,” and suggesting that they would not have the fortitude to hold an event mocking the Prophet Mohammed during Ramadan.

Oh, let me familiarize you with them, Michael. “Hunky Jesus” is just one small portion of the blasphemy they display. If you’re going to try to rationalize them, you might want to do some research. https://www.catholicleague.org/sisters-of-perpetual-indulgence/

1979: This was the beginning of the Sisters. In San Francisco’s Castro District three men dressed in traditional nun’s habit walked the streets. One of them carried a machine gun. Then they went to a nude beach. It was then that they adopted the name the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

1982: A year after AIDS was discovered, the Sisters were upset, but they did not complain about the lethal sex practices that gave rise to AIDS; rather, they complained about the “fear and prejudice” that it was engendering. “Sr. Florence  Nightmare” and “Sr. Roz Erection” addressed the issue.

1987: The Sisters were granted a tax-exempt status after trashing Pope John Paul II’s visit to San Francisco. The Sisters held an “exorcism” and a “Condom Savior Mass” in Union Square. At the event, they featured “the Latex Host” and referred to Jesus as “the Condom Savior.” They also burned the Pope in effigy.

1987: They staged a “Hunky Jesus” contest, something they do every year on Easter Sunday.

1989: On their tenth anniversary, they held many events, including one with “Sr. Psychedelia’s” rise from the dead, and “Pope Dementia’s Altered Boys.” They wore “only thongs and smiles.”

1989: At the “Condom Savior Mass,” the Sisters read from a text of the “Condom Savior Consecration.” It said, “The Latex Host is the flesh for the life of the world. Just as the Creator who has life sent us, we have life because of the Condom Savior. Those who feed on this latex will have life because of it. This is the bread that comes down from Heaven, and, unlike those who eat not and therefore die, those who feed on this bread shall live forever!”

1990: A staff writer for the Miami Herald said the Sisters were noted for “carrying a 20-foot replica of a penis” at its street events.

1992: At a rally in Sacramento at the Capital Christian Center, the Sisters held signs of the Cross with a pink inverted triangle in the place of Jesus; the inscription read, “Stop Crucifying Queers.”

1992: “On Parade,” a publication of the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Day Parade and Celebration Committee, published an article by “Sister Dana Van Iquity” which said the motto of the Sisters is “Encroach not on my crotch!” and “Leave my loins alone.” He described the day’s events, including “Dykes on Bikes” and “Dykes with Tikes on Trikes.”

1993: At another rally at the Capital Christian Center, protesters held a sign, “Queer Alert: Fighting for Freedom From Religion.”

1993: Twelve years after AIDS hit, they demonstrated in Washington, “reeling in anger and despair” over five of their members who died of the sexually transmitted disease.

1993: The Sisters were banned from the March on Washington’s stage for being “too controversial and not the appropriate image” for C-Span and “the movement.”

1993: The Sisters are seen as so offensive that they incur the wrath of Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen, the authors of a landmark book on gays, After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90s. They say of the Sisters, “‘Fringe’ gay groups ought to have the tact to withdraw voluntarily from public appearance at gay parades, marches, and rallies, but they don’t care whether they fatally compromise the rest of us.”

1994: They served “holy communion wafers and tequila” to the congregation at a mock Mass.

1999: On the cover of the April 1, 1999 edition of the San Francisco Bay Times there was a full-page picture of a Sister superimposed on a cross-like photo with his hands stretched out, imitating Jesus on the Cross.

2000: In San Francisco, they held a Good Friday event where they sponsored a fetish fashion show that provided “a chance to get spanked and free “Sticky Buns.” Dr. Carol Queen held her “Good Vibrations Dildo Fashion Show.”

2001: I petitioned the IRS to revoke the tax-exempt status of the Sisters, citing multiple examples of “vulgar, obscene and bigoted material against the Catholic Church and its members.”

2002: They celebrated Easter with an “Indulgence in the Park” event that featured a “clown-drag-nun” fundraiser, along with the annual “Hunky Jesus” contest.

2004: They spent the entire month of December bashing Christmas in Los Angeles.

2008: San Diego House of the Sisters—The Asylum of the Tortured Heart, which was founded in 2005, held a “Midnight Confessional Contest” that gave prizes to those with the “hottest confessions.” It was held in a gay bar.

2009: They held a block party in San Francisco where some of the men danced naked in the street.

2010: At the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts winter gala, the Sisters were asked to perform six musical acts in a “Nunway Noir” drag fashion show where attendees could “bask in the bloody gore of occult film screenings.”

2011: In a Daily Beast column, gay writer Andrew Sullivan called the Sisters’ “Hunky Jesus” event a form of “blasphemy.” He was so angry at them that he said, “This makes me feel like Bill Donohue.”

2018: The Multnomah County Library in Portland, Oregon hosted “Drag Queen Storytime with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence,” despite their history of anti-Catholicism. The event explicitly targeted kids 2-6.

2022: The Sisters gave an award for featuring Lil Hot Mess, “a man who dresses as a woman for children and one of the leading activists behind Drag Queen Story Hour.”

2023: A Sister won the “Free Choice Mary” pro-abortion award. The man, dressed with a nun’s veil, wearing a bra and panties, was featured holding a baby doll with a sign, “I Had A Choice.”

Does this help you, Michael? Things a little less complicated.

Some members of the group use lewd and crude comedy in their performances, as their Catholic detractors have highlighted this week. But the group also raises money for charitable causes and seeks to bring visibility to a community often under siege.

How about a car wash? The “It’s OK to do evil to do good” is totally against the Catholic Faith, Michael. Get away from the Jesuits.

According to a press release in response to the Dodgers controversy from the San Francisco branch of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the organization was founded “in response to the AIDS crisis, when gay men, who their faiths and families had abandoned because of their orientation, were sick and dying.

Oh, yeah. It was nothing but a charitable organization. Hello!!! It was the CATHOLIC sisters and priests they mock that took care of them when they were sick and dying. The SPI NEVER tried to stop the behavior that led to AIDS in their community.

I had learned about some of that history while I researched my book, Hidden Mercy, which chronicles the Catholic Church’s response to H.I.V. and AIDS.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence were active in San Francisco, where they rankled some Catholics who found their performances distasteful and offensive.

So, the SPI basically bit the hand that was trying to care for them by mocking them even more. When you want to talk about how mean Catholics were, remember Mother Teresa was on the job in SF in 1982 with an AIDS hospice, but, yeah, let’s dress in drag and mock her.

I learned that some members of the group were former Catholics who were angry at the church for its condemnation of homosexuality. Others said their schtick paid homage to Catholic sisters, a tongue-in-cheek salute to strong women ministering in a patriarchal church. At least one member actually became a Catholic for a while, according to the book Gays and Grays, by Donal Godfrey, S.J.

Oh, please. Can you possibly learn from someone other than Fr. “Just keep doing what you’re doing” Godfrey? These men are not paying homage to the Catholic sisters. While they whined about the “patriarchal church”, the real sisters did the real work.

The Sisters say their members engage in ministry and that they are “not anti-Catholic, but an organization based on love, acceptance, and celebrating human diversity.” As for the drag mocking Catholic nuns, the group says its members “use humor and irreverent wit to expose the forces of bigotry, complacency, and guilt that chain the human spirit.”

Again, Michael, look at the litany above. That doesn’t even include the desecration of the Eucharist. I suppose that’s just awesome as long as they raise money. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/10642/archbishop-niederauer-apologizes-for-giving-communion-to-sisters-of-perpetual-indulgence-at-san-francisco-parish

Critics of drag, of which there have been many in recent years, often fail to appreciate how the artform uses humor to poke fun at those who hold power, especially those who wield that power to hurt marginalized groups. Often, performances are over the top, and it is not uncommon for snarkier drag queens to cross various lines. That is sometimes even the point, to use humor to shake those who may have become complacent.

You have a lot of experience with it, do you? It’s not humor. It’s disgusting unless you’re the type that thinks the strip tease is art and the stripper pole gymnastics. How do you all sleep at night? At best it’s a downfall of souls (maybe, as a Catholic, you shouldn’t excuse it). At worst, it’s satanic.

What causes me some unease about the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, however, especially at this particular moment, is that their costumes mock women who wield relatively little power, especially in the church. These women are often responsible for creating some of the most L.G.B.T.-affirming spaces in an institution that can regularly feel unwelcoming to the community.

YOU. DON’T. One of the only orders that doesn’t allow women (and their sycophants) really needs to stop whining on behalf of women. They hypocrisy is staggering. The women taking care of AIDS patients, the poor, the orphans – they’re the real women who are not whining. They don’t need you, and they certainly don’t need you using them to promote the immorality of the SPI.

Rooted in activism

But one member of the Sisters said the goal is to get people thinking about how they use religion to justify homophobia.

“We feed the hungry, we work with people who are unhoused, we support LGBTQ and trans youth, we support queer art,” a member who goes by the drag name Sister Roma told the Religion News Service. “The reason that we really manifest is to shed light on the hypocrisy of all organized religion, and the way that people interpret the teachings, the word, and use it as a weapon to justify their own homophobia, their own transphobia, their own hate.”

I’m not sure they understand the definition of the word “hypocrisy.” Last time I checked, they don’t run a hospice. They’re a bit too busy mocking the Church that will nurse them and who has taken care of their dying community for decades. But, yeah, we’re the homophobic ones.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence trace their roots to 1979. Their earliest activism was to serve gay men affected by H.I.V. and AIDS, when few mainstream organizations were willing to do much of anything to help.

They encouraged them to keep living the lifestyle that was killing them. Oh, and nude beaches. Bravo.

The Catholic Church, broadly speaking, was among those organizations that made life difficult for gay men during the height of the AIDS crisis. Bishops in many cities fought against gay civil rights measures and, though not a mainstream Catholic opinion, some priests preached that AIDS might be a punishment from God.

Got some links for that?

But there were important exceptions, especially among Catholic sisters, who ministered alongside the gay community, often in Catholic hospitals that served people with H.I.V. and AIDS. I got to know several of these sisters in recent years, spending countless hours with them in person and on the phone, learning about their H.I.V. and AIDS ministry.

When I see the clownish costumes worn by some Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, my mind goes to Sister Carol Baltosiewich, who opened a resource center for people with H.I.V. and AIDS in the small Midwestern city of Belleville, Ill. I think of Sister Pascal Conforti, who took the train each morning from her community house to St. Clare’s Hospital in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood to be present with gay men whose partners were dying from AIDS. And the Sisters of Charity of New York, who engaged in dialogue with the activist group ACT UP in order to better serve the gay community who sought care at St. Vincent’s Hospital.

Missionaries of Charity? Crickets.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, with their over-the-top costumes, are implicitly ridiculing these heroic women. It is not easy to separate their humor—some of which is undoubtedly motivated by religious trauma but some clearly by anti-religious bigotry—from the cruel ways Catholic sisters have too often been portrayed in popular culture.

This is super easy. It’s not humorous to any devout Catholic.

Some Catholics are more angry than perplexed, condemning the Dodgers and the Sisters.

Brian Burch, the president of CatholicVote, described the Sisters as “a blatantly perverted, sexual and disgusting anti-Catholic hate-group,” adding that its “evil and disturbing behavior makes a mockery of Catholic religious across the nation.

Of course, the umbrage Mr. Burch feels on behalf of Catholic sisters may not be universally shared by the women he claims to defend. For the sisters I know, it would take more than a man in a silly costume telling bawdy jokes to offend them. Still, I cannot quite shake the feeling that the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are, at least in some ways, punching down.”

No. He’s right. Burch can’t help the women who are suffering from Stockholm syndrome. He can only defend the women rightly being attacked and Our Lord. This goes a little further than faithful sisters being offended. This is a mockery of Christ’s Church and “Pride” is a grave evil pushed by satan. I doubt the sisters caring for people give this the time of day. The rest of us, especially those of us with children, should care deeply when God is mocked. Not sure why Michael doesn’t.

An actual sister sees past the caricature

A Catholic Sister of the Holy Names (and a Dodgers fan) in California said that she finds kindred spirits in the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence—both as fellow activists and in their commitment to acts of social justice.

And here comes the parade of liberal sisters from dying orders.

“We used to refer to them as the ‘corporal works of mercy,’” Jo’Ann De Quattro, S.N.J.M., told America. “They visit the sick, they feed the hungry, clothe the naked. So that’s good.”

Sister De Quattro, 84, said she had been aware of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence for a while, “because I live in California,” where the organization has a visible presence. She was not offended by their costumes, she said, but she was unaware of what they did until this latest controversy.

“I just thought they were trying to attract attention by their kind of outlandish garb,” she said.

A retired activist herself—Sister De Quattro protested against U.S. military involvement in Central America in the 1980s, fought the death penalty in California and advocated for a stronger social safety net for Californians—she said individuals rallying people around a cause do whatever they can to attract attention and donors.

I wonder where she stood on abortion? And, can Michael not find someone younger than 84 who thinks the SPI is groovy? Of course not.

“You can’t do the corporal works without money,” she noted.

Uh, it’s hard to do the corporal works of mercy when you’ve only raised 1.5 million between 1979 and 2016 and one of your members embezzled a large sum of it. https://www.ebar.com/story.php?ch=news&sc=crime&id=318042 And out of that whopping 40+K average a year, are their any salaries paid?

And then there’s this:
https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/sisters-of-perpetual-indulgence/

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence fundraise through donations received at their events and ceremonies. Over the last 20 years, the organization has raised $1.5 million to further its mission. In 2016, the organization received $135,459 in contributions and spent $154,130 on functional expenses. Examples of organizations the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence have financially supported include the Center for Immigrant Protection (The LGBT Asylum Project), San Francisco Dyke March, and the Trans Liberation Coalition.

Um, the numbers are a little fuzzy based on the data given but they hardly seem like they’re the charitable organization of the year!!! They’re right up there with BLM.

As for the organizations pressuring the Dodgers to rescind the invitation, Sister De Quattro said their anger is misplaced.

Sister, our anger is very well placed.

For me, it’s about trying to embrace people who might be different from us,” she said. “Because Jesus said, ‘Come to the table.’ Not, ‘You don’t deserve a place at the table.’”

Sister De Quattro said she and a group of sisters thought the Dodgers made a mistake in uninviting the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, especially after they learned about their work supporting the L.G.B.T. community, people with H.I.V. and individuals struggling to get by.

Is that what they told you?

I only wish that members of Congress would see fit to do the same thing, rather than cut social programs,” she said.

So, Michael, you’ve now spent an entire piece trying to appease everyone. You know your conscience is nagging you. Listen to it and stop tracking down the most liberal of the liberal “victims” to clear your conscience.

10 thoughts on “It’s Not Complicated for the Faithful”

    1. It is not humorous, nor satire, to demean, offend, and disrespect the Faith of others. And the SPI most certainly does. Their motto is “Go and sin some more,” a direct mockery of the priest’s words in Confession, “Go and sin no more.” These men could just as easily perform their acts of charity without being offensive. Everyone should be offended, not only Catholics, when the beliefs of others, and the unselfish and generous work of others is scorned. It is anti-Catholicism, and it is ugly and evil. It reminds me of the caricatures and misinformation the Nazis spread about the Jews in the years before WWII. After a few years of seemingly harmless offenses like this, the Jews were hunted down, arrested, tortured, and murdered, with few people objecting to it. Written history exists to teach us not to make the same mistakes. It seems to me that this is a case of history repeating itself.

    1. First. Thank you Mad Mom you write with passion and conviction. With the outbreak of aids in 1982 there was a great amount of panic peppered with ignorance. There was uncertainty as to how it spread and no magic cure. Hospitals released those infected and many ended in home hospice. A good priest in NJ set up a team to visit them help however possible. My heart went out to these men who were truly suffering. There was one young man with a space in my memory. Initially,I heard of parties with many like friends. Then came the cries of where are my friends,no one comes to see me. This was a common theme. The SPI were busy rounding up funds for their cause and fighting to keep bathhouses open. They never went to visit the sick and it was never on their agenda. I pray for them and know that God offers them His love and mercy at all times. One last note. The first person to die of aids in America was a ninety plus nun who contracted it from a blood transfusion from an infected homosexual. I still scratch my head and wonder.

  1. Pingback: TVESDAY MORNING EDITION – Big Pulpit

  2. Hey! You made Big Pulpit. Thanks for speaking truth. You use the sword well, without cutting off the ear.

  3. Many on the right seem to want to cancel everything and anything LGBTQ+. The author conveniently leaves out the many good works of this organization helping people with any number of Illnesses which, again contrary to the author’s assertions, are no different from diseases prevalent among heterosexuals. The sooner we accept there is enough room for everyone and that recognition of one group in no way negates the reality of another the better off we will be as a society and as Christians.

    1. Apparently you did not click the link to the reporting on their financials. 1.5 million for charity since its opening. Looking at the numbers from last few years, they’re at a loss and, oh, some of their “charities” are other activist organizations. Very little has gone to charity and more to “operating expenses.” Hoping a deeper dive will be done on their lack of charity. The Catholic Church they mock has done far more for those they say they serve, well, not the “Dykes on Bikes” event which took in some if the SPI money. That mean ol’ Church sought to help the poor and sick instead. Please don’t mock true charitable organization by saying the SPI is one. They are self serving narcissists who intend, as their own tagline states, to bring people to sin. Heck of a charity.

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