St. Patrick’s Cathedral Cuts Trans Funeral Short, Condemns the Service

St. Patrick's Cathedral In Hot Water Over Trans Funeral

On February 15th, trans activist Cecilia Gentili's funeral Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City was cut short and later condemned by the Church saying they were deceived as to Cecilia's status as a trans woman, also condemned the nature of the service and the funeral's attendance. Even as the Pope calls for more acceptance by the Church towards the LGBTQ community, the local Catholic Church is clearly not listening.

The funeral, packed with over 1400 mourners from the LGBTQ+ and ally community, was live streamed, and overheard was a priest instructing the service not to include the Mass, which was earlier agreed upon. The service included speakers and performances from the trans, drag, and gay community, even a performance by actor Billy Porter, who worked with Cecilia on Pose. Many things were called into question, including the deception by Cecilia's family into having the Mass being said in the first place.

Rev. Enrique Salvo, pastor of Saint Patrick’s, released a statement:

“The Cathedral only knew that family and friends were requesting a funeral Mass for a Catholic, and had no idea our welcome and prayer would be degraded in such a sacrilegious and deceptive way." He went on to call the service a scandal and a “potent reminder of how much we need the prayer, reparation, repentance, grace, and mercy to which this holy season (of Lent) invites us.”

Cecilia's family refuted the statement saying the service “brought precious life and radical joy to the Cathedral in historic defiance of the Church’s hypocrisy and anti-trans hatred," and that “the only deception present at St. Patrick’s Cathedral is that it claims to be a welcoming place for all."

 

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Those opposing the funeral are highlighting the explicit language that was used, the behavior of some of the attendees, and the modification of some of the prayers to include Cecilia.

The Catholic League issued a vile statement:

"Gentili is a man who falsely claimed to be a woman. He was an illegal alien, a drug addict, prostitute, trans activist and atheist. At the service, many of those in attendance dressed as hookers, danced in the aisles, sang “Ave Cecilia” when 'Ave Maria' was sung, and shouted, 'St. Cecilia, Mother Of All Whores.' The presiding priest, Fr. Edward Dougherty, falsely declared Gentili to be a woman, referring to him as “our sister.” Fr. James Martin, an LGBT advocate, was delighted with the event, saying the trans activists are “as much a part of the church as anyone else.”

The Catholic Vote went to X (formerly Twitter) calling Billy Porter's singing "unbelievable and sick,” claiming it mocked the "Our Father" prayer.

Billy said during the funeral, “Grief is singular, it’s individual. Please know that however you grieve is what’s right. There’s no right or wrong way to grieve. But just make sure that you do, you allow yourself to do that, so that we can get to the other side of something that feels a little bit like grace.”

After working as a sex worker, overcoming addiction, and serving time at Rikers Island, Cecilia Gentili became a trans health program coordinator and policy director for GMHC (Gay Men's Health Crisis). She also became a lobbyist for health and anti-discrimination rights for the trans community. She also founded her own free health program for sex workers called the COIN Clinic (Cecilia’s Occupational Inclusion Network).

This week, political, religious leaders and community members will hold a press conference to demand an explanation from St. Patrick's as well as request a public apology.

What do you think? Did the service go too far or is the Church in the wrong?

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