Catholic ‘Drag Nun Bingo’ Parish, Most Holy Redeemer, Participates in San Francisco Pride Parade 2007

By Katherine Tomasi and Allyson Smith

Despite millions of dollars in sexual abuse claims–the vast majority of which are homosexual in nature–that have bankrupted some U.S. Catholic dioceses, and in defiance of a recent U.S. Bishops’ document stating that Catholic ministers must not advocate behaviors contrary to Church teaching, a San Francisco parish notorious for its promotion of homosexuality participated in that city’s “gay pride” parade Sunday, June 24.

Catholic blogger ‘Catherine of Siena’ of the Threshing Grain blogspot reported that Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in San Francisco’s homosexual Castro district planned to march in the perverted procession, with the theme “Pride Not Prejudice,” now in its 37th year  and unarguably the mother of all “gay pride” parades.

Most Holy Redeemer’s home page at http://www.mhr.org/ greets visitors with the message, “During the month of June we welcome in a special way our many LGBT visitors to MHR . . . Happy PRIDE!”

According to its June 17 bulletin, MHR planned several events in conjunction with the pride parade, from asking for volunteers to man an AIDS support group beverage booth near the main stage to hosting a “pride parade dance rehearsal” and sign-making party for its young adult group.

An MHR parade contingent “send off” occurred after the Sunday 10:00 a.m. Mass, on the same day Catholics worldwide celebrated the Solemnity of the Birth of Saint John the Baptist, who called sinners to repentance and was beheaded for publicly rebuking King Herod and his brother’s wife Herodias for adultery. Most Holy Redeemer was the only Catholic parish listed on the 2007 pride parade lineup.

As usual, this year’s San Francisco pride parade and festival included adult frontal nudity and overt homosexual behaviors carried out in public view without any police intervention, including in front of very young children who attended the event with adult participants and spectators. For the very first time, this year’s parade held the potential to be viewed by 850 million Internet users via webcasts by KRON4.com and ShakeRadio.com, a Clear Channel station.

Video clips of Sunday’s parade from the Quamdiu Domine website show Most Holy Redeemer’s pastor, Father Stephen Meriwether, robed in full Mass vestments, giving a holy water blessing to the parish’s trolley car-style float as it pulled away from the church, full of parishioners holding rainbow flags, a symbol of homosexual liberation.

Other footage shows fully and partially nude men and women, including a shot of a man grasping two other men’s genitals, and a “flogging” demonstration. Marchers carried signs that said, “I F*** Nuns” and “Educate: Gay Priests Make Excellent Priests.”

Most Holy Redeemer’s participation in the 2007 homoseual “pride” parade is the latest chapter in the church’s long history of “pro-gay” activism. As reported by WorldNetDaily, the parish made news last November when faithful Catholics from around the country voiced outrage over the planned and scandalous use of the church’s Ellard Hall for a “Revival Bingo” fundraiser hosted by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group of “drag queens” who dress in outlandish Catholic nun costumes and adopt blasphemous names like “Sister Porn Again.”  Prizes awarded at the games included “wines to porn DVDs to sex toys to toasters and more.” The Archdiocese of San Francisco received numerous complaints from Catholics around the U.S., forcing cancellation of the parish hall lease.

Following exposure of the bingo games, the San Francisco archdiocese issued a statement saying that permission should not have been given and that the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’s activities at the parish were to cease “immediately.” However, Internet evidence indicates the games had been going on since at least June 2003.

Father Meriwether, who at the time also served as the chancellor of the San Francisco archdiocese, was relieved of his chancellorship but remains pastor of MHR and now heads the archdiocesan department on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs.

In April, the British Broadcasting Corporation aired a “prayer service” that had been recorded at Most Holy Redeemer last October, led by Jesuit priest Donal Godfrey and featuring homosexual British priest James Alison as speaker. According to the BBC program description, Father Godfrey’s prayer service explored “how gay people can find a place in the Christian narrative and speak of the gift of faith.” According to an April 27 report by Canada’s LifeSite News, archdiocesan spokesman Healy said that the broadcast “was not an archdiocesan function” and that the archdiocese was unaware of it.

(For more information on MHR’s history of homosexual activism, see “Author Critiques Bishops’ Proposal, Blasts San Francisco Archdiocese” at www.renewamerica.us/columns/abbott/061110.)

Most Holy Redeemer’s participation in San Francisco pride parades and its sponsorship of other pro-homosexual events such as the BBC broadcast flies in the face of a document issued last November by the United States Catholic bishops reiterating perennial Church teaching about the immorality of homosexual acts. Specifically, the document, Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination: Guidelines for Pastoral Care, states:

Special care ought to be taken to ensure that those carrying out the ministry of the Church not use their position of leadership to advocate positions or behaviors not in keeping with the teachings of the Church. They must not belong to groups that oppose Church teaching. It is not sufficient for those involved in this ministry to adopt a position of distant neutrality with regard to Church teaching.

No public statement condemning MHR’s participation in the San Francisco pride parade has been issued by Archbishop George Niederaurer, and phone calls to the archdiocese seeking comment were not returned by press time.

However, at least one priest has been unafraid to speak out against MHR’s antics. Eighty-five-year-old Father John Malloy SDB, pastor of Saints Peter and Paul Church in San Francisco and host of A Shepherd’s Voice http://johnmalloysdb.blogspot.com/  blog, wrote:

Starting in the 1990s, things go on at Most Holy Redeemer Church in San Francisco that one would not normally expect in a Catholic Church… More than once, clergy and parishioners officially represent Most Holy Redeemer, with banners, t-shirts, and an official contingent, in San Francisco’s “Gay Pride” parade. The video below shows the participation of Most Holy Redeemer Church and St. Agnes ‘ Church in the 2005 & 2006 parades. We must warn you that parts of this video are obscene; nevertheless, we do not apologize for posting it.

In the 2005-06 video, children of all ages can be seen throughout the parade route, participating in the parade with the assistance of adults, while obscene gestures and behavior are equally displayed. For photos of Most Holy Redeemer’s participation in this year’s event, visit http://www.mhr.org/pride2007.html.

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TAKE ACTION: Catholics and other concerned pro-family Americans are encouraged to voice their outrage to Archbishop George Neiderauer at info@sfarchdiocese.org.

Please cc the following people on your email to the Archbishop:

Auxiliary Bishop Ignatius Wang at wangi@sfarchdiocese.org
The Archbishop’s secretary at MillerL@sfarchdiocese.org.
The editor of Catholic San Francisco at morrisyoungd@sfarchdiocese.org
Communications Director for the Archdiocese of San Francisco at healym@sfarchdiocese.org

Or write to:

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco
One Peter Yorke Way
San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 614-5500

His Excellency The Most Reverend Pietro Sambi
The Apostolic Nuncio to the United States
The Apostolic Nunciature
3339 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20008-3687
phone: 202-333-7121
fax:     202-337-4036

Cardinal William J. Levada
Prefect
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
[Secretary: Most Rev. Archbishop Angelo Amato, S.D.B.]
Piazza del S. Uffizio 11
00l93 Rome, Italy
Europe
phone: 011.39.06.69.88.33.57
phone: 011.39.06.69.88.34.13
fax:      011.39.06.69.88.34.09
email:  cdf@cfaith.va
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/

Katherine Tomasi and Allyson Smith are members of the Catholic Media Coalition. The Catholic Media Coalition is a nationwide group of journalists, authors, and publishers using print and electronic media aimed at restoring orthodoxy in the nation’s dioceses. For more information visit  www.catholicmediacoalition.org.

Allyson Smith is a writer for Americans for Truth.