By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK
By now most of our readers have felt the shock waves emanating from New York after news broke of the transgender desecration on February 15 of St. Patrick’s Cathedral at a funeral for a man who believed he was a woman, changed his name to Cecilia Gentili, and spent a good part of his life as a prostitute before dying as an atheist. Coordinators of the liturgy have admitted to deceiving the staff of the Cathedral.
One of the most alarming aspects of the sacrilegious abuse of St. Patrick’s is the extreme neglect it has uncovered. It’s called “Google”: “Know who’s using your church building” and “Know who’s using your church” is the basic duty of every good pastor: It takes minutes to Google and discover that the deceased for whom a funeral is requested is, first of all, an atheist. And transgender. AND an activist for evil.
Then you just say “no.”
I offered a wedding Mass at St. Pat’s as a newly ordained in the 90s. I was watched every minute by a young priest, likely a parochial vicar on the cathedral staff at the time, who was present in the upper church for the entire wedding Mass to ensure nothing untoward was done. People were free to visit the church during the wedding and the effort to prevent potential sacrilege is necessary for such a highly visible public space that represents the Catholic faith for so many people.
He was also there to make sure we “moved along” and did not overrun the time allotted for the Mass.
But it need be said that preventing sacrilege in every one of our churches is just Catholic.
Is it so hard? I didn’t resent the oversight and felt it was entirely appropriate for one of the most iconic and most highly visited churches, not just in NYC, but the world. The woman who deceived the staff of St. Pat’s in requesting the use of the church understands the church is iconic and chose it for that reason — in order to stage the outrageous and blasphemous transgender show that resulted. Does the staff of St. Pat’s understand that?
And let’s not be naive. Was this possibly an “inside job,” as they say? Heads should roll after this. Will the priest, who while seated in the sanctuary in view of the entire assembly, viewing closely the entire ugly and evil spectacle and doing absolutely nothing to stop it, be invited back?
The priest authoring the blog “Southern Orders” watched enough of the St. Patrick’s sacrilege funeral video to determine that Fr. Dougherty, the Maryknoll priest who “presided” over the event, is responsible for allowing the evil desecration to continue, whether or not he had any role beforehand.
As I suspected, the Cathedral indeed assigned a staff member, perhaps clergy, to be present who was coaching Dougherty as the event unfolded but who was also rebuffed by Dougherty when he tried to intervene to prevent further sacrilege as the out of control event unfolded. The primary intervention appears to be that, as the blogger writes, what perhaps started out as a Mass was changed midstream into a liturgy “outside of Mass,” that is, with Scripture, prayers, and remarks but without celebration of the Holy Eucharist.
This priest is the enemy inside the gates. If he is allowed to return, then not only does he have a problem, St. Patrick’s does as well. This may be a suspending offense, but I’m not an expert in canon law. Seems to me some disciplining of the priest would be in order, though. Dangerous precedent if he is not.
Remember that this follows another event in nearby Brooklyn where a half-dressed woman brought a crew inside a Catholic church and recorded a music video as a stunt to promote what clearly involves no talent on her part.
This issue is not going away. First it was publicized that the staff of the Cathedral offered a private Mass of reparation after the funeral service, which should have been public in order to make true reparation for a public act of desecration. And with the cardinal now calling Fr. Dougherty a “hero” when he largely enabled the evil event others are getting involved to correct the misrepresentation of the shocking and completely avoidable scandal, including Taylor Marshall and Maike Hickson, who reported at LifeSiteNews that the Cardinal appears to have a misunderstanding of the nature of the events.
From Southern Orders blog:
“FROM A FUNERAL MASS TO A FUNERAL LITURGY OUTSIDE OF MASS AND HOW THE DECISION TOOK PLACE:
“I watched the beginning of the Funeral Liturgy Scandal again. The priest, who Cardinal Dolan should hold responsible for the sacrilege and blasphemy in his cathedral, is dressed in a Chasuble which is used solely for a Mass, not a Liturgy outside of Mass. Outside of Mass a cope may be used, or cassock, surplice, and stole or alb and stole.
“After blessing the body of the deceased at the entrance of the Cathedral, the procession arrives at the altar. A priest wearing a cassock but with his surplice off and over his arm, speaks to the priest whose microphone is on. This priest, who may be the rector, I am not sure, says to him that this is not going to be a Mass but rather the Liturgy outside of Mass.
“Thus, the decision to change it from a Mass to a Liturgy outside of Mass was done after the Liturgy began, not before.
“I can’t watch the full liturgy as it turns my stomach, but when it is time for the eulogies to take place, the same priest, perhaps the rector, is miffed about the eulogies and tries to intervene, but the celebrant priest, who should be disciplined by the Cardinal, waves him off and more sacrilege/desecration takes place in the sanctuary publicly videoed for all to see and hear.
“God help us.
“The Church is a hospital, but the mentally and physically ill should not run the institution, they should be treated, restrained if necessary, and given bitter medicine which will help them in the long run. They should receive treatment, to include discipline and sedation if needed. They should not run the Church, I mean the hospital, or overrun it!
“The Church, which is a ‘hospital’ for the mortally sinful and spiritually dying, cannot be run by those whose sinfulness is highly contagious and corrupts the healthy if they aren’t quarantined. They can’t take over a sterile environment meant to cure their contagious and thus compromise the treatment the Church offers, which is God’s grace that convicts us of our diseased sinfulness and enables us to repent and believe God, not our own sick truth.
“God help us!”
In this age of rampant sacrilege and blasphemy we can all offer or have offered more holy Masses and more frequent prayers and acts of self-denial, particularly this Lent, to join our own efforts at reparation with those of other Catholics of goodwill everywhere.
Thank you for reading and praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever.
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