Sunday/Activism

A new study on intelligence finds no difference in general intelligence between genders with some specific distinctions, females with faster processing and writing, males advantaged in visual processing.

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Yemen now has more births per year than Russia, far more than Germany or Japan. In a few decades, it will end up with a larger population than Russia.

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Sunday/Activism

For some reason, outsiders must attack insiders. Rather than just going his own way, the outsider must set himself against the insider with a righteous vengeance, even if that opposition is certain to provoke response. In 1989, thousands stormed St. Patrick’s Cathedral in opposition to the Catholic Church’s policies on homosexuality and HIV/AIDS. At that time they desecrated the host. The homosexual community felt this event unifying. The Catholic community never forgave them.

Last November, Catholics held a Mass of Reparation in Brooklyn to cleanse the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church. The Brooklyn Diocese said the church was desecrated when someone filmed a sexually provocative music video inside the church.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral held another Mass of Reparation Saturday after the Archdiocese of New York claimed mourners at a funeral service for trans icon Cecilia Gentili last week contaminated the church by engaging in “scandalous behavior.”

In the Catholic tradition, to make "reparation" means to offer to God an act of compensation for one's own sins or the sins of others against Christ. St. Patrick’s pastor, the Very Rev. Enrique Salvo, said that at Cardinal Dolan’s request, the Mass was offered to pray for forgiveness for what some Catholics considered a desecration of the historic Midtown house of worship.

“Thanks to so many who have let us know they share our outrage over the scandalous behavior at a funeral here at St. Patrick’s Cathedral earlier this week. 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,” Salvo said Saturday in a statement.  

Joe Zwelling, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said the church didn’t take issue with Gentili’s sexual identity, but the actions of the mourners.

Outraged Catholics complained on social media that attendees wore racy outfits and cursed openly at the podium while paying tribute to Gentili, 52, a renowned trans activist and award-winning author, former sex worker, and actress.

Mourners also jokingly identified Gentili as a “saint” and changed the lyrics to some Catholic songs to honor the LGBTQ advocate.

Among the mourners was “Pose” star Billy Porter, who, according to the group Catholic Vote opened the service “with a song mocking the Our Father prayer.”

Ceyeye Doroshow, who organized the memorial, admitted to The New York Times that she did not mention Gentili was trans to St. Patrick’s officials and kept her identity “under wraps.” Organizers did put out an extensive news release advertising the funeral at the church.

More than 1,000 people attended the service, which was live-streamed on Trans Equity YouTube channel. Many of the mourners were trans and were seen wearing miniskirts, halter tops, fishnet stockings, and fur stoles.

Gentili’s family on Saturday pushed back at St. Patrick’s, saying the funeral brought “precious life and radical joy to the Cathedral in historic defiance of the Church’s hypocrisy and anti-trans hatred.”

“Cecilia Gentili’s funeral service, which filled the pews in ways the Cathedral only can during Easter service and NYPD funerals, was a reflection of the love she had for her community and a testament to the impact of her tireless advocacy,” family members said in a statement to The New York Daily News. “Her heart and hands reached those the sanctimonious Church continues to belittle, oppress, and chastise, and she changed the material conditions for countless people, including unhoused people and those who needed healthcare.

“The only deception present at St. Patrick’s Cathedral is that it claims to be a welcoming place for all,” they said.

This is a misunderstanding. Any organization is defined by its rules which distinguish it. The Professional Pilots Association has, as a criterion, being a professional pilot.
The AMA is an organization of physicians. Now only 15-18% of doctors in the US are paying members of the AMA and in one study only 11% of physicians who responded believe the AMA stands for the views of doctors. The AMA is controversial within medicine and provokes a lot of disagreement but no non-AMA member has attacked them.

Organizations are, by definition, exclusionary. Catholicism has, certainly recently, been inconsistent about the gay/trans community but it does exclude them from some of the sacraments--as it does their members who have missed Sunday mass. But this group wants more than inclusion; they want approval. They want validated. And they want those who don't validate them to change and they will strike them if they don't.

Like a Jehovah's Witness bombing a blood bank.