Chastened for Plans To Honor ‘Blasphemous’ Drag Troupe on Pride Night, Dodgers Announce ‘Christian Faith and Family Day’

Stung by criticism from conservative Catholics over plans to honor a troupe of drag queens whose performances many have called blasphemous, the Dodgers have announced plans to have a “Christian Faith and Family Day” later this summer.The Los Angeles baseball team’s star pitcher, Clayton Kershaw, said on Twitter that the team would hold the event on July 30 during a game with the Cincinnati Reds. “More details to come — but we are grateful for the opportunity to talk about Jesus and determined to make it bigger and better than it was before COVID,” Mr. Kershaw, a Methodist who has been vocal about his faith in the past, said.The last time the Dodgers hosted such an event was in 2019, before the Covid pandemic forced the suspension of many large public gatherings.The announcement comes just days after the team was pilloried on social media and elsewhere for flip-flopping on plans to honor the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence during its 10th annual Pride Night celebrating the city’s LGBT community. The Dodgers invited the Sisters to the celebration to receive a community service award, but reversed after some Catholic groups complained.The team later reversed itself yet again, re-inviting the Sisters after prominent gay groups accused it of “buckling to pressure from out-of-state, right-wing fundamentalists.” In a statement, the team apologized to the self-described group of queer and trans nuns, who often incorporate religious imagery and symbols into their performances.The statement praised the Sisters for agreeing to “receive the gratitude of our collective communities for the lifesaving work that they have done tirelessly for decades.“In the weeks ahead, we will continue to work with our LGBTQ+ partners to better educate ourselves, find ways to strengthen the ties that bind and use our platform to support all of our fans who make up the diversity of the Dodgers family,” the team said.When the team first announced its intention to honor the troupe, Senator Rubio and prominent conservative Catholic groups such as the Catholic League and CatholicVote denounced the idea in a letter to the commissioner of Major League Baseball, Rob Manfred, saying “baseball has always been tied to our nation’s values, at the heart of which is faith in God.“It would be an outrage and a tragedy if the MLB, in pursuit of modern, secular, and indeed anti-religious ‘values,’ rebuked that faith and the millions of believing fans who cherish the sport,” Mr. Rubio’s letter stated.Founded in 1979, the Sisters describe themselves as a group devoted to community service, ministry, and other charitable work at San Francisco. The group, according to its website, uses “humor and irreverent wit to expose the forces of bigotry, complacency and guilt that chain the human spirit.” Catholic groups, though, say its performances include “blasphemous imitations of Jesus and Mary” and drag shows for children that feature men dressed up in “lewd imitations of Roman Catholic nuns.”The team’s announcement that it would honor the troupe after all, despite the earlier complaints, drew even more ire from Catholics across California and the country. A former auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles now serving the church in Minnesota, Bishop Robert Barron, called on Catholics to boycott the team following its decision.“It’s hard to imagine anything more offensive than some of the behavior of the ‘Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence,’ which I think can only be described as an anti-Catholic hate group,” Bishop Marron said.

Chastened for Plans To Honor ‘Blasphemous’ Drag Troupe on Pride Night, Dodgers Announce ‘Christian Faith and Family Day’

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