FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL: An athletic organization beloved by legendary Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully is condemning the Dodgers’ decision to promote an anti-Catholic group posing as transgender and queer nuns.
Catholic Athletes for Christ launched in 2006 to serve athletes in the practice of their faith and to help share the gospel of Jesus Christ through sports. The group organizes Sunday masses at Major League Baseball stadiums around the United States, which the late broadcaster Scully reportedly loved attending.
Scully and his wife Sandi would also join Billy DeLury, then the Dodgers’ traveling secretary, in worshipping at the chapel in the “bowels of Dodger Stadium,” where Scully occasionally lectured mass, Angelus reported. As the Los Angeles-based, Catholic publication shared: “When DeLury died at 81 in 2015, Vin draped DeLury’s blue Dodgers jacket over an empty chair next to him.”
Scully’s family has asked that donations be made in his name to Catholic Athletes for Christ following his death, according to Angelus.
Now the Dodgers have invited the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to attend the team’s Pride Night. The performers describe their group as “a leading-edge order of queer and trans nuns,” and though the group claims that it is not anti-Catholic, the tagline on its website states: “Go forth and sin some more,” apparently mocking Jesus Christ’s words to a woman caught in adultery.
Catholic sisters or nuns are women who pledge their lives to God, making vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. These women devote their time to prayer and service and are highly revered in many communities.
In a message to The Daily Signal, Catholic Athletes for Christ said the group is working to “persuade those with influence to reconsider their current decision regarding Pride Night.”
“CAC is saddened and troubled by the Dodgers’ decision,” the organization said.
On Tuesday, Nationals player Trevor Williams spoke out against the Dodgers’ invitation to the group. In doing so, he became the first Major League Baseball player to publicly condemn the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Catholics have widely applauded and celebrated his remarks.
“As a devout Catholic, I am deeply troubled by the Dodgers’ decision to re-invite and honor the group ‘The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’ at their Pride Night this year,” Williams said.
“A Major League Baseball game is a place where people from all walks of life should feel welcomed, something I greatly respect and support,” he said. “This is the purpose of different themed nights hosted by the organization, including Pride Night.”
“To invite and honor a group that makes a blatant and deeply offensive mockery of my religion, and the religion of over 4 million people in Los Angeles county alone, undermines the values of respect and inclusivity that should be upheld by any organization,” Williams added.
MLB pitcher Blake Treinen also reportedly asked Christian singer Sean Feucht to post a statement he wrote expressing disappointment in the Dodgers as well and slamming the performances of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence as “blasphemous.”
“I believe Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins. I believe the word of God is true, and in Galatians 6:7 it says, ‘do not be deceived, God cannot be mocked; a man reaps what he sows.’ This group openly mocks Jesus Christ, the cornerstone of my faith, and I want to make it clear that I do not agree with nor support the decision of the Dodger’s to ‘honor’ the Sister’s [sic] of Perpetual Indulgence,” Treinen wrote.
CatholicVote’s Brian Burch described the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence as dressing in “sexualized perversions of religious garb, taunting the women religious who serve the poor in Southern California and around the world.”
“We sincerely doubt that the Dodgers would give such an award to a group which made a similar travesty of the Jewish faith or Muslim faith,” Burch added.
Scully died on Aug. 2, 2022, at the age of 94. Catholic Athletes for Christ founder and President Ray McKenna said at the time that the organization “has been blessed to be associated” with Scully.
“Vin was an ardent supporter of CAC and a regular attendee at our CAC Masses at Dodger Stadium over the last 10 years of his career,” he said. “As he did often with any charitable organization, Vin never said ‘no.’ His response was always, ‘Whatever you need.’”
McKenna recounted that Scully supported CAC’s efforts to “increase a Catholic presence in professional sports, including his willingness to record a Rosary CD in 2016 that has helped bring so many people to the Rosary and advance CAC’s mission.”
“We will miss him greatly and always treasure our friendship with him,” he said. “He was the GOAT at his craft but even a better Catholic gentleman. Our prayers go out for the repose of his soul and for the Scully family.”
The Dodgers had initially removed the faux “sisters” from their Pride Night list after strong backlash from religious groups, including CatholicVote and Burch, who wrote in a letter to Major League Baseball Commissioner Robert Manfred Jr.: “The [Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence] mock Catholics by taking on vulgar names such as ‘Sister GladAss of the Joyous Reserectum.’”
“In one infamous stunt, they tricked an archbishop into giving them the Eucharist—the most important sacrament of the Catholic faith—so they could defile it,” Burch wrote. “This past Easter Sunday, the [Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence] put on an exhibition in San Francisco in which a performer dressed as Jesus carried a cross up a hill and then performed a pole dance on it.”
The baseball team apologized last week to the “sisters” and asked them to “take their place on the field at our 10th annual LGBTQ+ Pride Night.” The leftist group of performers said in a statement on its website that the Dodgers gave it a “full apology and explanation,” concluding its statement with yet another poke at the Catholic Church: “May the games be blessed!”
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles called for “all Catholics and people of goodwill to stand against bigotry and hate in any form” in a statement released earlier this month.
“The decision to honor a group that clearly mocks the Catholic faith and makes light of the sincere and holy vocations of our women religious who are an integral part of our church is what has caused disappointment, concern, anger, and dismay from our Catholic community,” the archdiocese said.
“The ministries and vocations of our religious women should be honored and celebrated through genuine acts of appreciation, reverence, and respect for their sacred vows and for all the good works of our nuns and sisters in service of the mission of the Catholic Church,” the statement continued.
The archdiocese stands against any actions that would disparage and diminish our Christian faith and those who dedicate their lives to Christ. Let us also show our care and respect for our women religious by sending a message of support to their communities through phone calls, letters, and posts on their social channels; supporting vocations by donating to their orders; and/or making donations in their name to the programs they support. Let us show the world how much our women religious mean to us and our church.
The Dodgers did not respond to The Daily Signal’s requests for comment, including whether the team has had conversations with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles about the controversy.
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