Posted on 09/07/2014 6:23:31 AM PDT by NKP_Vet
You don’t honor a saint by encouraging a sin.
No doubt there have been homosexual persons marching down Fifth Avenue every year in the St. Patrick’s Day parade. There was never any ban on their participation; there was no test of sexual orientation for marchers. But next year the parade in New York will feature something new: a group of avowed homosexuals carrying a banner, promoting same-sex unions, supporting the gay lifestyle.
Next year there will be only one story-line of interest to the reporters who cover the annual parade in the world’s media capital: the triumph of the gay activists. Photographers will be competing for the one “money” shot: the picture of the contingent from OUT@NBCUniversal marching past the reviewing stand at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, under the benign smile of Cardinal Timothy Dolan.
And the media will be right to concentrate on that story line, because this is a significant advance for homosexual activists, a significant retreat for the Catholic Church. A generation ago, the late Cardinal John O’Connor said that it would be impossible to include proponents of homosexuality in a Catholic event. Now they will be included—and although the parade’s sponsors, the St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee*, made that crucial change in policy, it is difficult to believe that they made their decision without sounding out the leaders of the New York archdiocese.
Has Catholic teaching changed, then, to allow this accommodation? Pope Francis, questioned about homosexuality, famously replied, “Who am I to judge?” But in resisting demands from gay-activist groups to be included in the parade, the New York archdiocese was not judging homosexuals. It was simply observing that it would be absurd to include, in an event honoring a saint, a group dedicated to public acceptance of a moral disorder.
But plenty of people have sat in judgment of others during these 20 years of debate about the St. Patrick’s Day parade. Gay activists and their editorial sympathizers judged Cardinal O’Connor to be a bigot. Angry protesters lined the parade route with placards, denouncing the Catholic Church as a citadel of bigotry.
It is a lie to say that the Catholic Church encourages hatred. But now promoters of that lie will be marching triumphantly in a parade advertised as a Catholic-sponsored event. And there will be other lies, too, set forth by participants in this parade dedicated to Saint Patrick: the lie that homosexual acts are normal and healthy, the lie that gender is only a social construct, the lie that a man might really be a woman and vice versa.
The gay-rights movement has never been aimed merely at preventing discrimination. Homosexual activists demand not only that we refrain from judging them, but also that we accept their outlook. We are being warned that if we don’t want to be labeled as bigots, we must accept as good something that we have previously condemned as wrong; we must accept as truths what we know to be lies. That “money” photo from the St. Patrick’s Day parade next year will be taken as a sign of just such acceptance.
Meanwhile, as homosexual activists gain public acceptance, proponents of Christian morality are pushed aside. In 10 years, will it still be possible for someone to write what I have just written? Will media outlets give any space for such views? Will web sites that convey these idea be blocked? If so—if homosexual activists succeed in silencing their intellectual opponents—no small part of the blame will be born by the parade organizers and the Archdiocese of New York.
How has it come to pass, that a parade organized to honor the patron saint of Ireland has furnished the occasion for a major symbolic victory in the fight to overthrow Christian moral standards?
No doubt there was a time, some years ago, when the St. Patrick’s Day parade really was a Catholic observance. But over the years the religious aspect of the event has faded into the background, overwhelmed at first by the tribal celebration of Irish identity, and later by the same forces that govern any civic celebration. For the vast majority of participants and observers, the St. Patrick’s Day parade is no more a “Catholic” event than a Notre Dame football game.
Catholic piety was drowned long ago in the beery atmosphere of the celebration. It was a major blow when Guinness withdrew its sponsorship, siding with gay-rights protesters. But it is even more significant that this year, the pressure for change apparently came largely from NBC, the network that broadcasts the parade. (The homosexual group slated for inclusion is, not coincidentally, an organization for NBC employees.) It was unthinkable that the parade would go on without beer, without corporate sponsorships, without a live broadcast. The St. Patrick’s Day parade had become a city-wide party, a commercial venture, a media production.
Still the tradition had survived that the cardinal-archbishop of New York would stand on the steps of his cathedral, greeting the marchers, giving the parade his endorsement, keeping up the pretense that this march was a religious event. For next year’s parade, Cardinal Dolan had been named grand marshal, emphasizing the link to the Church and the implicit blessing of the participants.
If this really is a Catholic event, it cannot include a group defined by its opposition to Church teaching. If it is a Catholic event, forget Guinness, forget NBC, forget the hoopla, and quietly honor St. Patrick.
But if it is not a Catholic event—if it is just another civic celebration, to which all are welcome, regardless of their attitude toward the Church—then it’s time to end an anachronism. There should be no reviewing stand outside St. Patrick’s cathedral, no sign of Church sponsorship. Cardinal Dolan should step aside as grand marshal.
good ideas, Phil.
When Dolan who is scheduled to be the grand marshall next year was asked whether a pro abortion float would be welcome he said something like “all would be welcome” but it’s not up to the church.
Ditto Amen.
The 2015 NYC St. Patrick’s Day parade led by Cardinal Dolan will become a national media showcase for the gay and lesbian lifestyle; all in opposition to supposed Catholic teachings. Dolan has become a butt boy for Schumer, Cuomo, Obama et al. It is time that the Vatican recall him and replace him with a real spokesman of the church.
It’s not a Catholic event. It was originally Protestant. First of all.
Second, there was a lawsuit over this more than 20 years ago, and it was determined that the holders of the parade had the right to determine who marched in it. It had nothing to do with religion.
The parade organizers won. And now they have surrendered. That’s about it. I hope they will pay New York back for all the court expenses.
And families of all faiths should find something else to do that day.
I just don't get it. If homosexuals just want to be left alone to live in peace, why can't they permit the rest of us the same opportunity? On second thought, I think I can answer my own question: This is not a debate about homosexuality; this is an exhibition of mental illness in Speedos and feather boas.
Since it is not a catholic event, then the city has the right to invite who they please to participate.
The Catholic Church should however, disassociate itself from the event and note that this parade no longer honors St. Patrick ( who was Catholic) but is just another event promoting perversion and death.
The city does not determine who marches. Only indirectly perhaps, by allowing the parade organizers to decide. It was a good decision, but the Hibernians or whatever they are calling themselves now have spat in the face of justice. What they are going to do is not illegal. It’s just suicidal.
Just for the record he did not endorse homosexuality, corruption of youth, or single-sex marriage.
The Archbishop should indeed object to having such things shoved down his throat.
“Just for the record he did not endorse homosexuality, corruption of youth, or single-sex marriage’.
Neither does the Pope.
“The Archbishop should indeed object to having such things shoved down his throat”.
I don’t think Dolan cares. This is the same man that backslaps Obama at an Al Smith dinner and gives communion to pro-abortion politicians and says “bravo, good for him” when asked what he thought about a football player admitting to the world that he’s a sodomite.
Next move — an annual Muslim Peace parade.
there is no question. SEVER TIES NOW
“Dolan has become a butt boy for Schumer, Cuomo, Obama et al. It is time that the Vatican recall him and replace him with a real spokesman of the church.”
Believe me, the Pope is well aware of this and implicitely has given his go ahead to Cardinal Dolan who you know checked with the Vatican before Dolan went ahead as deal maker. The Pope is a social justice true believer and brought that with him to his new job at the Vatican.
It was definitely started by the Northern Irish (Protestants). Can’t find a reference right now. The Catholics seem to have scrubbed all mentions of this fact. I’ll have to ask someone at the New-York Historical Society.
The Hibernian Society is Catholic. A group with a different name is running it now, perhaps the same group with a different name, and of course it honors Saint Patrick and the Archdiocese. It’s a de facto Catholic event now.
They might as well make it Episopalian again, however.
It was originally Protestant.
***
I don’t know where you got that info. My understanding was that it was a way for the Catholic Irish immigrants to express their Irishness because they were discriminated against at the time.
We’ll see if they have the guts to actually do it. I doubt it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.