Comments
HOLY MOLY - Former Vice President Mike Pence has waded into the controversy over the LA Dodgers Pride Night. In a tweet yesterday, Pence said it was “deeply offensive” for the baseball team to re-invite the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
“Having been raised in a Catholic family, the Dodgers decision to invite the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a hateful group that blatantly mocks Catholicism, to their event next month is deeply offensive,” Pence said.
“Last summer the MLB moved their All-Star Game out of Georgia over a lie about voter ID and now they are apologizing and welcoming anti-Catholic bigots back to Dodger Stadium with open arms. The MLB should not be apologizing to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, they should be apologizing to Catholics across America. America’s pastime should respect the faith of every American no matter what.”
LA Dodgers Pride Night
LA Dodgers announced last month that it would host its annual Pride Night on June 16th. The team will go head-to-head against the San Francisco Giants. As part of the event, several individuals and groups will be honored for their community work. One is the LA branch of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. For decades, the groups has fundraised and raised awareness for LGBTQ+ causes.
Catholic League and Florida Senator Marco Rubio were among those to blast the decision, calling the Sisters a “loathsome” group that mocked Christianity.
The Dodgers subsequently disinvited the Sisters. However, that prompted a huge backlash among many in the LGBTQ+ community. A few days later, the organization did a U-turn. It invited the Sisters back and they agreed to attend.
“Christian Faith Night” returning to Dodgers
The club has since weathered criticism renewed criticism from Christian groups. So much so, it hastily announced last Friday that it was relaunching its annual ‘Christian Faith and Family’ Night. The event, which was suspended during the pandemic era, will return on July 30.
Dodgers’ Player Clayton Kershaw revealed the decision last Friday.
“Excited to announce the relaunch of Christian Faith and Family Day at Dodger Stadium on July 30th. 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. Hope to see you on July 30th!”
If the Dodgers were hoping the announcement might quell some of the upset over Pride Night, it was wrong. Reaction to the announcement was swift.
Kershaw is himself a devout Christian. He told the LA Times on Monday he also disagreed with the Dodgers’ decision to re-invite the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence for Pride Night. He said the backlash prompted the return of “Christian Faith” Night.
“I think we were always going to do Christian Faith Day this year, but I think the timing of our announcement was sped up,” Kershaw said. “Picking a date and doing those different things was part of it as well. Yes, it was in response to the highlighting of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.”
Kershaw said he personally took issue with the Sisters but not with the wider LGBTQ+ community.
“This has nothing to do with the LGBTQ community or Pride or anything like that. This is simply a group that was making fun of a religion, that I don´t agree with.”
Despite this, Kershaw said he would not boycott Pride Night.
(David Hudson is the Author at Queerty.)
