Catholics on the Front Lines: Standing Up for Faith

Last weekend, the L.A. Dodgers recognized a group known as the 'Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence' during their annual 'Pride Night.' This group, composed of men who dress in flamboyant female clothing and makeup, often mimic the appearance of Catholic nuns as part of their performances. Some of their acts, which include pole-dancing atop a full-sized crucifix, raised the ire of Catholics everywhere as offensive and even blasphemous.

The special honor was announced by the Dodgers months ago, then when Catholics made lots of noise about the offense the Dodgers rescinded the invitation. Then left-wing activists made noise and the Dodgers not only re-invited the group but also apologized to the activists for having lost their way in the first place when they rescinded the invitation.

Prominent Catholic activists then mobilized and created an organized protest against the Dodgers and their decision to honor the group. Staged just down the street from the entrance to Dodger Stadium, the event featured many well-known Catholic speakers such as Jesse Romero, who MC’d the event; Michael Voorhis from Church Militant; Bishop Joseph Strickland from Texas; Jack Posobiec; and CatholicVote, which featured the story on their “Loop” podcast.

For more than two hours speakers got up in front of the thousands of Catholic men and women who had arrived (and continued to arrive for hours) and preached, prayed, and encouraged us to stand up to the anti-Christian ideology and the Dodgers for honoring it. We prayed a Chaplet of Divine Mercy. We prayed several litanies. Every speaker made the point of protesting while loving and praying for those who had hurt us and offended Our Lord.

Several of the speakers spoke and prayed in Spanish, which was well received by the many hispanic Catholics in the crowd. The noise from constant TV helicopters overhead made it sometimes hard to hear the speakers but also encouraged us knowing that many others would be seeing this on the news and online.

Then a procession started right next to the stage, moving all the way through the crowd and back up past the stage and out to the sidewalk and down the street to the entrance to the stadium. In the front of the procession was CMF President Gil Alderete and VP Francisco Munoz, who marched alongside Bishop Strickland and a first-class relic of Pope Saint John Paul the Great.

Jesse Romero, the MC, anticipating potential conflict at the entrance, encouraged men to make the procession there and for women and children to stay behind and pray for peace.

In the end there were only a handful of counter-protestors; the award ceremony inside the stadium was seen by virtually nobody; our protest at the gates was peaceful and got wide coverage throughout the country, inspiring many to stand up for our faith and Our Lord when He is disrespected. The people at the rally were altogether joy-filled at being surrounded by so many other devout followers and people of faith and love. It was a wonderful time to be Catholic.