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365Gay.com
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Nuns In
Drag Leave Egg
On
Archbishop's Face
From the
Web, October 16, 2007
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San Francisco, California --
With their outlandish nuns' habits, gaudy makeup, and irreverent showmanship the
Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are a San Francisco institution.
They've raised tens of thousands of dollars for LGBT and AIDS charities in the
Bay Area all the while poking a finger in the eye of the establishment --
especially the Catholic Church and its position on homosexuality.
To the Archbishop of San Francisco the sisters became a personal embarrassment
when the "nuns" showed up this month for Sunday mass at Most Holy Redeemer
Catholic Church in the Castro district.
As Archbishop George H. Niederauer was celebrating mass the sisters lined up for
communion. And received the Eucharist wafer from Niederauer.
The event might have gone unnoticed had it not been videotaped. And if the
tape hadn't made its way to conservative Bill O'Reilly of Fox News.
O'Reilly called the stunt an "unbelievable outrage". Hundreds of angry
letters and e-mails poured into the Archdiocese offices and Niederauer was
forced into "damage control".
"After the event, I realized that they were members of this particular
organization and that giving them Holy Communion had been a mistake," the
Archbishop said in a statement, calling the sisters' action "deeply offensive."
"I noticed no protest, no demonstration, no disruption of the Sunday Eucharist.
The congregation was devout and the liturgy was celebrated with reverence.
Toward the end of the Communion line two strangely dressed persons came to
receive Communion. I did not see any mock religious garb. As I
recall, one of them wore a large flowered hat or garland," the 71 year old
archbishop said.
The apology hasn't done much to quell the dissent. Evangelical Protestants
say Niederauer has to make a definitive statement condemning the "nuns" and
homosexuality.
Niederauer has been archbishop in San Francisco for the past 18 months. A
spokesperson for the diocese said that it was the first time he had heard of the
group.
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