Trans prostitute's funeral at St. Patrick's Cathedral


Trans prostitute's funeral at St. Patrick's Cathedral
 
On February 15, 2024, the second day of Lent, a funeral service was performed by Fr. Edward Dougherty for an atheist transgender prostitute who had adopted the name of Cecilia Gentili. The ceremony took place in St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue, New York City. A poster of "Cecilia" with a halo around "her" head, above, was placed close to the casket with the inscriptions: "Transvestite, prostitute, blessed, mother." The attendees in the great majority apparently were persons from the world of prostitution, sodomy and drug trafficking. The crowd filled the entire cathedral to the point that Fr. Dougherty made an approving-laughing comment saying that he usually only sees the church so filled on Easter Sundays. Transgenders and homosexuals were admitted to the podium to express their mourning. The last testimony was from a seemingly transgender individual who in Spanish invoked "Cecilia" as "a prostitute, the mother of all prostitutes." Then, he said an ejaculation to "Santa Cecilia" to protect those who still live. Each phrase of this last homage was translated to English by a man in a cowboy hat. The words chosen in both languages were the most coarse and vulgar words to refer to a prostitute, words normally used to offend. This profanation crowned the service, which from beginning to end was a desecration of that Catholic temple. This last profanation raised an explosion of anti-Catholic euphoria in the assembly and a standing ovation. The ensemble of the event constituted an enormous blasphemy against the Catholic Church performed by a priest in St. Patrick's Cathedral, which is perhaps the most prestigious and representative Catholic edifice in the United States. The bold character of the crime raised immediate reactions in conservative Catholic circles, which led the rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Fr. Enrique Salvo, to issue an explanatory Archdiocesan press release yesterday, February 17. Issued at the request of Card. Dolan, it stated that St. Patrick's Cathedral had hosted that funeral "by mistake..." and that a Mass had been said by Fr. Salvo to repair for the desecration. No details were given about the date of the Mass or who was present at it. This omission allows us to suppose that it was a private Mass in the Cathedral. We wonder if this quickly done private reparation to stop the public clamor against that crime suffices to atone for the offense. It is a principle of justice that the reparation should be proportional to the crime committed. So, it seems that, in order to make up for such a horrendous blasphemy committed in such a symbolic church, a long and carefully prepared ceremony with a numerous Catholic public present would be necessary to properly atone for that devilish offense against the glory of God. Source



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