Three days after the Archbishop of San Francisco apologized for having given Holy Communion to members of the notorious anti-Catholic homosexual activist group the "Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence", the Catholic parish in the heart of San Francisco's homosexual Castro district is embroiled in yet another scandal relating to the parish's gay activism.The parish bulletin of Most Holy Redeemer church carried a message this weekend from the one of the gay activists behind the communion scandal thanking the parish for its continued support.
The message from ('Sister') "Delta Goodhand" praises Archbishop George Niederauer for the "wonderful Mass" and the congregation for being "so welcoming". "It was great to be able to participate in the Mass."
The parish bulletin is approved in most Catholic churches by the pastor and cannot be distributed without his express approval.
The message continued, "Afterwards, one of the parishioners offered us a blue "MHRC: An Inclusive Catholic Church" pin that I was proud to wear through the Castro Fair. You are a wonderfully inclusive church!"
After news broke on the bulletin yesterday, the parish removed the note from the online versions of the bulletin.
Maurice Healy, spokesman for Archbishop Niederauer, said that the note was removed after the Archbishop called the parish about the matter.
"We did see it, and the parish has removed it from the website," said Healy.
"The archbishop talked with the parish and they saw the wisdom of not including that letter."
The "Sisters" is an activist organization of homosexual men who wear makeup and dress in bizarre costume parodies of Catholic nuns. They have been denounced many times by faithful Catholics and even from the San Francisco chancery office for their ongoing efforts to ridicule the Church and undermine its teachings on sexual purity and natural marriage.
Last week, Archbishop Niederauer publicly apologized for having given Holy Communion to members of the group, saying he had not realized that the bizarrely costumed men were representatives of it. Niederauer had celebrated a Mass on October 7 at Most Holy Redeemer at which he was filmed giving two members of this group Holy Communion.
Most Holy Redeemer parish is among those listed in March 2004 on a homosexual website as one of the most "gay-friendly" Catholic churches in the US and maintains a photo gallery of its annual involvement in the San Francisco "Gay Pride" events.
Asked if the Archbishop was aware of the parish's official participation in the Gay Pride parades, Healy said, "Its no secret that a contingent of the parish has participated in the parade for years."
Healy could not say for sure whether such participation was of concern to the Archbishop. "I don't know whether he has focused on that," Healy stated, continuing, "I'll get back to you on that."
Healy did admit however that he was aware of the parade including numerous participants going fully nude and engaging in sexual activities. "I'm fully aware of those yeah," he said.
In November 2006, the parish was in the news again when it was revealed by Catholic groups that it had sponsored a bingo night to raise funds for the group, whose motto is "go and sin some more".
Among the prizes for the bingo, that included sexually explicit activities, were pornographic DVDs and "sex toys."
The group had planned to hold the bingos regularly until the plans were revealed to the press.
The parish is well known as a centre of dissent from Catholic teaching on sexuality and the local base of Catholic homosexual activists.
In April this year, Most Holy Redeemer sponsored a Mass-like quasi-liturgical event for active homosexuals and those who support their goals.
The event was led by Jesuit Father Donal Godfrey who noted that the parish was the place where the rainbow flag "was first invented... for use at San Francisco's Gay Pride in 1978."
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