The Los Angeles Dodgers have decided not to give a “Community Hero Award” to an anti-Catholic drag group after outrage and pushback from Catholics.
The Dodgers had originally planned to present the award to the Los Angeles chapter of the “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence,” an organization of men who dress in drag queen versions of Catholic religious habits that claims to have a “ministry,” according to its website.
In a statement Wednesday, the Dodgers said they have pulled the group from the list of award recipients for the team’s “Pride Night” celebration before their June 16 home game.
“This year, as part of a full night of programming, we invited a number of groups to join us. We are now aware that our inclusion of one group in particular – The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence – in this year’s Pride Night has been the source of some controversy,” the team said.
“Given the strong feelings of people who have been offended by the sisters’ inclusion in our evening, and in an effort not to distract from the great benefits that we have seen over the years of Pride Night, we are deciding to remove them from this year’s group of honorees,” the Dodgers said.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 17, 2023
The Dodgers are partnering with LA Pride to put on the team’s 10th annual Pride Night.
Members of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence go by names like Sister T’aint A Virgin, Sister Risqué of the Sissytine Chapel, and Sister Edith Myflesh. The group also mocks the process of becoming a Catholic nun by having members become a postulant, then a novice, and finally a fully professed “sister” with a black veil. One of the group’s founders originally used old habits used by real Catholic nuns.
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“Go forth and sin some more!” is the group’s slogan.
“We are more than just another community service organization: we are Sisters. As with our more traditional counterparts, nearly all of us felt a genuine calling to do this work. There is room for a lot of fun in the Order, but we take our callings and our vows very seriously,” the group’s website says.
Back in 2007, members of the drag group tricked the archbishop of San Francisco into giving them the Eucharist so they could defile it.
On Easter this year, the group put on a “Jesus and Mary-themed striptease” that involved a performer “writhing upside down on a large wooden cross,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported. They also had shirtless men compete to be crowned the “hunkiest” Jesus.
“These are just a few examples of the SPI’s vile and diabolical actions which go far beyond parody or satire – they are blasphemous and deeply offensive to Christians everywhere,” CatholicVote, a Catholic nonprofit, wrote in a letter to the Dodgers protesting the drag group’s award.
Catholic League President Bill Donohue called it an “outrageous insult to Catholics” and wrote to Major League Baseball (MLB) Commissioner Rob Manfred about the situation.
In a statement Wednesday, Donahue said he wants to “thank Commissioner Manfred, and the Dodgers, for doing the right thing.”
“Justice was done in the end. There is no room for anti-Catholic bigotry in any gay or trans celebratory event,” Donahue said.