Yesterday, Salvatore Cordileone, the “Father of Proposition 8,” assumed his new position as Archbishop of San Francisco in front of a crowd of about 2,000 people, including 40 bishops. A group that included the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence protested outside.
According to a Reuters report, the archbishop made a light-hearted reference to his recent DUI arrest in his installation homily:
“God has always had a way of putting me in my place,” he said. “With the last episode in my life, God has outdone Himself.”
Cordileone pleaded guilty to DUI charges on Monday.
As the New York Times notes, the new archbishop faces a skeptical flock in an archdiocese long known for its outreach to gay and lesbian Catholics.
[Cordileone's] record on marriage stands in contrast, experts said, to those of predecessors who have tried to accommodate gay residents of San Francisco. Some of those archbishops regularly visited parishes like Most Holy Redeemer [a noted gay-friendly parish] or appointed priests sympathetic to parishes with many gay members.
For nearly two decades, until 1995, the San Francisco Archdiocese was led by Archbishop John R. Quinn, a standard-bearer of liberal Catholicism. He made strategic appointments, naming, for example, a priest who helped bring about Most Holy Redeemer’s transformation from an aging parish to one made up mostly of gay men, said the Rev. Donal Godfrey, a Jesuit priest and author of “Gays and Grays,” a history of Most Holy Redeemer.
In 1997, Archbishop William Levada brokered a deal that allowed the church to comply with a city regulation requiring that benefits be paid to the unmarried partners of people doing business with the city.
The former executive director of San Francisco Catholic Charities, Brian Cahill — who recently wrote a San Francisco Chronicle op-ed titled “Catholic Church wrong on gay nuptials” – asserted in another opinion piece that Archbishop Cordileone faces a clear choice between kissing up to the hierarchy in Rome (who obviously gave him the San Francisco assignment in order to stick a thumb in the eye of the LGBT civil rights movement) and doing his job as the spiritual leader of the more than 400,000 Catholics in his archdiocese:
“No one expects him to be silent on church teaching, but he has a choice to make. He can continue to be the aggressive, outspoken leader of the American Catholic bishops in their effort to prevent civil gay marriage, or he can be the shepherd of his flock. He can’t be both, and if he tries, he will fail.”
Count this former Catholic skeptical that Cordileone will choose to continue the archdiocesan tradition of outreach to the LGBT community. After all, though his ecclesiastical star isn’t likely to ascend much higher, there’s still the possibility of a red hat in the future if he plays his cards right by pleasing the right people. And if there’s one thing that the leadership of the Catholic Church has made abundantly clear, it’s that homophobic bigotry is both institutional policy and a top priority. Stay tuned, folks.
AP Photo
A good shepherd does not lead his flock into sinful behavior.
He’s an ole Queen, that one!
Observations from another former Catholic: Outreach to the LGBT community diminishes with each appointment of a new bishop, who will certainly engage in a lot of finger-wagging, and scolding of the LGBT community.
There’s nothing there for LGBT people anymore – not that there was ever much there anyway. Save your collection plate donations for a more worthy cause.
Gay-affirming California Episcopal Bishop Marc Andrus was to attend the installation as part of the interfaith community and dialogue.
He was then basically disinvited … for being gay-affirming and not afraid to say so. Here’s his letter of explanation. Shame on Archbishop Cordileone.
10/05/2012
My experience at the installation of Archbishop Cordileone
A post to clarify my experience at the installation of Archbishop Cordileone at St. Mary’s Cathedral, San Francisco.
I was dropped off at the cathedral at 1:30PM by my assistant. After making my way around protestors and showing my invitation to security guards, I was in the lower level area to which I was directed by 1:40.
The instructions the Archdiocese had given my assistant were that I should be at St. Mary’s by 1:45. The service was scheduled to begin at 2.
I identified myself to an assistant to the archbishop, who spoke to someone through a headset, saying, “Bishop Andrus is here.”
I saw the Greek Metropolitan, a good colleague of mine, who was in the same room with me, several Greek Orthodox priests, archdiocesan employees and security guards. I greeted the metropolitan and we spoke briefly.
An archdiocesan employee attempted to escort me upstairs with the Greek Orthodox group, but was stopped from doing so by the employee to whom I had first identified myself. This person, who appeared to be in a superior role, instructed another employee to stand with me.
At this point no other guests remained in the downstairs area. The employee and I chatted while waiting. I began to wonder about the time holdup. I checked my phone; it was 1:50PM. I asked the employee standing with me if the service indeed started at 2, which she affirmed.
At 2PM, when the service was to begin, I said to the employee, “I think I understand, and feel I should leave.” Her response was, “Thank you for being understanding.” I quietly walked out the door. No one attempted to stop me. No attempt was ever made to explain the delay or any process for seating. I arrived early, before the time given my assistant, and waited to leave until after the service had begun.
My intention for attending the installation was to honor our ecumenical and interfaith relations in the Bay Area.
The way Bishop Andrus was treated was abominable and inexcusable, no matter who made the decision to block his participation in Cordileone’s installation. But then the new RC archbishop has behaved in an abominable and inexcusable manner to gay and lesbian people and their families all over the state. I hope this little episode is not an augur of things to come. But I suspect it will be, unless the archbishop looks more closely at his drinking and unless he comes to grips with his own sexuality.
Here’s what my picket said @the protest:
(God loves ALL!!)
Be
SOBER
physically “and” spiritually!
Don’t be
DRUNK
w/ ignorance and hatred!
Given Lois’ comment, I am once again made to wonder at the depth of their hate for us, that they even despise the people who are nice to us…
[...] marriage in his state than perhaps any other Catholic bishop across the country. (And considering some of the competition, that’s quite the [...]