by Debra Heine
A Mass of Reparation was quietly held at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan over the weekend after a depraved funeral service for a renowned transgender activist scandalized parishioners. Some Catholics, however, say that’s not enough and are calling for an exorcism to be performed at the cathedral.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York has condemned the heavily attended February 15 funeral of Cecilia Gentili, a biological male who identified as a female.
Gentili was a former prostitute and drug addict who was once jailed at Rikers Island. He went on to become “a transgender health program coordinator, a nonprofit policy director for an established gay men’s health organization, GMHC, and a lobbyist for health equality and anti-discrimination legislation, among other advocacy work,” according to the Associated Press.
“Gentili was known as a leading advocate for other transgender people, as well as sex workers and people with HIV,” the AP reported. A post on Gentili’s Instagram account announced his death on Feb. 6 at age of 52.
“Gentili reportedly talked about his atheism in “Red Ink,” an autobiographical show that explored his childhood in Argentina and lack of religious faith.
“I am an atheist, but I am always asking God for things,” Gentili said.
“New York’s LGBTQ+ community has lost a champion in trans icon Cecilia Gentili,” Democrat New York Gov. Kathy Hochul posted on X, following Gentili’s death.
Although a non-parishioner and an avowed atheist, Gentili was allowed a funeral service St. Patrick’s Cathedral before an estimated audience of over 1,000 gays, lesbians, transgenders, “drag queens” and supporters who at times, applauded, cheered, and chanted Cecilia’s name.
The participants appeared to have no idea how to dress or behave at a Catholic funeral.
In a mockery of the Catholic Church, one speaker made inappropriate political points while leading intercessory prayers, and another received a standing ovation after praising Gentili as “the Mother of all Whores,” and “Saint Cecilia.”
Gentili’s friends placed a picture of him with a halo accompanied by the Spanish words for “transvestite,” “whore,” “blessed,” and “mother” near the altar where the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is offered.
They treated the sanctuary like a stage and failed to genuflect when approaching the altar.
Left-wing gay activist Billy Porter who has campaigned publically alongside Joe Biden numerous times and performed at the Democrat National Committee OPENED the "funeral service" with a song mocking the Our Father prayer
This is just unbelievable and sick.
Watch. pic.twitter.com/JYDxMAuo6L
— CatholicVote (@CatholicVote) February 16, 2024
Fortunately, the service did not include Holy Communion, making it a “Funeral Outside Mass.”
Fr. Nicholas Gregoris, Co-Founder/Vice Provost of the Priestly Society of Saint John Henry Newman and Managing Editor of the Catholic Response, posted a video of the service on X, calling the gaudy spectacle “revolting.”
“This blasphemous and sacrilegious fiasco was a deplorable desecration of America’s most famous Catholic Church,” Fr. Gregoris wrote.
WARNING: This is a video of the Funeral Mass of a transgender activist at Saint Patrick's Cathedral in the Archdiocese of New York.
This blasphemous & sacrilegious fiasco was a deplorable desecration of America's most famous Catholic Church.
Revolting!https://t.co/hlFJikfshX
— Fr. Nicholas Gregoris (@GregorisFr) February 17, 2024
In a written statement released Saturday, the Rev. Enrique Salvo, pastor of Saint Patrick’s, told parishioners the church shared their “outrage over the scandalous behavior” at the funeral.
“The Cathedral only knew that family and friends were requesting a funeral Mass for a Catholic, and had no idea our welcome and prayer would be degraded in such a sacrilegious and deceptive way,” Salvo said in the statement.
That such a scandal occurred at “America’s Parish Church” makes it worse; that it took place as Lent was beginning, the annual forty–day struggle with the forces of sin and darkness, is a potent reminder of how much we need the prayer, reparation, repentance, grace, and mercy to which this holy season invites us.
At the Cardinal’s directive, we have offered an appropriate Mass of Reparation.
Some are calling for more than reparation. A Lifesite petition is demanding that an exorcism be performed “to rid the church of any remaining evil spirits.”
“One of Gentili’s friends prayed to God for access to ‘gender-affirming health care’ during the intercessions, while another participant changed the lyrics of the ‘Ave Maria’ to ‘Ave Cecilia’ and danced through the aisles,” Lifesite noted.
The petition has garnered nearly 13,000 signatures.
The Vatican requires that every Catholic diocese have a specially trained priest who is able to perform exorcisms when necessary. As it happens, Father Salvo recently interviewed a giant among exorcist priests, Father Chad Ripperger, in a video posted on St. Patrick’s YouTube Channel.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York reportedly called Father Edward Dougherty, the seemingly oblivious priest who officiated at the tawdry funeral service, a “hero.”
LifeSite spoke with Wendy Stone Long, who had approached Cardinal Dolan on Saturday, February 17 after his vigil Mass at Blessed Sacrament Parish in New Rochelle, New York. Long told LifeSiteNews that she first asked the cardinal when a Mass of Reparation would take place at the cathedral in order to make reparation for the recent sacrilegious funeral.
Dolan leaned over to Long and whispered into her ear: “You know, I think it’s already happened – they did it on the QT (quiet) so it wouldn’t be disrupted by those protesters.”
When Long insisted that many Catholics would have liked to attend that Mass of Reparation in light of the great scandal of the funeral service, Dolan told her that Dougherty “is a hero” because “he stopped the (funeral) Mass.” And when Long objected that she herself had watched the entire service and that it was not stopped, Dolan said, “Then it went on without him,” and the cardinal turned around and walked away.
Dougherty officiated the funeral service on February 15. As can be heard on the video of the event, he was told before the service that the originally planned funeral Mass had to be turned into a funeral service. “Funeral service, no Mass,” a clergyman told Dougherty, to which he replied, “OK, OK.” He obviously did not make that decision. He continuously spoke of the trans activist Cecilia Gentili (born a man) as “she” and indicated that Gentili was on the way to heaven. At the beginning of the service, he praised the attendees – hundreds of whom were transgender persons – by stating, “Except on Easter Sunday, we don’t really have a crowd that is so well turned out.” The congregation burst out in prolonged uproarious hoots and yells in response to the priest, who is then laughing.
Father Dougherty could be heard laughing on his hot mic throughout the service.
The scandalous Catholic event came only two months after the Vatican released the document Fiducia Supplicans permitting blessings for homosexuals and other couples in irregular marriages or relationships.
More than 100 priests, and at least 500 Catholic scholars from all over the world have reportedly added their signatures a filial appeal to the bishops in the world asking them to oppose Fiducia Supplicans because it “contradicts traditional doctrine.”
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Debra Heine reports for American Greatness.
Photo “Cecilia Gentili Funeral” by Trans Equity.
