Weeks of debate to culminate Friday as Dodgers host Pride Night

After a month of often-vitriolic debate and a well-publicized change of heart by the team, the Dodgers will host their annual LGBTQ+ Pride Night at Dodger Stadium Friday evening — an event that has earned the wrath of the Catholic Church and Christian organizations due to the inclusion of a group of self-described “queer and trans nuns.”

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who are not actually nuns but dress in religious-looking garb, will receive a Community Hero Award during the Pride Night celebration, honoring the group’s efforts to promote human rights, diversity and “spiritual enlightenment.”

When the Dodgers first announced plans to honor the group, the team was met with vocal opposition from various Catholic groups and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, who called the organization’s choice of garb an affront to ordained nuns, and the Sisters’ overall behavior a lewd mockery of Christianity in general.

Bowing to the pressure, the Dodgers on May 5 withdrew the group’s invitation, a move that prompted even more criticism from local elected officials and LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, who said the entire message of the Pride movement is one of inclusion, and that banning the Sisters was deemed an affront to that mission.

With many of the area’s most prominent LGBTQ+ organizations vowing to skip the Dodger Pride event, the team reversed course on May 22, apologizing to the Sisters group and again inviting its members to take part in Pride Night.

The Sisters had earlier issued a statement expressing “deep offense” at being uninvited — calling the decision a capitulation to “hateful and misleading information from people outside their community.” The group insisted it is a nonprofit organization that “annually raises thousands of dollars to distribute to organizations supporting marginalized communities.” The Sisters’ website describes the organization as “a leading-edge order of queer and trans nuns.”

Following their apology, the Dodgers said in a statement that the group’s members “have agreed to receive the gratitude of our collective communities for the lifesaving work that they have done tirelessly for decades.”

“After much thoughtful feedback from our diverse communities, honest conversations within the Los Angeles Dodgers organization and generous discussions with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the Los Angeles Dodgers would like to offer our sincerest apologies to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, members of the LGBTQ+ community and their friends and families,” according to a team statement. “In the weeks ahead, we will continue to work with our LGBTQ+ partners to better educate ourselves, find ways to strengthen the ties that bind and use our platform to support all of our fans who make up the diversity of the Dodgers family.”

About a week later, the Dodgers announced the team will host a “Christian Faith and Family Day” at Dodger Stadium on July 30.

“Join us at Dodger Stadium on 7/30 for Christian Faith and Family Day. Stay after the game to celebrate and be part of a day of worship. Stay tuned for more details,” the team tweeted at the time.

The event was first announced earlier that day by Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who tweeted, “Excited to announce the relaunch of Christian Faith and Family Day at Dodger Stadium on July 30th. More details to come — but we are grateful for the opportunity to talk about Jesus and determined to make it bigger and better than it was before COVID.”

The last Christian event was at Dodger Stadium in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic.

But that move did little to appease Catholic groups, who again blasted the Dodgers for choosing to honor the Sisters organization.

Hoping to offset the Dodger event, Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez plans to dedicate a Mass on Friday “for healing due to the harm caused by the Dodgers decision to honor a group that intentionally denigrates and profanes the Christian faith.”

“Friday, we celebrate the feast of Jesus’ Sacred Heart,” Gomez said in a statement. “We will be praying in a special way for our city and country, for an end to prejudice, and for renewed respect for the religious beliefs of all Angelenos and all Americans.”

The statement went on to say, “In a message to the faithful, the Archdiocese emphasized the ‘disappointment, dismay and pain’ caused by the actions of the group against the Christian faith and the Dodgers decision to honor the group even after acknowledging the concerns of the community.”

The Dodgers declined to comment on Gomez’s remarks.

Gomez will celebrate the Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels at 12:10 p.m. The archdiocese has also called “on all Catholics and people of goodwill to stand together in prayer, following the Dodgers plans to honor the (Sisters) group.”

“The Archdiocese of Los Angeles stands for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which means we stand against any form of bigotry, hate or sacrilege,” the archdiocese’s statement said. “The Archdiocese calls on Catholics to stand together in prayer. The hurt in our hearts can only be healed by the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.”

Meanwhile, a group known as Catholics for Catholics plans to hold a procession in Elysian Park beginning at 3 p.m. as a “prayerful response to Dodgers’ godless decision to honor blasphemous, Christ-mocking Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.” The group plans to gather for the procession near the Frank Hotchkin Memorial Training Center.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Conference of Bishops issued a statement that said, in part, “This year, on June 16 — the day of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus — a professional baseball team has shockingly chosen to honor a group whose lewdness and vulgarity in mocking our Lord, His Mother, and consecrated women cannot be overstated. This is not just offensive and painful to Christians everywhere; it is blasphemy.”

The bishops’ statement also called on Catholics nationwide to join the LA Archdiocese in prayer on Friday “by praying the Litany of the Sacred Heart and making an act of reparation — an act offered to the Lord with the intention of repairing the spiritual damage inflicted by sin.”

The invitation was signed by the Most Rev. Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, along with New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, and joined by Gomez.

The Dodger Pride celebration will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the stadium’s center Field Plaza, with the team touting music and drink specials. The national anthem at the game will be sung by former “American Idol” contestant David Archuleta.

More from Los Angeles