Dolan laments ‘irreverence’ at St. Pat’s rites for trans activist
Timothy Cardinal Dolan has denounced the recent funeral for trans icon Cecilia Gentili that was held at St. Pat's.
More than 1,000 people attended the ceremony at the historic Manhattan cathedral on Thursday — a crowd Dolan described as disrespectful.
“Once the funeral started is when the trouble started because of the irreverence and the disrespect of the big crowd that was there,” he said Tuesday on SiriusXM's The Catholic Channel, addressing the funeral for the first time. “That was very, very sad.”
The parish had received a call from Gentili's loved ones requesting the funeral be held at the famed site, according to Dolan.
“They didn't know the background of this woman who had died,” the cardinal said. “All they know is somebody called and said, ‘Our dear friend died. We'd love to have the funeral at St. Patrick's Cathedral.'”
Gentili's friends told the church she was a Catholic and that offering a Mass for her at the church would be “a great source of consolation,” Dolan said.
He added that the parish does not “do FBI checks on people who want to be buried” and were not informed Gentili was trans.
Priests made a “quick decision” not to celebrate a Mass for Gentili, an award-winning author, former sex worker and actress.
“I applaud our priests who made a quick decision that, uh-oh, with behavior like this we can't do a Mass,” Dolan said. “We'll do the Liturgy of the Word, which is the readings, and the sermon and the prayers, the petition and the Our Father, and then we'll stop it.”
“The Mass is not going to go on,” he added. “Bravo for our cathedral people who knew nothing about this that was coming up.”
The Catholic Church has long condemned queer and transgender people, but in October the Vatican announced trans people would be allowed to be baptized and serve as godparents in certain situations.
After Gentili's funeral, outraged Catholics took to social media to decry what they believed to be scantily clad mourners and people cursing at the podium while eulogizing Gentili.
Mourners also playfully dubbed the woman a “saint” and changed the lyrics of certain Catholic songs as a lighthearted tribute to her.
The funeral moved Dolan to ask the cathedral's pastor, the Very Rev. Enrique Salvo, hold a rare Mass of Reparation to pray for forgiveness for the funeral.