Pride - I'm against it.

Not the place for evangelization.

I was looking for some photos to illustrate Pride festivities in Minneapolis and many were more than a bit salacious - the Pride photos in general - not just those from Minneapolis.  As a culture I know we are fairly accustomed to near nudity and provocative clothing or the lack there of - but the Pride festivals always bring out the slutty side of gay life.  This despite the efforts of gay activists and NGOs to clean up the gay image and Stepfordize the gay family-unit for export to nations around the world.  Part of the new U.S. Gay imperialism, so to speak. (See: President Barack Obama has taken the U.S. gay rights revolution global, using American embassies across the world to promote a cause that still divides his own country.)

People can disagree with me all they want, homosexual acts - flaunting it and promoting it - is sinful and scandalous.  Standing on a flatbed truck in a parade, pulling your Speedo down to just above your junk is flaunting it.  Kids are invited to attend pride events, including the parade with their straight or gay parents, are exposed to such simulated sexual acts - that is scandalous.  Scandal incites others to sin - that is why it is called scandal.

Gay Pride parades always kick the domestication of gay back about 20 years or more.  Every year, all the progress gay people claim to have made, insisting gay is good and wholesome and suitable for equality, gets set back - .  The facade cracks a little bit more.  By the time it collapses, it will be too late.

Evangelists sometimes hand out Gospel tracts at these events - I don't think it's the right time or place for that.  Before or after maybe - not during.

The Franciscan pre-Pride Masses.

I was aware of these events and last week checked the websites of the Franciscans who have what is called an LGBT Outreach.  Franciscans have always ministered among the marginalized.  I checked St. Francis of Assisi in Manhattan, as well as St. Anthony's Shrine in Boston.  I didn't see support or participation in favor of the gay lifestyle.  I expected there must be more to that story.  Catholic in Brooklyn attended the Mass and checked it out for herself.  She went to St. Francis and saw no gay pride support whatsoever.  Please read her post - I just wanted to share this part however:

This "Pre Pride Mass" was not in any sense of the word a "pep rally for the Gay Pride orgy that will occur in NYC soon thereafter" as claimed by DC Restore or any of the other Trad websites and blogs. It was just as the Church of St. Francis of Assisi said it was: a call to salvation in Jesus Christ, or as they put it on their website as pictured above, "God loves all people and calls us all into His family!"


Our culture and almost the whole world have come to view homosexuality as a completely normal and acceptable way of life. It was not as necessary in past generations for large ministries to homosexuals because society did a lot of our work for us in that homosexuality was condemned. But now that this lifestyle is accepted in our culture, the Church must respond to this and do so with true Christian charity. Yelling at people and telling them they're all rotten sinners headed to hell will only turn them away and drive them deeper into their sin. The Church must be a warm embracing family, always rejecting the sin, but never the sinner, just as Our Lord showed us in the love He showed towards all people. - Catholic in Brooklyn

Thanks be to God.

As I said, I'm against Gay Pride.  The other day I wrote:  Religious groups and churches which support Pride, neither serve God nor the people they seek to minister to.  I stand by that.  When I wrote it I was writing about the local Episcopal Cathedral which not only supports the festival but participates.  I do not see that happening with the Franciscans of Boston or NYC.

Smelling like his sheep.

Recall Pope Francis said the priest should smell like his sheep?  Franciscans smell like their sheep.  The priest at St. Francis of Assisi reminded listeners of that notion in his 'Pre-Pride' Mass:

Sheep are docile, dimwitted and dirty. And my dear friends, so are we. This is why I love the sheep metaphor. It actually describes us well. Sheep stink! Sheep have all sorts of grubby little things clinging to them. And sheep routinely lose their way. On their own they wander off, they get lost, and eventually they fall victim to some predator. Outside of the sheepfold, their future is bleak. Alone, they will not survive long. Like them, in order for us to thrive, we need to be part of a community. If we're excluded from the community, we will not do well. And more importantly and sadly, if we are pushed away from the sheepfold, it would appear that the shepherds are not doing a very good job. - Catholic in Brooklyn

The Franciscans in Boston and NYC have confessions nearly all day long, every day I think.  At least they used to.  Frequent confession is important - it eradicates pride.