BRIDGEPORT, Connecticut, December 11, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) – Another U.S. city has officially introduced open homosexuality into its St. Patrick’s Day parade. And again, the Catholic diocese is continuing to stand by the parade.
The committee for the Stamford, Connecticut, parade announced its choice of state Supreme Court Justice Andrew McDonald as its 2016 grand marshal November 22.
McDonald is openly gay, his biography on the State of Connecticut Judicial Branch Website closing with the statement, “Justice McDonald and his husband, Charles, live in Stamford.”
The local Catholic diocese has indicated it has no issue with the move to have the openly homosexual judge lead the parade, according to the local news outlet the Stamford Advocate.
McDonald was at odds with the Catholic Church in Connecticut in 2009 when as a state senator he proposed controversial legislation along with another lawmaker to regulate the Church’s finances.
SB 1098 was specific to the Catholic Church, and would have removed parish priests and the bishop from their oversight positions, giving power to a lay board. The bill was ultimately tabled, but not before significant backlash for its apparent violation of the Fourteenth Amendment ban on discriminatory legislation.
“We are deeply concerned about statements made by elected officials suggesting that Connecticut's existing religious corporation statutes, including those applicable to the Roman Catholic Church, are unconstitutional and should be amended,” the Diocese of Bridgeport, under Bishop William Lori, said in a report from Catholic News Agency at the time. “These statements are misinformed.”
The spokesman for the Diocese of Bridgeport said current Bishop Frank Caggiano was not asked about the St. Patrick’s Day parade committee’s choice of McDonald as grand marshal, saying as well it would not dispute the decision and calling the St. Patrick’s celebration a day of inclusiveness.
“The diocese respects the decision of the committee,“ Brian Wallace said. “It’s a day of inclusiveness. It’s a day people drop their differences. We hope people have a good day and enjoy the parade.”
The diocese did not respond to LifeSiteNews' request for comment by press time.
Stamford St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee Chair Michael Feighan told the Stamford Advocate that McDonald, who aside from being a judge, has served on municipal boards and already been involved with the parade, met all the criteria for grand marshal role.
He is thought to be the first openly gay grand marshal in the U.S. selected to lead a St. Patrick’s Day parade, the report said.
In 2013 McDonald was confirmed as the first openly gay justice to the Connecticut Supreme Court, according to the Connecticut Mirror.
St. Patrick’s Day is the feast day honoring Ireland’s leading patron saint, and the annual Catholic observance holds substantial cultural significance for the Irish community, with parades and countless other festivities across the U.S. each year.
New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan upset Catholics earlier this year when he served as grand marshal for the 2015 New York City Saint Patrick’s Day Parade, after the parade committee allowed an openly homosexual activist group march in the parade with its identifying banner, breaking the event’s previous two-hundred-plus-year stance of only allowing Irish themed groups to participate in the parade honoring the Catholic saint.
The New York City parade committee’s agreement to allow the homosexual activist group after decades of pressure from gay activist groups was supposed to also mean a pro-life group would take part in the Catholic event, but no pro-life group has been allowed, and earlier this past fall the parade committee voted to allow a second homosexual group.
A Massachusetts Catholic school pulled out of its local St. Patrick’s Day parade this year after it learned a homosexual activist group would be allowed to march while openly identifying its homosexuality, its principal at the time citing Catholic Church teaching.
“Catholics are forbidden to sponsor or even participate in an event which openly promotes unnatural and immoral behavior,” Immaculate Heart of Mary School’s Brother Thomas Dalton said. “The Church will never accept nor condone same sex marriage and the homosexual lifestyle.”
NEW YORK, March 17, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) – New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan led Manhattan’s St. Patrick’s Day parade on Tuesday as grand marshal, despite backlash
from faithful Catholics unhappy with the organizers’ decision to allow
an openly homosexual activist group to march in the event.
“I’m as radiant as the sun, so thanks be to God for the honor and the
joy,” said Cardinal Dolan on Tuesday morning, as he led 250,000
marchers down Fifth Avenue – including a delegation from “Out @ NBC
Universal,” a group of gay activists who work for NBC, the network that
televises the parade.
Catholic commentator Michael Voris and his team from ChurchMilitant.TV were present at the parade and were able to question Dolan
on his decision during a press scrum. “Your Eminence, do you have
anything to say to the loyal Catholics who find what you’re doing here a
great scandal to the faith?” Voris asked.
“No, come on in. We’d love to have you,” Dolan replied.
Voris reports that he and his cameraman were then removed from the press scrum, providing video of an official telling them to leave, and then calling police over to escort them out of the area.
Both the parade’s organizers and Cardinal Dolan drew criticism
from faithful Catholics last year by approving Out@NBC Universal’s
request to march in this year’s parade, under a banner that makes
reference to their homosexuality. The controversial decision prompted
the Catholic League and at least one Catholic school to pull out of the parade, while nearly 5,000 people signed a petition urging Cardinal Dolan to withdraw from the event as a show of support for Catholic teaching forbidding homosexual behavior.
New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan responds to a question about
his decision to serve as grand marshal at the St. Patrick's Day Parade.
ChurchMilitant.tvBut the cardinal refused to back down, expressing support
for the group’s inclusion. “I have no trouble with the decision at
all,” Cardinal Dolan said at a press conference announcing his
appointment as grand marshal. “I think the decision is a wise one.”
Meanwhile, the parade’s organizers further upset rank-and-file Catholics by refusing to let a pro-life group march, saying they didn’t want to risk taking attention away from the gay group.
“That won’t be happening,” parade committee vice chairman John Lahey
said of the pro-life group’s request to march. “What we want to do is
keep 2015 focused on the gesture of goodwill we made towards the gay
community with the inclusion of OUT@NBCUniversal.”
For the second year in a row, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio
refused to attend, saying that despite all the controversy, the
organizers behind the celebration of Ireland’s patron saint haven’t done
enough to make the event gay-friendly.
According to the mayor, while he saw the inclusion of a single
homosexual group as “progress,” he won’t participate in the parade until
it is “open to [homosexual groups] who would like to participate who
don't happen to work for NBC."
"Having only one delegation associated with one company that allows
members of the LGBT community is, obviously, a pretty narrow
concession," said de Blasio, after marching in the gay-oriented “St.
Pat's for All” parade in Queens on Sunday. "We'd like to see something
that's more inclusive."
"I will not be marching [in Tuesday’s parade], but I look forward to
progress in the future," de Blasio stated, at an unrelated press
conference the following day. "I do think the first step was taken this
year and I'm hopeful that soon there'll be others taken."
It seems likely that de Blasio’s hopes will be realized. While at
least one homosexual group was turned away from participating in this
year’s St. Patrick’s Day parade, organizers were quick to note that it
was simply a matter of the available slots having been filled prior to
the group’s application to march, and said homosexual groups were
“welcome” to apply for slots in 2016’s parade.
Meanwhile, a number of Catholics disillusioned by the organizers’
actions offered an alternative event on Tuesday at Church of the Holy
Innocents, not far from the festivities on Fifth Avenue.
Proudly on
display was the Children First Foundation’s “Choose Life” banner – the
same one that was rejected by parade organizers. The event, dubbed the
“St. Patrick’s Day Lenten Pilgrimage,” included four Masses, the
opportunity for Confession, and a prayer vigil for unborn children.
(Associated Press) NEW YORK – The Catholic League says it will sit out next year's St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York because parade organizers aren't letting an anti-abortion Catholic group march.
Catholic League head Bill Donohue said Thursday that his organization won't participate in the March 2015 parade for the first time in 20 years.
Parade organizers said last week that they would allow OUT(at)NBCUniversal to march. That's an LGBT resource group at the company that broadcasts the parade.
Gay activists say inviting the NBC employee group isn't enough.
But Donohue says parade organizers promised him that if a gay group could march under its own banner, a "pro-life" Catholic group would be included also.
He says the organizers backed out of their pledge.
Parade spokesman Bill O'Reilly called the Catholic League's decision disappointing.
(ChurchMilitant.TV) Hello everyone and welcome to The Vortex where lies and falsehoods are trapped and
exposed. I’m Michael Voris.
The Catholic Establishment Media cannot be trusted. They are in the pockets of the US
bishops, many of whom have a strange view of the Church.
Case in point – the failure to report on the scandal caused by Cardinal Dolan, repeated
scandals actually, but more on the media in a moment.
We can certainly thank Cardinal Dolan of New York for one thing – his wicked
endorsement of active homosexuals being allowed to march under their sodomite banner
in the St. Patrick’s Day parade has finally taken the mask off the loss of supernatural faith
among various bishops and cardinals in the US hierarchy.
If you hear only one thing from this episode, it is this – various bishops and other leaders
in the Church do not believe the Catholic faith. They do not possess supernatural faith.
This is clear by their actions, statements, silence in the face of assorted evils and
willingness to so frequently change the topic from sexual immorality to social justice.
Their version of social justice is a scam, a fraud that diverts attention from the REAL evil
in the Church these days – the sins of sexual impurity and their failure to address them.
They don’t address them because they don’t really care about them - and they don’t
really care about them because they don’t really believe there are any supernatural
consequences for them. If they DID believe that, then they certainly have a very odd way
of demonstrating their fear for their flock and our eternal lives.
Quote evidently, they don’t believe souls got to hell for these sins because – at the end of
the day – they don’t really believe that anyone goes to hell. That’s why they keep their
mouths shut about sin, hell, and the need for confession. They don’t take it seriously.
They don’t believe hardly any souls – if actually any go to Hell – and that is THE
hallmark of their lack of supernatural faith – it is the episcopal heresy of our day. It is a
heresy of silence fueled by a lack of supernatural faith.
There is the report of a talk that Bishop Sheen was giving one day about Hell, when a
lady in the front row piped up and said, “I don’t believe in hell”, and the Venerable
bishop Sheen responded, “You will when you get there Madam.” Take copious notes
here bishops – very careful notes – there is a Hell and souls go there. Check the
scriptures.
You may not have noticed, but it has been almost a week since news broke of the decision
by Cardinal Dolan (one leader who appears lacking in the supernatural faith department
based on his continued, non-stop causing of scandal to the faithful) and his decision about
gays in the parade.
Almost entire week. In this week, we have been paying very close attention to the
internet sites of the Catholic Establishment Media – EWTN, Catholic News Agency,
Zenit, Catholic Answers, the Catholic page on Patheos, and a host of others.
The only place we could find anything about this evil was at the National Catholic
Register’s bloggers’ page where Pat Archbold from Creative Minority Report wrote a
brilliant piece.
There isn’t one word, not one OFFICIAL word covering this story of Cardinal Dolan
applauding the inclusion of people in a parade .. dedicated to the memory of one of the
Church’s greatest saints .. who celebrate their mortal sin and indentify themselves
accordingly. To add insult to his sin of scandal, Dolan has agreed to lead the parade as
Grand Marshal. Disgusting.
Disgusting as well is the hypocrisy of the sites and media sources of the Catholic world
who hold themselves out as reliable sources of news and information in the Catholic
world. This proves the case once and for all – they are NOT reliable sources.
They are every bit as bad as the secular media who spin and distort and keep THEIR
mouths shut about evils in the secular world. The Catholic Establishment Media is
bought and sold, owned lock stock and barrel by the Establishment Church and various
bishops like Charles Chaput who set the agenda and determine what can be talked about
and what can’t.
They possess as much journalistic integrity as many of the bishops possess supernatural
faith – which is to say – painfully little. If they had integrity, they could not have ignored
the most sensational story to hit the Catholic world in months – in fact, since Dolan said
on national TV, “Bravo” about gay would be NFL linebacker Michael Sam’s coming out
as gay. Can you imagine one of the apostles saying bravo to mortal sin?
That little incident, by the way, earning Dolan the unflattering nickname of “Cardinal
Bravo”.
There is simply no rationale for any of these internet supposed-news outlets to ignore the
most talked about story on the Catholic internet in months. No rationale that is – except
they are controlled by the very bishops and powers that they would need to expose in any
reporting – so that aint gonna happen.
Bottom line then – they cannot be trusted. None of them. This story about Dolan and the
gays in the St. Patrick’s Day parade made SECULAR news for gosh sake. We here at
Church Militant.TV produced a Special report that had a reach of close to 100,000 on our
Church Militant.TV Facebook page alone.
Add in all the other faithful Catholic websites and blogs willing to talk about this and
there is simply no excuse at all, under any circumstances that the Catholic Establishment
Media can offer for ducking on this story – except their masters don’t want it covered.
We are indeed in strange times in the Church my fellow Catholics. For decades now, as
this crisis of faith has unfolded in the hierarchy, various Catholics have simply been left
in the dark about it, and contributing to that darkness are other Catholics in a position to
help do something about it. They have not. So other Catholics must rise up and do
something.
Hello, everyone, and welcome to The Vortex, where lies and falsehoods are trapped and
exposed. I’m Michael Voris.
When a Catholic bishop who is given care of souls does just the opposite, then he is a
wicked bishop.
What New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan has done in welcoming gays officially into the
parade celebrating one of the most revered saints in the Church is purely diabolical.
That’s right, Your Eminence, someone has got to say it to you flat out—you are in the
grip of the devil.
You continue to be a non-stop source of scandal for the faithful, both in what you do and
in what you fail to do.
You have in this case given your blessing to an organized group of souls publicly
celebrating their sodomy in a parade that celebrates the sanctity of a man who converted
a nation away from paganism.
What you are doing is evil, and if you can’t see that, then you are blind.
You give your approval to sin—public approval to mortal sin from a Churchman. You
have done this before, but never on so grand a scale. You give active homosexuality a
free pass in your archdiocese.
You are not fit to be a successor of the Apostles. You sully the bride of Christ with your
wickedness.
You invite the most anti-Catholic man ever to hold the White House to a public dinner.
Even after other bishops and cardinals made private appeals to you to rescind the
invitation, you went ahead with it.
You go on national television and distort the Gospel of Our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ
with your horrible comments about gay football player Michael Sam, saying “Bravo” to
his sodomy. What the hell is wrong with you?
What other conclusion can people who love the Church draw, other than you
don’t.
To everyone who cares about the Church, looking in from the outside, it looks like you no
longer believe the Catholic faith—because as you know, there is no such thing as a partial
Catholic—you’re either all in or not.
But you and other wicked people in the Church have allowed an attitude to grow, an
atmosphere to come to life, where people think they are free to pick and choose what they
want.
Do you think you have any chance of escaping hell when you die if you don’t repent of
all this before your death? Do you even believe in Hell?
You cavort with child-killing politicans, you give them shout-outs at the Holy Sacrifice of
the Mass, you go on national television to an audience of millions and practically mock
the idea of ever preaching against the sins of the flesh—the sins that the Mother of God
revealed to the seers at Fatima most souls go to hell for.
And in the area of what you do NOT do—you do not support faithful Catholics who want
some sanity in their parish community, free from all the modernist deformations you
celebrate. Instead you threaten to close their parishes.
You do NOT make a clear definitive statement in support of Jesus Christ when standing
with followers of the false religion of Islam. You confuse the faithful about the nature of
Islam by your silence. You will not call it for what it is—a heresy, a false religion. Islam
denies the divinity of Christ; it rejects the Holy Trinity. Muslims do not possess
supernatural faith. And knowing all this, you publicly encouraged followers of this false
religion to remain in it.
How dare you parade, now literally parade, around New York in the red robes of a
bishop, meant to signify the death you would happily undergo to preserve the flock, when
in reality, far from preserving them from death, you are actually bringing death to them.
You need to repent publicly and swiftly. You need to admit the many sins and scandals
you have caused and tell the world you were wrong. You need to lay aside your ego, your
need to be praised by men, for the sake of your own soul and the souls of those whom
you influence.
What you are doing is evil and wicked. You tear at tradition-minded Catholics and
support and uphold sodomites. Do not think the punishment visited on you will not be of
the most severe sort when you die, perhaps even before you die, if you do not change.
You need the humility to publicly recognize your sin, admit it, repent of it, and resign
your office now. And for the record—any other bishops in the United States who have
lost their faith need to step aside as well for the same reasons.
The time has come—for an authentic Catholic Uprising!
(Archdiocese of Washington) The time for happy-clappy and
light-hearted engagement of our culture may be nearing an end. Sometimes
it takes a while t understand that what used to work no longer works.
Let me get more specific.
Decades ago the “Al Smith Dinner” was
a time for republicans and Democrats to lay aside the hatch and come
together to raise money for the poor and to emphasize what unites us
rather than what divides us. But in the old days the death of 50 million
infants was not what divided us. We were dived about lesser things like
how much o the budget should got to defense and to social spending.
Reasonable men might differ over that.
But now we are being
asked to raise toasts and to roast and to enjoy a night of frivolity
with those who think it is okay to abort children by the millions each
year, with those who think anal sex is to be celebrated as a form of
love, and that.e LGBTQIA…etc (I=intersexual A= Asexual) is actually a
form of sanity to which we should tip our hat, with those who stand
four-square against us over religious liberty.
Now the St. Patrick’s Parade will become of parade of disorder,
chaos and fake unity. Frankly, lets be honest, St. Patrick’s Day
nationally has become a disgrace of drunkenness and foolishness in the
middle of Lent that more often embarrasses the memory of Patrick than
honors him.
Now it is about to become absurdity in NYC with the “parade” devolving into a farcical and hateful ridicule of the Faith St. Patrick preached.
It’s time to cancel the St. Patrick’s Parade,
and the Al Smith Dinner and all other sorts of ‘catholic’ traditions
that have been stolen by the world. Better for Catholics to enter their
churches on their knees on St. Patrick’s day an pray in reparation for
the foolishness to end for this confused world to return to its senses.
Lets do adoration and pray unceasingly the rosary and divine mercy
chaplet for this poor old world.
But don’t go to the parade and stay away from Al Smith Dinners
and all that “old school” stuff that hangs on in a darkened world. Re.
St Patrick’s day, it is time to stop wearing the green and take up the
purple of Lent and mean it. Enough of the stupidity, frivolity and
drunkenness that St Patty’s day has become, we need penance now, not
foolishness and parades and dinner with people who scoff at our
teachings, insist we compromise, use us for publicity and make money
off of us. We are being played and we for (and are?) fools.
End the St Patrick’s parade. End the Al Smith Dinner
and all compromised events like them. Enough now, back to Church, wear
the purple of Lent and if there is going to be a procession, let it be
Eucharistic and penitential for the sins of this age.
For the sake of your sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world!
(New York Post) New York’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade will finally end its ban on gay
groups marching in its annual Irish celebration, organizers said
Wednesday.
OUT@NBCUniversal — a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender affinity
group at 30 Rock — will be flying its banner and marching up Fifth
Avenue on March 17, officials said.
That’ll be the only gay group marching in the 2015 version of the
world’s largest St. Patrick’s Day Parade, but other LGBT groups can
apply in future years, spokesman Bill O’Reilly said.
The organizing committee said this move to “change of tone and
expanded inclusiveness is a gesture of goodwill to the LGBT community in
our continuing effort to keep the parade above politics.”
OUT@NBCUniversal applied to be in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade,
according to Craig Robinson, executive vice president and chief
diversity officer at NBCUniversal.
It wasn’t immediately clear why OUT@NBCUniversal was chosen or if there were any other openly gay groups that applied.
“We welcome the parade committee’s decision to accept
OUT@NBCUniversal’s application to march and enthusiastically embrace the
gesture of inclusion,” Robinson said.
“Our employees, families and friends look forward to joining in this time-honored celebration of Irish culture and heritage.”
Organizers insisted they are “remaining loyal to church teachings,”
and O’Reilly said Cardinal Timothy Dolan — grand marshal of the 2015
parade — was “very supportive” of including gay groups in the event.
In a prepared statement Wednesday, Dolan didn’t outright endorse the
move — but said the parade remains “close to its Catholic heritage.”
“Neither my predecessors as archbishop of New York nor I have ever
determined who would or would not march in this parade (or any of the
other parades that march along Fifth Avenue, for that matter),” he said,
“but have always appreciated the cooperation of parade organizers in
keeping the parade close to its Catholic heritage.”
“I know that there are thousands and thousands of gay people marching
in this parade,” Dolan has said previously. “And I’m glad they are.”
Over the years, the parade’s ban on openly gay groups has grown problematic.
Mayor Bill de Blasio refused to march in this past year’s parade, and Guinness beer withdrew as a sponsor.
The Guinness loss was a huge factor in forcing parade organizers to
change their long-standing policy, a former grand marshal told
IrishCentral.com.
Guinness officials also played a role in brokering the deal that
brought OUT@NBCUniversal into the 2015 parade, according to
IrishCentral.com.
“Once an iconic company like Guinness showed it was standing up,
pretty much everyone else had to follow,” the one-time grand marshal
said.
Obviously, gay individuals have always marched in the St. Patrick’s
Day Parade — but they’ve never before been allowed to participate under a
banner identifying them as gay.
About 320 groups will be marching in the 2015 parade, the committee said.
“Organizers have diligently worked to keep politics — of any kind —
out of the parade in order to preserve it as a single and unified
cultural event,” organizers said. “Paradoxically, that ended up
politicizing the parade.”
Politicians, city workers in uniform, marching bands, bagpipers and
Irish dancers have all been stalwarts of the parade, which began in
1762.
Gay rights advocates hailed Wednesday’s announcement but said it was long overdue.
“It’s about time,” said GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis.
“Discrimination has no place on America’s streets, least of all on
Fifth Avenue. As an Irish-Catholic American, I look forward to a fully
inclusive St. Patrick’s Day Parade that I can share with my wife and
children, just as my own parents shared with me.”
City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito — who, like de Blasio, did
not march in this year’s parade over the gay flap — hailed the
organizers’ move.
“This is a welcome first step and a good day for New Yorkers who
believe in fairness, equality, and human rights,” she said. “For far too
long, the St. Patrick’s Day Parade excluded New Yorkers just because of
who they [want] to love. I am happy organizers finally realized that
this parade is better when all are invited.”
Former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who is openly gay, said
parade organizers have lifted a “terrible mark of discrimination and
bigotry” by allowing a gay group to march.
“Today faith had been rewarded. After close to 25 years of struggle
and hard work, the terrible mark of discrimination and bigotry has
finally been lifted from Fifth Avenue and the St. Patrick’s Day Parade,”
said the one-time mayoral hopeful.
“All of the members of the LGBT community and our allies deserve
great thanks for never giving up and remaining committed, proud, and
strong. I also want to wholeheartedly thank [parade organizers] the
[Ancient Order of Hibernians] and Cardinal Dolan for taking this
important step forward.”
(The Catholic League) Bill Donohue is calling for a boycott of Guinness, Heineken, and Sam Adams:
Diageo, the parent company of Guinness,
and Heineken, have pulled their sponsorship of New York’s St. Patrick’s
Day parade; the Boston Beer Company, maker of Sam Adams, has withdrawn
its sponsorship of Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day parade.
None of these companies believe in
diversity. No gay person has ever been barred from marching in any St.
Patrick’s Day parade, anymore than the parade bans pro-life Catholics or
vegetarian Catholics; they simply cannot march under their own banner.
The parade has one cause: honoring St. Patrick. Those who disagree do
not have to march—that’s what diversity is all about.
The parade is quintessentially Catholic,
beginning with a Mass in St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It is this Catholic
element that angers those who are engaged in a bullying campaign against
the St. Patrick’s Day parades. The bullies also have nothing but
contempt for the constitutional rights of Irish Catholics.
In 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in
a 9-0 decision that the First Amendment guarantees the right of private
parade organizers to determine its own rules for marching. It is this
liberty that the makers of Guinness, Heineken, and Sam Adams want to
squash.
I have had my last Guinness and Sam
Adams. Heineken was always slop, so there is no sacrifice there. I urge
Catholics, and all those who believe in tolerance, diversity, and the
First Amendment, to join with me in boycotting these brews.
Gays exclusion led to Boston Beer Company decision
(WCVB) BOSTON — After
its support of the South Boston St. Patrick's Day Parade led one Boston
restaurant to boycott its brew, the Boston Beer Company – which
manufactures Sam Adams – has pulled its sponsorship from Sunday's
parade.
Boston
Beer Company said that it is disappointed that an agreement could not
be reached between the gay rights advocacy group MassEquality and parade
organizers that would have allowed a group of gay veterans to march,
despite pressure from Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Rep. Stephen Lynch.
"We
share these sentiments with Mayor Walsh, Congressman Lynch and others
and therefore we will not participate in this year's parade," the Boston
Beer Company said in a statement.
"We were hopeful an agreement
could be reached to allow everyone, regardless of orientation, to
participate in this parade. However, given the current status of the
negotiations, this may not be possible," the statement read.
A
1995 U.S. Supreme Court decision ruled that the South Boston Allied War
Veterans Council could include or exclude whichever groups it wanted.
The parade organizers' phone was not answered. The
parade, one of the largest St. Patrick's Day parades in the nation,
draws as many as 1 million spectators to South Boston.
NEW YORK, March 17, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) – New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan led Manhattan’s St. Patrick’s Day parade on Tuesday as grand marshal, despite backlash
from faithful Catholics unhappy with the organizers’ decision to allow
an openly homosexual activist group to march in the event.
(Archdiocese of Washington) The time for happy-clappy and
light-hearted engagement of our culture may be nearing an end. Sometimes
it takes a while t understand that what used to work no longer works.
Let me get more specific.