February 17, 2024 / 05:38 PM
The parish priest of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York (United States) said today that a Mass of Reparation was celebrated after a controversial and irreverent funeral service was held in the Catholic temple for Cecilia Gentili, a trans activist.
The cathedral hosted a Feb. 15 funeral service for Gentili, an activist who helped decriminalize sex work in New York, advocated for “gender identity” to be added as a protected class to the state’s human rights laws, and raised funds for transgender causes. Gentili was a man who identified as a woman.
Throughout the liturgy, the officiant, Father Edward Dougherty, referred to Gentili with female pronouns and described the trans-identified man as “our sister.” Additionally, during prayers of the faithful, the reader prayed for so-called gender-affirmative healthcare, while attendees frequently referred to Gentili as the “mother of prostitutes.”