2024-02-19 08:12:02
A Catholic Church official condemned the funeral of a well-known transgender activist in a New York cathedral, calling it a scandal in one of the most prominent temples of Catholicism in the United States.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York condemned the funeral of Cecilia Gentili, which was held at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan and drew many attendees on Thursday.
Gentili was known for her advocacy for other transgender people, as well as sex workers and people with HIV. A post on her Instagram account announced her death on February 6 at age 52.
In a written statement Saturday, the Rev. Enrique Salvo, pastor of St. Patrick’s, thanked people who he said had informed the Church who “share our outrage at the scandalous behavior” at the funeral.
“The cathedral only knew that family and friends were requesting a funeral Mass for a Catholic, and had no idea that our reception and prayer would be degraded in such a deceptive and sacrilegious manner,” Salvo said in a statement.
The cathedral held a mass of reparation after the funeral at the request of Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, Salvo said.
“That this scandal occurred in the ‘America Parish Church’ makes it worse. That it occurred at the beginning of Lent, the annual forty-day struggle against the forces of sin and darkness, is a powerful reminder of how much we need the prayer, reparation, repentance, grace and mercy to which this period invites us. sacred,” he said.
Gentili, a former sex worker who suffered from addiction and was incarcerated at Rikers Island, became a coordinator of transgender health programs, a nonprofit policy director for an established gay men’s health organization, GMHC, and an advocate for anti-discrimination and health equality legislation, among other activist work.
Gentili founded the COIN clinic, short for Cecilia Occupational Inclusion Network, a free health program for sex workers, through the community health organization Callen-Lorde in New York.
“New York’s LGBTQ+ community has lost a champion in trans icon Cecilia Gentili,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said on X, formerly Twitter, following Gentili’s death.
The activist starred in the FX television series “Pose,” about the alternative dance scene in the 1980s and 1990s. She also performed two stand-up shows.
“I’m an atheist, but I’m always asking God for things,” Gentili said in “Red Ink,” an autobiographical show in which she talked about topics such as her childhood in Argentina and the absence of religious faith.
A prominent architectural and tourist landmark in the city, St. Patrick’s Cathedral has hosted the funerals of many famous New Yorkers, including Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Babe Ruth, and emergency workers killed in the September 11, 2001, attack.
Videos of Gentili’s funeral showed more than a thousand attendees, including transgender people and other friends and supporters, chanting his name, clapping, singing and praising his position as a guide to the city’s LGBTQ+ community.
“Except for Easter Sunday, we don’t really have that much attendance,” said Father Edward Dougherty, who presided at the mass.
The conservative group CatholicVote criticized fellow “Pose” actor Billy Porter, who during the funeral offered a song that the group considered a mockery of the “Our Father” prayer. “This is just unbelievable and sick,” CatholicVote said on X.
In a speech before singing, Porter described Gentili as a leader of “an entire community of people who transformed my life forever.”
“Grief is singular, it is individual. Please know that whatever way you grieve, it is the right thing to do,” Porter said. “There is no right or wrong way to cry. But make sure that you do it, that you allow yourself to do it, that we can get to the other side of something that feels a little bit like grace.”
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