Six Feet Under: Out of Burial Site, Out of Mind?
San Diego Bishop refuses Catholic Funeral Service for Gay Club Owner, then later reverses himself but it's too little, too late.
San Diego Bishop Robert Brom denied funeral services to a local gay man, John McCusker, at any one of San Diego's Catholic churches. Bishop Brom stated the decision was made to avoid "public scandal" because McCusker owned a gay dance club.Voices across the nation spoke out, including the Rt. Rev. John Bryson Chane, Episcopal Bishop of Washington, D.C., "I applaud the Episcopal bishop of San Diego and the Dean of Saint Paul's Cathedral. It is entirely appropriate that John was given a Christian burial." He also noted that, "Owning a bar in which gay people feel comfortable in no way condemns one to the fires of hell."
Rev. Cecil Williams, of Glide Church in San Fancisco shared his thoughts, "It is Easter time, and that means coming to new life. Let us hope that Bishop Brom will work to open up to all people, and especially to members of his own church" after lambasting Bishop Brom's decision, "The real scandal, and inhumane act, is that Bishop Brom would not deliver last rites to a human being, seemingly because he was gay,"
Bishop Brom later apologized for his decision, but it was too late to provide John McCusker his "proper" religious funeral service because after Bishop Brom's comprehensive denial of Catholic funeral rites, services were arranged to be held at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Paul in San Diego. The service was attended by more than 500 family, friends and community members.
In pride,
Deborah
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