By John Jalsevac
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, June 24, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – While thousands of Catholics across California are allying with other faiths and denominations to try to stop homosexual “marriage” by lobbying in favor a constitutional marriage amendment, San Francisco’s Catholic Charities CYO (CCCYO) has chosen to honor and fete a veritable “who’s who” of California’s same-sex “marriage” supporters.
The list of those who attended CCCYO’s annual “Red House” evening, an event intended to raise money for the San Francisco Archdiocesan agency’s HIV/AIDS programs, included, amongst a host of California’s most powerful and enthusiastic homosexual “marriage” advocates, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who was listed as an “honorary committee member.”
Newsom is notorious for having been the San Francisco mayor who, in 2004, ordered the city’s clerks to begin issuing marriage licenses to homosexual couples, despite the fact that to do so was illegal. Eventually the California Supreme Court was forced to step in and reverse Newsom’s order and to nullify thousands of marriage licenses.
Newsom’s action is widely seen as having been a significant benchmark in the push for homosexual “marriage” in the state, which has culminated most recently in the Supreme Court’s decision to allow such “marriages” to take place, despite the fact that California voters will decide the fate of a constitutional marriage amendment this upcoming November.
Other guests of honor at the “Red House” event included Nanette Lee Miller, the treasurer of CCCYO , an open lesbian who “married” her same-sex partner in 2004. Entertainer, homosexual activist and transvestite, Donna Sachet, attended as an “honorary committee member.”
Robert M. Pementell, the Director of Most Holy Redeemer AIDS Support Group was another individual listed as an “honorary committee member.”
The Most Holy Redeemer AIDS Support Group was most recently in the news after it was announced that, this year, as opposed to previous years, the group would not participate in the annual San Francisco gay pride parade, after their bishop ordered them not to. However, it was later revealed that the group still intended on manning a booth at the parade, which they did not consider to be “participating”.
Most Holy Redeemer parish is also notorious for having hosted the so-called Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a loosely organized association of homosexual men who dress up in bizarre mockeries of nuns’ habits in homosexual parades and demonstrations. It was revealed that at the Sisters’ Bingo night at the parish, prizes included pornographic videos and “sex toys”.
Rebecca Rolph, the executive director of the San Francisco LGBT Center, one of the city’s most prominent pro-homosexual organizations, was listed as yet another honorary committee member. On the day that the Supreme Court’s allowed same-sex “marriages” in California to go ahead, Rolph said, “This is the best day of my professional life.”
Openly homosexual San Francisco County Supervisor Bevan Dufty was also an honorary committee member. According to the Bay Area Reporter, in reference to the recent Supreme Court decision in favor of homosexual “marriage”, Dufty said, “I think it is a win for justice and a win for California and a win for the future. I thought about the future generations of young people who will be unfettered by knowing they can attain love and marriage in their lives.”
Also, listed as an “events partner” for the “Red House” evening, is Betty’s List, an e-mail group that, according to its website, “makes it easy to find out about important events, services and products for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) community of the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.”
The “Red House” evening is not the first time that CCCYO has gone out of its way to honor prominent figures that have made names for themselves as opponents of some of the Catholic Church’s most fundamental moral teachings.
In April the Archbishop of San Francisco, George Niederauer, announced that he would include a well-known supporter of abortion and Planned Parenthood in the CCCYO’s annual diocesan philanthropy award. The annual Catholic Charities CYO’s Loaves and Fishes Award was given to George M. Marcus. In the past Marcus donated $25,000 to the “No” campaign on Proposition 73 that would have required that parents of an underage girl be notified before she has an abortion. He gave a total of $100,000 in 2006 to oppose a similar notification measure, Proposition 85. Both measures were supported by the California bishops Conference. Marcus also donated $50,000 to the “Yes on 71” campaign that succeeded in seeing $3.5 billion allocated by the government for unethical embryonic stem cell research.
Gibbons Cooney, writing for the California Catholic Daily, marveled that all of the incriminating information about the CCCYO’s “Red House” event, including photographs of numerous homosexual “marriage” crusaders at the event, is prominently displayed on CCCYO’s website. “There is nothing hidden about any of this,” she writes.
Cooney observed that not only has the Archdiocese continued to give its support to the CCCYO, despite the CCCYO’s blatantly anti-Catholic advocacy efforts, but it even requires that diocesan parishes hold a special annual second collection to support the “charity.”
“In April, I said that the Archdiocese of San Francisco must either radically change CCCYO, or sever ties with the organization. Within two months of that writing, CCCYO has honored Mr. George Marcus and Levi Strauss Inc., both gigantic funders of the culture of death. It has hosted the event described above, which makes a mockery of Church teaching on marriage. Asking the parishioners to support CCCYO is to ask them to subsidize sin.”
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
San Francisco Archbishop to Give Highest Honours to Abortion and Homosexual “Rights” Supporter
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/apr/08041105.html