(LifeSiteNews) — The Los Angeles Dodgers threw Catholics and conservatives a curveball on Monday by reversing their decision not to spotlight the blasphemous anti-Catholic drag group known as the “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence” as Community Hero Award honorees next month. Instead, the team will recognize the group on the Feast of the Sacred Heart.
The Major League Baseball franchise made the announcement in a Monday evening statement, saying it had decided to honor the group — which engages in deliberately offensive sexualized burlesque mockeries of Catholicism — after just last week canceling plans to do so when the public expressed outrage.
“After much thoughtful feedback from our diverse communities, honest conversations within the Los Angeles Dodgers organization and generous discussions with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the Los Angeles Dodgers would like to offer our sincerest apologies to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, members of the LGBTQ+ community and their friends and families,” the statement read.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 22, 2023
The baseball team said it will ask the sacrilegious group “to take their place on the field at our 10th annual LGBTQ+ Pride Night on June 16th.”
June 16th is the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Catholic liturgical calendar.
In its statement, the Dodgers added that they’re “pleased to share that they [the so-called “sisters”] have agreed to receive the gratitude of our collective communities for the lifesaving work that they have done tirelessly for decades.” As LifeSiteNews previously reported, the group of “queer and trans nuns” have fundraised for HIV/AIDS research, the Gay Games (an LGBT-promoting athletic competition), and a proposition to legalize medical marijuana.
The Dodgers’ Monday announcement comes after it previously agreed to dis-invite the group after outrage by Catholics and other conservatives.
Among others, Catholic Vote and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida vocally objected to the decision to honor the so-called “sisters.”
READ: LA Dodgers decide not to honor group of ‘trans nuns’ that mocks Catholicism after backlash
“Given the strong feelings of people who have been offended by the sisters’ inclusion in our evening, and in an effort not to distract from the great benefits that we have seen over the years of Pride Night, we are deciding to remove them from this year’s group of honorees,” the team said in a May 17 press release. A social media post announcing the revocation of the invitation has since been deleted.
San Francisco’s conservative Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, who received headlines last year for his decision to bar pro-abortion former Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi from receiving Holy Communion, had previously thanked the Dodgers for their decision to roll back the invitation.
In its Monday statement, after apologizing for temporarily dis-inviting the anti-Catholic hate group, the Dodgers promised to “work with our LGBTQ+ partners to better educate ourselves, find ways to strengthen the ties that bind and use our platform to support all our fans who make diversity part of the Dodgers family.”
Conservatives responded on social media by slamming the baseball team for caving.
“Yes, it is vital that the national pastime honor and support those who mock religion and decency,” reacted Daily Wire co-founder and podcaster Ben Shapiro.
“The Gay Mafia will always extract their payment for ‘protection,’ said Crisis magazine editor-in-chief Eric Sammons.
Some social media users hinted that the team should face the same backlash as beer company Bud Light, which is continuing to endure a massive boycott after its decision to honor transgender-identifying TikTok activist Dylan Mulvaney.
Catholics! Boycott and ban the LA Dodgers for promoting the offensive Anti-Catholic “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence” which mocks the nuns and religious sisters of the Catholic tradition. Give them the Bud Light treatment. No more!!! https://t.co/hyimwogDj4
— Dr Taylor Marshall™️ (@TaylorRMarshall) May 23, 2023
But the Dodgers weren’t always woke and divorced from traditional religious practice.
Former Dodgers great Sandy Koufax, a left-handed pitcher who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972, famously refused to pitch during Game 1 of the World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur, the most important holy day in the Jewish calendar. He previously opted out of games that landed on Passover and Rosh Hashanah.
And Koufax wasn’t alone in living an active faith. Legendary announcer Vin Scully, the “Voice of the Dodgers” for 67 years, was a staunch Catholic. Scully, who passed away last year at age 94, was described by Catholic News Agency’s Jonah McKeown as “a devout Catholic who found in his faith a source of joy and comfort and sought to share it with others through personal kindness and philanthropy.”
As LifeSiteNews previously reported, Scully was devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary and even narrated a two-CD audio recording of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 2016.
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