CHICAGO (LifeSiteNews) — A Chicago alderman and professed member of the Democratic Socialists of America sent a letter to Cardinal Blase Cupich requesting that he restore all services at the Shrine of Christ the King, which he had canceled in August 2022.
“Since the summer, I have been deeply concerned about your administration’s decision to suppress the Institute’s ability to operate at the Shrine,” Alderwoman Jeanette Taylor wrote in her May 9 letter. “The Institute and the ever-growing congregation of Shrine faithful have been an integral part of the 20th Ward since they first arrived at the prior Cardinal’s invitation in 2003.”
READ: Cdl. Cupich bans Institute of Christ the King from saying public Masses, confessions in Chicago
Taylor was elected in 2019 and has served as a member of the Chicago City Council’s 20th Ward on the city’s South Side, which includes the Woodlawn neighborhood that houses the Shrine.
Taylor noted that the ongoing operation of the Shrine brought a “welcome” economic boost to local businesses in the area, and that the restoration of the Shrine “has attracted a significant amount of resources to our City, which, as you know, is sorely underserved.”
For those who did not see pic.twitter.com/S4JqvknbKh
— Kevin Tierney (@CatholicSmark) May 22, 2023
Cdl. Cupich’s decision to cancel services, according to Taylor, has “deterred donors in the future and cut the Shrine off from the further millions it needs to be a fully functional and operational building up to the City of Chicago code.”
“On behalf of my constituents, I am asking your administration to restore confidence in the Shrine’s restoration by allowing the Institute to operate according to the terms of your original agreement with them,” Taylor wrote in her letter. “I am hopeful that the Shrine’s restoration may continue to flourish.”
Cupich authorized the shrine to be dedicated to the Institute of Christ the King (ICR) in February 2016, founded in 1990 to serve Catholics with a full traditional Catholic life, including all of the sacraments and devotions for those Catholics who desired it.
Following Pope Francis’ motu proprio in 2021 that cracked down on the frequent offering of the Traditional Latin Mass and sacraments, Cupich was among the first diocesan bishops to issue his own norms for Chicago in January 2021, in which he effectively undercut the ability of the ICR to offer the full traditional liturgical life and sacraments to its burgeoning congregation and halted restoration of the church building.
READ: Archdiocese of Chicago claims Institute of Christ the King ‘chose’ to stop offering sacraments
The Los Angeles Dodgers have decided to honor the blasphemous anti-Catholic drag group, the “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence”, with a Community Hero Award next month on the Feast of the Sacred Heart.
This blatant contempt for the Catholic faith cannot go unchallenged.
SIGN: The LA Dodgers must revoke their plan to honor these ‘transgender nuns’
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.
In one move, you managed to turn off conservatives and slap Christians in the face with disgusting drag nuns. What a disgrace you’ve become. Was recently at a game. Won’t be coming back.
— Courrielche⚡️ (@courrielche) May 23, 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.”
SIGN: The LA Dodgers must NOT allow this mockery to take place
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.”
“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 since-deleted May 17 announcement.
San Francisco’s Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone 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.”
Make your voice heard NOW, before this blasphemy takes center stage.
SIGN: The LA Dodgers must not honor anti-Catholic, anti-Christian drag ‘nuns’
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.
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 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.
SIGN & SHARE our urgent petition today – do not be silent as the Catholic faith is attacked!
“Less than 7 years after the faithful parishioners of the Shrine of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, run by the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICR) in Chicago, had lost their church to a blaze, another type of inferno seemed ready to swallow up their community,” Trevor Acorn wrote in a story published shortly after the cancellation in September 2022. “This Blase, specifically Blase Cardinal Cupich, was rumored to be dealing a death blow to the burgeoning apostolate of the ICR.”
Notably, the restoration of a fully functioning church with the daily liturgical services and devotions of the 1962 and prior missal, was met with open arms by nearby neighbors following a fire at the Shrine in 2015.
“The members and officers of the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago pour out our hearts to our neighbor Shrine of Christ the King,” said Minister Lawrence Brown, pastor of the church. “We have been blessed in so many ways, we felt that we must share some of the blessings in offering a place so that they may be able to worship the God of love … First Presbyterian Church is so happy to be able to help the Shrine of Christ the King.”
READ: Archbishop of Detroit issues new Latin Mass restrictions in conformity with Vatican rescript
Cardinal Francis George invited the ICR to Chicago in 2004 to restore the church, as well as the Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right to reopen and rebuild it.
A source close to the situation indicated that the priests (canons) of the ICR are currently based in the nearby apostolate at Our Lady of Częstochowa Shrine in Merrilville, Indiana.
LifeSiteNews requested comment from the Archdiocese of Chicago, the Institute of Christ the King, and Jeanette Taylor, but received no response by publishing deadline.