Editor’s note: The author of this article has previously worked for CatholicVote as a blogger and as a field officer for their 2020 voter mobilization campaign in Michigan.
(LifeSiteNews) — According to CatholicVote president Brian Burch, the Los Angeles Dodgers are turning a deaf ear to what Catholics have to say about honoring The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
In remarks to Fox News Digital last week, Burch said that he spoke to a high-level executive with the franchise after first sending them a letter requesting a phone call or a meeting. He wanted to know if he should put on hold his planned $1 million ad buy encouraging Catholics to boycott the team.
“I said, ‘Well, if there’s still a chance that you might reconsider your decision, please let me know, and we will withhold the ad campaign,’” Burch commented. “[He] said [he] cannot do that. I asked when we would be able to talk next, and he said in the next couple of weeks — maybe even after Pride night. And so that seems to me to be a signal that they are obstinate in their decision to go forward to celebrate an anti-Catholic hate group.”
CatholicVote President @BrianBurchCV on @FoxNews to discuss the @Dodgers scandal pic.twitter.com/OHtAJ0YHlf
— CatholicVote (@CatholicVote) June 2, 2023
Based in Madison, Wisconsin, CatholicVote is the largest Catholic advocacy group in the United States. It was founded in 2005 by Burch and former Congressional staffer Josh Mercer, who lives in Michigan. The lay-led organization seeks to “inspire every Catholic in America to live out the truths of our faith in public life.”
The Los Angeles Dodgers have decided to honor the blasphemous anti-Catholic drag group, the “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence”, with a Community Hero Award on June 16, 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 said it had decided to honor the group — which engages in deliberately offensive sexualized burlesque mockeries of Catholicism — after initially 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!
Several Major League Baseball players have expressed disagreement with the franchise, including Dodgers pitchers Clayton Kershaw and Blake Treinen. Washington Nationals pitcher Trevor Williams, a devout Catholic, also rebuked the team in a statement released on Twitter.
“To invite and honor a group that makes a blatant and deeply offensive mockery of my religion … undermines the values of respect and inclusivity that should be upheld by any organization,” he said.
Asked by Fox for reaction to Burch’s claims, Dodgers senior director of public relations Joe Jareck said the organization has no comment.
“The Dodgers front office is not listening to their fans or to Christian people across the country, including now their own players,” Burch said.
Many Catholic bishops have also denounced the team. Former Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron, who now serves as the head of the Diocese of Winona, Minnesota, has called on Catholics to boycott the franchise. San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone wrote an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal on June 1 arguing that Catholics in California are now “under attack.”
On Friday, June 16, Texas Bishop Joseph Strickland will participate in a Eucharistic procession to Dodgers Stadium in reparation for the Pride Night game, which is slated for June 15. The event is being organized by the Arizona-based group Catholics for Catholics. LifeSite co-founder John-Henry Westen will also be present and is scheduled to address the crowd. Click here to learn how you can attend.
BREAKING!! Bishop Joseph Strickland confirms to C4C that he will join all the prayerful procession in LA June 16th! God Bless this Shepherd! @Bishopoftylerhttps://t.co/a3Vcxaf2DY pic.twitter.com/C3LY6C5e2E
— Catholics for Catholics (@CforCatholics) June 3, 2023
The Dodgers relocated from Brooklyn, New York to California in the 1950s. They have been one of the most successful teams in MLB history with a total of seven World Series titles. They are currently owned by Guggenheim Baseball Management, a consortium of individuals that includes basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson of Los Angeles Lakers fame. Front office personnel include Mark Walter (owner and chairman), Steve Kasten (president & CEO), Andrew Friedman (president of baseball operations), and Lon Rosen (executive vice president and chief marketing officer).
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