NYC’s St Patrick’s Cathedral DID know trans activist’s funeral would celebrate the former sex worker as the ‘mother of all whores,’ family says, as controversy over service escalates

The family of a transgender activist is backtracking on claims they tricked New York’s iconic St. Patrick’s Cathedral into hosting a controversial funeral for the former sex worker.

New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan had criticized the “irreverence and disrespect” of mourners at the February 15 funeral, where activist Cecilia Gentili was hailed as the “mother of all whores.”

‘We didn’t know the background. We don’t run FBI checks on people who want to be buried,” Dolan insisted radio interview this week.

“All they know is that someone called and said, ‘Our dear friend has passed away.’ We would like to hold the funeral at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It would be a great source of comfort. She is Catholic,” he added.

But in a statement, Gentili’s family angrily denied that the church had been deceived, saying: “The only deception in St. Patrick’s Cathedral is that it claims to be a welcoming place for all.”

The family said the funeral service had brought “precious life and radical joy to the cathedral, in historic defiance of the Church’s hypocrisy and anti-trans hatred.”

Similarly, the group Gays and Lesbians Living in a Transgender Society said in a statement: “The current narrative from St. Patrick’s Cathedral leadership that they were manipulated by funeral organizers over Ms. Gentili’s identity is simply not true.”

“Funeral organizers advised cathedral staff to seek out Cecilia Gentili, her work and the community she served. “To now place the onus on funeral organizers to positively announce their loved one’s gender identity places a burden on mourners that would not be expected of a non-transgender person,” she added.

Videos of Gentili’s funeral show an audience of more than 1,000 people clapping, singing and praising her status as a leading light of the city’s LGBTQ+ community.

During a eulogy widely circulated on social media, Gentili was celebrated as “Saint Cecilia, the mother of all whores,” and at one point the lyrics of “Ave Maria” were changed to “Ave Cecilia.”

Dolan said the funeral service was cut short, without a Mass as originally planned, after cathedral workers noticed the tenor of the proceedings.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops rejects the concept of gender transition, although Pope Francis recently cleared the way for transgender adults to be baptized under certain conditions.

In a written statement released Saturday, the Rev. Enrique Salvo, pastor of Saint Patrick’s, thanked those who “share our outrage at the outrageous behavior” at the funeral.

“The cathedral only knew that family and friends were requesting a funeral mass for a Catholic, and had no idea that our reception and prayer would be degraded in such a sacrilegious and deceptive manner,” Father Enrique Salvo said in a statement.

‘The fact that such a scandal has occurred at ‘America’s Parish Church’ makes it even worse.

“That it occurred as Lent began, the annual forty-day battle with the forces of sin and darkness, is a powerful reminder of how much we need the prayer, restoration, repentance, grace, and mercy that this holy season invites. us.’

Gentili was known as a leading advocate for other transgender people, as well as sex workers and people living with HIV.

Gentili, a former sex worker who suffered from addiction and was jailed on Rikers Island, became a coordinator of a transgender health program, a nonprofit policy director for an established gay men’s health organization, GMHC, and a lobbyist for health equity and anti-discrimination legislation, among other things. advocacy work.

Gentili founded the COIN Clinic, short for Cecilia’s Occupational Inclusion Network, a free health program for sex workers through the community health organization Callen-Lorde in New York.

“New York’s LGBTQ+ community has lost a champion in trans icon Cecilia Gentili,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul wrote on X, formerly Twitter, after Gentili’s death.

Just days before her death, Gentili was successful in winning a $540,000 grant from the CDC for her trans outreach program aimed at combating community transmission of HIV.

Funeral organizer Ceyenne Doroshow said she chose St. Patrick’s for the Feb. 15 funeral because “it’s an icon, just like them.”

The pews were packed with about a thousand mourners, many dressed in revealing outfits, including one wearing a feather boa made from $100 bills.

A photo at the altar showed a haloed Gentili surrounded by the Spanish words for “transvestite,” “whore,” “blessed” and “mother” above the text of Psalm 25.

Actor Billy Porter kicked off the “political theater” with a performance of “This Day,” before Father Edward Dougherty gave the service and declared that “Cecilia died with Christ.”

“This great whore, Saint Cecelia, mother of all whores,” a mourner announced from the pulpit.

“Today we say that we will see you soon and that you will give us the strength and courage to continue your legacy, to continue the challenges ahead.”

A priest singing “Ave Maria” was unexpectedly joined by another mourner singing “Ave Cecilia” as they danced down the aisles, twirling a red scarf.

New York City is home to at least ten gay-friendly Catholic parishes, but St. Patrick’s Cathedral is not one of them.

Father Dougherty has previously written lovingly about his first ministry in Tanzania, where gays face life in prison and lawmakers have pushed to make gay sex a capital crime.

Gentili, who faced abuse from her family and neighbors after coming out as gay at age 12, became a U.S. citizen in September 2022 and released a book that year titled Faltas: Letters to Everyone in My Hometown Who Isn’t My Rapist.

She also worked as a stand-up comedian and appeared in the critically acclaimed FX series “Pose,” playing Miss Orlando, a New York City woman who performed discount plastic surgery.

Organizers believe hers may have been the first-ever funeral service for an openly transgender person in the 19th-century cathedral.