The family of a transgender activist is responding to allegations that 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 criticized the “irreverence and lack of respect” of mourners at the Feb. 15 funeral, where activist Cecilia Gentili was praised as the “mother of all whores.”
‘We didn’t know the background. We don’t do FBI checks on people who want to be buried,” Dolan insisted in a radio interview this week.
“All they know is that someone called and said, ‘Our dear friend died.’ We would love to have 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 furiously denied that the church had been deceived, saying that “the only deception present at St. Patrick’s Cathedral is that it claims to be a welcoming place for everyone.”
Cecilia Gentili was known as a prominent advocate for other transgender people, as well as sex workers and people with HIV, but her funeral at St. Patrick’s Cathedral sparked controversy.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan (right), archbishop of New York, criticized the “irreverence and disrespect” of mourners at the Feb. 15 funeral.
The family said the funeral had “brought precious life and radical joy to the Cathedral in a historic challenge to 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 leaders that they were manipulated by funeral organizers over Ms. Gentili’s identity It’s just not true.”
‘Funeral organizers advised cathedral staff to look out for Cecilia Gentili, her work and the community she served. “To now hold the funeral organizers responsible for having affirmatively revealed their loved one’s gender identity is to place a burden on mourners that would not be expected of a non-transgender person,” they added.
Videos of Gentili’s funeral show an audience of more than 1,000 people clapping, singing and praising his stature as a leader of the city’s LGBTQ+ community.
During a eulogy that circulated widely on social media, Gentili was celebrated as “Saint Cecilia, the mother of all whores,” and at one point the lyrics to “Ave Maria” were changed to “Ave Cecilia.”
Dolan said the funeral was cut short, without Mass as originally planned, after cathedral workers watched the process unfold.
The U.S. Catholic bishops’ conference rejects the concept of gender transition, although Pope Francis recently paved 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 scandalous 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 welcome and prayer would be degraded in such a sacrilegious and deceptive manner,” Father Enrique Salvo said in a statement.
Cecilia Gentili was a former sex worker and self-proclaimed atheist who spent years as an undocumented migrant before becoming a prominent advocate for LGBT rights.
About 1,000 friends and admirers packed St. Patrick’s Cathedral for the raucous funeral on February 15.
Fishnet stockings, miniskirts and even a boa made from $100 bills adorned mourners at the service.
Organizers believe theirs may have been the first funeral for a trans person at the 19th-century cathedral.
‘That such a scandal has occurred in the ‘America Parish Church’ makes it worse.
‘That it took place as Lent began, the annual forty-day struggle against the forces of sin and darkness, is a powerful reminder of how much we need the prayer, reparation, repentance, grace and mercy it invites. this holy time. us.’
Gentili was known as a prominent advocate for other transgender people, as well as sex workers and people with HIV.
Gentili, a former sex worker who suffered from addiction and was incarcerated at Rikers Island, became a coordinator of transgender health programs, a nonprofit policy director for an established gay men’s health organization, GMHC, and a lobbyist for the equality in health and anti-discrimination legislation, among others. 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: trans icon Cecilia Gentili,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul posted on X, formerly Twitter, following Gentili’s death.
Just days before her death, Gentili managed to win a $540,000 grant from the CDC for her trans outreach program aimed at combating HIV transmission within the community.
Funeral organizer Ceyenne Doroshow said she chose St. Patrick for the Feb. 15 funeral because “he’s an icon, just like her.”
The pews were packed with about 1,000 mourners, many dressed in revealing outfits, including one with a feather boa made from $100 bills.
An image near the altar showed Gentili with a halo surrounded by the Spanish words for “transvestite,” “whore,” “blessed” and “mother” over the text of Psalm 25.
Actor Billy Porter began the “political theater” with a performance of “This Day,” before Father Edward Dougherty delivered the service declaring that “Cecilia died with Christ.”
The cathedral’s parish priest, Father Enrique Salvo, said the church “had no idea that our welcome and prayer would be degraded in such a sacrilegious and deceptive manner.”
Manhattan’s Catholic cathedral calls itself “America’s parish church” and has hosted funeral masses for figures such as Jacqueline Onassis and Babe Ruth.
Funeral organizers said they chose St. Patrick for the Feb. 15 funeral because “he is an icon, just like her.”
An image near the altar showed Gentili with a halo surrounded by the Spanish words for ‘transvestite’, ‘whore’, ‘blessed’ and ‘mother’ over the text of Psalm 25.
Just days before her death, Gentili managed to win a $540,000 grant from the CDC for her trans outreach program aimed at combating HIV transmission within the community.
“This great whore, Saint Cecilia, 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 carry on your legacy and the challenges that lie ahead.”
A priest singing ‘Ave Maria’ found himself unexpectedly accompanied by another mourner singing ‘Ave Cecilia’ as they danced through the aisles, twirling a red handkerchief.
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 fondly about his first ministry in Tanzania, where homosexuals 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 published a book called Misdemeanors: Letters to Everyone in My Hometown Who Isn’t My Rapist , this year.
She also worked as a comedian and appeared on the acclaimed FX series ‘Pose,’ in which she played Miss Orlando, a New York City woman who offers discount plastic surgery.
Organizers believe theirs may have been the first funeral of an openly trans person at the 19th-century cathedral.