NOM’s Hate March Loses Its Most Anti-Gay Catholic One Week After Parishioners Ask Pope To Oust Him

The National Organization For Marriage’s anti-gay hate rally has just lost the man known as the “Father of Prop 8” and one of America’s most ardently anti-gay Catholic leaders.

Last week a group of 100 prominent Catholics paid for a full page ad in the San Francisco Chronicle asking Pope Francis to oust Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, whose preachings they say are more like persecutions.

Cordileone was slated to speak, as he did last year (image, above), at the National Organization For Marriage’s March For Marriage in Washington, D.C. this Saturday. Widely dubbed an anti-gay hate rally, the march has seen diminishing attendees and less-significant speakers as NOM’s fight against civil rights for LGBT people becomes increasingly embarrassing and irrelevant.

Now, Archbishop Cordileone, who serves as the chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Subcommittee on the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, has issued a vague press release announcing he will not be attending or speaking at the anti-gay march, giving little explanation.

LOOK: ‘Gravely Evil’: Archbishop Adds Anti-Gay Morals Clause To Catholic School Teachers’ Contracts

He writes that “other bishops will be representing the commitment of the Catholic bishops of the United States to the goods of marriage and religious freedom at the March for Marriage in Washington, D.C., this year, which will allow Archbishop Cordileone to remain home and attend to the pastoral needs of the Church here at this time.”

The San Francisco Chronicle this morning reported Cordileone was “avoiding a repeat of an appearance that proved controversial back home last year.”

It’s unclear who made the decision, if it was Cordileone himself, the USCCB, or the Vatican.

Last year, before Cordileone’s speech at the March For Marriage, more than 80 lawmakers, religious leaders, and human rights leaders sent him a letter denouncing his ties to NOM. 

 

Related:

‘The Language is Dangerous’: Students Speak Out Against Archbishop’s School Morality Clause

California Lawmakers Pressure San Francisco Archbishop To End Ties With NOM

Archbishop Known As ‘Father of Prop 8′ In Drunk Driving Arrest Scandal

 

Image by American Life League via Flickr and a CC license
Hat tip: Joe Jervis