Recent uproar regarding paid passes for several Washington National Cathedral services of Holy Eucharist (since made optional) may have overshadowed another, unticketed service at the Episcopal Church’s most prominent place of worship.
Reverend Mother Felix Culpa, “Abbess” of House of Magnificent Intentions, participated in the November 30 evening service as a reader attired in oversized headgear and heavy makeup. Culpa is part of the satirical drag group Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence controversially invited earlier this year as honorees at the Los Angeles’ Dodgers Pride Night, a decision that made national news for the Major League Baseball team.
The group of male performers parodies religious women by dressing in drag and habits.
Prominent Roman Catholic officials, including Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, and the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Military Services, lamented the Dodgers’ invitation as “not just offensive and painful to Christians everywhere; it is blasphemy.”
The context of Culpa’s participation at the cathedral was a service dedicated in honor of murdered Episcopalian Matthew Shepard, whose remains are interred within, intended as a remembrance by the LGBTQIA+ community. Culpa read “A Prayer for Wanderers” by transgender theologian Shannon T.L. Kearns.
Liturgical readings were offered “in honor of black trans lives,” “A Prayer for My Queer and Trans Siblings” and a prayer thanking God “for creating us in your holy image, with a wide range of genders and sexualities that reflect your own sacred diversities.”
Officiated by retired Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson and Cathedral Canon for Worship Rosemarie Logan Duncan, the service mentioned Jesus Christ only twice, at the reading of John 6:37-40 and at the concluding prayer.
I’ve been told by conservative Episcopal Church friends that the National Cathedral Dean is “a credally orthodox and theologically moderate leader.” Maybe so, but this transpired at the cathedral in the past month.
Can Shepard’s passing be marked in the context of an Episcopal cathedral’s service without platforming an anti-Catholic drag performer mocking Catholic practices and beliefs? Is doing so orthodox and theologically moderate?
Let’s not kid ourselves here.
Comment by Pastor Bill on December 12, 2023 at 12:23 pm
I think we can safely say that the Episcopal Church is now apostate and is no longer a branch of the one holy, catholic, and apostolic church.
Comment by Tom on December 12, 2023 at 5:34 pm
Because the Episcopal church is not losing members fast enough?
Comment by George on December 12, 2023 at 9:23 pm
There must be somewhere in the Bible where it says something about mocking God.
Comment by Thomas on December 13, 2023 at 9:44 am
I don`t think the Washington National Cathedral qualifies anymore as a Christian, since they support same-sex marriage and gender ideology, and are fully pro-abortion. They are apostates to the core.
Comment by Jennifer on December 13, 2023 at 9:51 am
“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For the judgment you give will be the judgment you get, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.” Matthew 7:1-2
At the heart of this event at the national cathedral was remembering and honoring the horrific murder of Matthew Shepard, a child of God. I think we can all agree that Jesus of Nazareth, who ate with tax collectors and sinners, would have been heartbroken by Matthew’s death. Remember that Matthew was beaten, tortured, tied to a fence, and left to die. Sound familiar?
Do I understand drag performers? Not really. Do I understand what it must be like to be transgender? No, I don’t. You know who does understand? Jesus does, and so does God, the source of all being, and thus of all humans.
Pastor Bill, Tom, and George: I believe that you are also children of God who are capable of — and indeed, commanded to — love even those who are different from you. Even those you find disturbing.
My prayer is that you and I will find that capacity within ourselves, and fulfill Jesus’ commandment, that we should love and pray for all humans, including the Samaritans, including the tax collectors, including the sinners, and including our enemies.
Comment by Thomas on December 13, 2023 at 12:16 pm
Matthew Shepherd, who is buried there, although his death was a tragedy, wasn`t killed for being gay but for being in the drug business. That claim has long been debunked. Goebbels must feel proud of those who follow his belief that “a lie often repeated becomes a truth”. But we must remember where Goebbels, almost certainly, is now.
Jesus came to convert sinners, not to confirm them on their sins. That the Washington National Cathedral does all the time and so its not Christian anymore.
Comment by Thomas on December 13, 2023 at 12:19 pm
Jennifer, I`m glad you didn`t mention me because what I wrote is 100% truth, and you can`t deny what is so obvious.
Comment by David on December 13, 2023 at 2:23 pm
At first glance, I imagined the image was of some sort of Eastern Orthodox clergyman.
Comment by George on December 13, 2023 at 5:11 pm
Well then OK, Jennifer. I’ll put you down in the approval column.
Comment by Gordon Hackman on December 13, 2023 at 7:53 pm
It’s amazing how churches that reject the gospel and the authority of Scripture end up embracing anything and everything, no matter how crass, tacky, vulgar, and blasphemous it is.
I’ve known a number of people throughout my life that joined the Episcopal Church after rejecting their Evangelical faith, including one person associated with a church which was featured in an article here, The Table Indy. I wonder if they’re fine with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence participating in an event officially sanctioned by their church.
Comment by Thomas on December 13, 2023 at 8:08 pm
In the past there were some pagan temples, like the Pantheon, in Rome, who were converted into Christian churches. Nowadays there are former Christian temples who were dissacrated into becoming neopagan temples.
Comment by Jennifer on December 14, 2023 at 9:48 am
I wish you all — you too, Thomas! — a blessed Advent. We are all God’s beloved children. May we all walk in love and with patience for each other.
Comment by Thomas on December 15, 2023 at 4:54 pm
We`ll pray that God show you what is the true Christian faith, Jennifer. It has nothing remotely to do what is this article is about but with the Gospels.
Comment by Cal on December 19, 2023 at 9:11 am
I think it was Mr Douthat of the NYTimes who said it best: “The purpose of the mainline church is to express, in religious idiom, the values and morality of the urban progressive ruling class”.
Comment by Paul Emmons on January 26, 2024 at 3:25 pm
I recall, as a young choir director in the 1960s, being forced to waste my poor choristers’ time on “Kum Ba Yah” and “Michael, row your boat” to guitar accompaniment, instead of honoring their dignity by giving them the Bach and Palestrina that they were capable of making their own. This modern circus is just a continuation of the same mentality, which operates on the premise that the church will convert the world by becoming indistinguishable from it. It’s worked out so well over the past fifty years, hasn’t it? For every kid attracted by such condescension, ten are guffawing in amazement over what chumps their elders have become. In an institution desperately chasing cash, dignity is the first thing to go.