Tea at Trianon: The Abomination of Desolation

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, February 19, 2024

The Abomination of Desolation

“When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place: he that readeth let him understand.” ~Matthew 24:15

From CNA:

A raucous funeral liturgy for a high-profile trans activist and sex-worker advocate was held Thursday in New York City’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral, sparking an outcry on social media that the iconic church was misused to advance an ideological agenda at odds with Catholic teaching. The Manhattan cathedral hosted the Feb. 15 funeral service for Cecilia Gentili, an activist who helped to decriminalize sex work in New York, lobbied for “gender identity” to be added as a protected class to the state’s human rights laws, and was a major fundraiser for transgender causes. Organizers reportedly did not disclose to the cathedral that Gentili, who died Feb. 6 at age 52, was a biological man who identified as a woman.

“I kept it under wraps,” Ceyeye Doroshow, the service’s organizer, told The New York Times. Doroshow said that Gentili’s friends requested that the funeral service be held at St. Patrick’s because “it is an icon,” which is how they thought of Gentili.
Throughout the liturgy, the presider, Father Edward Dougherty, referred to Gentili with feminine pronouns and described the trans-identifying man as “our sister.” Additionally, during the prayers of the faithful, the reader prayed for so-called gender-affirming health care, while attendees frequently and approvingly referred to Gentili as the “mother of whores.”

It was not clear if cathedral staff were aware that Gentili was a man who identified as a woman. On Friday St. Patrick’s Cathedral referred all media requests to the Archdiocese of New York, which did not respond to requests for comment before publication.

The Archdiocese later released a statement on Saturday from Father Enrique Salvo, the pastor of St. Patrick's, who said that cathedral staff "had no idea our welcome and prayer would be degraded in such a sacrilegious and deceptive way." Salvo said that Church officials shared in the "outrage over the scandalous behavior at a funeral here at St. Patrick’s Cathedral earlier this week." Salvo also revealed that a Mass of Reparation had been said at the cathedral at the direction of Cardinal Timothy Dolan.

In remarks previously made to The New York Times, archdiocesan spokesman Joseph Zwilling said that “a funeral is one of the corporal works of mercy,” which are “a model for how we should treat all others, as if they were Christ in disguise.” Other than its spokesman’s comments, the New York Archdiocese had issued no official statement on the funeral service at St. Patrick’s as of Friday night.

Several mainstream media outlets have framed the event as a breakthrough occasion and a sign of the Catholic Church shifting its teaching — or at least its tone — on sexuality and human anthropology. Time magazine described the fact that a funeral service for a trans activist was held in a Catholic cathedral as “no small feat,” while The New York Times described the service as “an exuberant piece of political theater.” (Read more.)

From The New York Post:

St. Patrick’s Cathedral says it was duped into hosting a “sacrilegious” funeral for a transgender activist on Thursday, which left church brass outraged after she was eulogized as “St. Cecilia, mother of all whores.” More than 1,000 mourners, many of whom were transgender or clad in flashy outfits, packed into the iconic cathedral to celebrate the life of Cecilia Gentili — a high-profile activist who advocated for the trans community, sex workers and HIV/AIDS patients, the New York Times reported.

Many of the attendees donned miniskirts and fishnet stockings while others wore halter tops and high-heel shoes during a sometimes rowdy service that reportedly included dancing in the aisles and a call for easier gender transition care from the pulpit by one of Gentili’s friends, according to the newspaper. Near the altar, mass cards surrounded a photo of Gentili with a halo over her head with the words “transvestite,” “whore,” “blessed” and “mother” above the text of Psalm 25, according to The Times. (Read more.)