On Sun, 20 Mar 2005 00:04:41 -0800, Iblis 
wrote:

>wbt{at}privacy.net wrote:
>> Church Denies Funeral for Gay Bar Owner
>>
>> Fri Mar 18, 4:27 PM ET
>> 	
>> Add to My Yahoo!	 U.S. National - AP
>>
>> SAN DIEGO - San Diego's Roman Catholic bishop has denied funeral rites
>> to a man who owned a bar and a dance club popular with gays, citing a
>> clash with the church's moral teachings.
>>
>> John McCusker, who was gay, died Sunday of congestive heart failure at
>> a ski resort, his family said.
>>
>> (...)
>>
>> Valdivia cited a church canon that states "manifest
sinners" are among
>> those who cannot be granted funeral rites "without public scandal to
>> the faithful."
>>
>> Other dioceses have sometimes denied funeral Masses for mobsters,
>> including John Gotti.
>
>And Catholics in Spain still hold memorial masses for Generalisimo
>Francisco Franco, who let Hitler use Franco's own subjects for
>firebombing practice.
>
>>
>> (...)
>>
>> McCusker owned Club Montage, a nightclub popular with gays, and ReBar,
>> a gay bar.
>>
>> Several gay community leaders said they planned to file a formal
>> protest with the diocese and demand that Brom apologize to McCusker's
>> family.
>>
>> 				***
>>
>> Why should the church apologize It's within their rights to determine
>> who they will conduct funerals for. Again, homosexuals demanding
>> special treatment simply because of their sexual preference. When will
>> it all end?
>
>They're exercising their right to freedom of speech.  They seek no legal
>penalties against the Bishop.  The Bishop exercised his diocese's
>freedom of association as a private group.  If the Church were treated
>like any other private group, I'd have no problem.  However, the Church
>demands special rights, like the right to ignore civil rights laws as
>they apply to people other than Catholics.

FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION - That's what it called. The Supreme Court of
the United States so stated.


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