Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
May 31, 2023
“The Dodgers have become the Bud Light of baseball,” said Brian Burch, President of Catholicvote, an organization that launched a $1 million campaign to boycott the Los Angeles Dodgers over an anti-Catholic group to be honored at Dodger Stadium on Pride Night.
Initially the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence were invited by the Dodgers to participate in Pride Night, being held around Major League Baseball on Friday June 16. After some grumbling, the group was disinvited. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence is not just an anti-Catholic organization, they are drag queens dressed as nuns in the most disrespectful manner possible. Following additional grumbling from the other side, the Sisters were not only reinvited, but they are slated to be presented with a Community Heroes Award. The Los Angeles Dodgers have surrendered to the woke mafia and sided with evil over good.
“They picked a side,” said retired MLB pitcher Curt Schilling, who was outspoken in his playing days, and some believe it cost him enshrinement in the Baseball Hall of Fame. “We would rather offend Catholics than the Sisters of Whatever Bad Dancing on Poles they call themselves - I don’t even know. Point being, they picked a side,” said Schilling.
Fox News showed a clip of some of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’s antics. To call them horrific is an understatement of epic proportions. Too revolting for words in this column, the scene, so offensive, should send a message that the United States of America is in the throes of, not just a culture war, but a battle royale for the soul of America - a war of good versus evil. People of all faiths, not just Catholics, will be offended by this organization hell bent on bastardizing faith and religion.
Burch sent a letter to the Dodgers objecting to “not just inviting this group - vile, detestable, anti-Catholic hate group to participate, they are going to bestow on them an honor and a community award. So the Dodgers are saying this group in some way represents someone worthy of celebration - that they deserve an award. This group dresses up as Catholic nuns - they aren’t nuns - they’re homosexual men, whose purpose is to mock and defile the Christian religion. We sent this letter alerting them [the Dodgers] that we’re planning this million dollar campaign in hopes that we might have a conversation with them, a meeting, where we might convince them this is a terrible idea and they need to reconsider,” said Burch.
Conservative Catholic attorney, businessman, and philanthropist Tim Busch reminds people that the bottom line is still the bottom line. “...now it’s spreading to sports, and if you’re a shareholder of one of these companies, you should be very upset - why they’re in business in the first place, but this is what’s happened to America. This wokeness is kind of a pagan religion itself. People don’t have a faith, so they create one and this is what it is. I just don’t think we should be dividing people in business or in sports. They need to be united regardless of their faith or their politics,” said Busch, an unconfirmed minority owner of two sports teams - one in the United States and one in the United Kingdom.
As millions of Americans have already made their financial voices heard regarding Bud Light and Target, clearly the Dodgers have learned nothing. Since March 21 of this year, Bud Light’s parent company Anheuser-Busch has lost $27 billion. In about two weeks since mid-May, Target has lost $13.8 billion. Both figures come from Fox Business. Other companies, such as Kohl’s, are facing similar potential losses, and for the same reasons - a woke agenda catering to a tiny minority with the biggest and loudest mouths. But, the silent majority is not staying silent any longer.
“Capitalism is a wonderful thing,” said Schilling. “What we’re doing to the companies that are going woke and the value that they’re dropping billions and billions of dollars needs to be the wake up call. In the last two years, have you seen a liberal-trans boycott that has negatively impacted the bottom line of a company to the point it’s been reported in the news? I haven’t. Do you know why? Because there’s not that many of them. I don’t care, I don’t watch it. But, I sure as hell know baseball fans don’t go to the game to see this crap, much less honoring these people,” concluded Schilling.
Conservatives and religious people of many faiths have expressed offense at the manner in which these companies are conducting business. Apparently, these companies and others are doubling down, as the Dodgers seem to have done, in emphasizing their support for the immoral, the depraved, and the offensive.
“They mock Catholicism and religion in general,” said Burch. This is more than just what they’re wearing. “They’ve turned Jesus on the Cross into a sexual prop. They’re motto is ‘go and sin some more.’ That tells you all you need to know. This is not the kind of group that should be honored. This is not a charitable group…. We now have the star pitcher of the Dodgers saying that he is against mocking the religion of anybody,” Burch said of future Hall of Fame hurler Clayton Kershaw.
Via the Los Angeles Times on Monday May 29, Kershaw said “I don’t agree with making fun of other people’s religions. It has nothing to do with anything other than that. I just don’t think that, no matter what religion you are, you should make fun of somebody else’s religion.
Kershaw’s Dodgers teammate, pitcher Blake Treinen, posted on Twitter on May 30: “I am disappointed to see the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence being honored as heroes at Dodger Stadium. Many of their performances are blasphemous and their work only displays hate and mockery of Catholics and the Christian faith.”
Also on Twitter, on May 30, Washington Nationals pitcher Trevor Williams as well expressed his dislike with the Dodgers’ decision. “To invite and honor a group that makes a blatant and deeply offensive mockery of my religion, and the religion of over four million people in Los Angeles County alone, undermines the values of respect and inclusivity that should be upheld by any organization.”
The goal in any game is to score points and win. These points should be made on the field of play and not political points - from either side of the aisle. People want to go to the ballpark, have a beer and a hot dog, be entertained and to “forget about life for a while,” not be lectured to or at.
In an effort to mollify the religious crowd, the Dodgers announced they are relaunching their “Faith and Family Day.” Too little, too late - seems they are putting the proverbial lipstick on the pig. Quite frankly, all of these “group” days - Pride, various ethnic heritage days, even bringing your pet to the ballpark, should be discontinued. The teams should simply welcome all fans to the ballpark every day.
Being neither a Catholic nor a Dodgers fan, the question of why do I care is raised. Aside from being offended simply as a person of faith, I’m reminded of the words of Lutheran Pastor Martin Niemoller (1892-1984) of Germany, found prominently on a wall at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC:
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak for me.”
Granted, the circumstances are nowhere remotely equal, but Niemoller’s words are more than a little poignant.
Sanford D. Horn is a writer and an educator living in Westfield, IN. He is a charter member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
