Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is questioning whether Major League Baseball is being "inclusive and welcoming to Christians" after the Los Angeles Dodgers announced the team's plan to give a "Community Hero Award" to the LA Chapter of The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group of drag performers who dress like Catholic nuns and go by the motto, "Go forth and sin some more."
Rubio said this week in a statement that he has written a letter to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred to slam the decision to honor the anti-Catholic troupe, who he says "are men who dress in lewd imitation of Roman Catholic nuns" and that their slogan is a "perversion of Jesus' command to 'go and sin no more."
"The group's 'Easter' ceremony features children's programming followed by a drag show where adult performers dress in blasphemous imitation of Jesus and Mary," Rubio said. "The group hosts pub crawls mocking the Stations of the Cross and even the Eucharist, the sacrament that unites more than one billion Catholics around the world."
And that, the senator said, makes him question whether Manfred believes the Dodgers are being inclusive and welcoming to all "by giving an award to a group of gay and transgender drag performers that intentionally mocks and degrades Christians — and not only Christians but nuns, who devote their lives to serving others."
In his letter, Rubio pointed out that the Dodgers, as part of their LGBTQ+ Pride night at Dodgers Park, will give the award to the drag queen group, which describes itself as an "'order of queer and trans nuns.'"
According to the MLB, the Los Angeles chapter of the "Sisters" will receive this year's Community Hero Award "for their countless hours of community service, ministry, and outreach to those on the edges, in addition to promoting human rights and respect for diversity and spiritual enlightenment."
The award will be presented during the Pride Night activities at the June 16 home game against the San Francisco Giants.
But Rubio said the troupe has "mocked and degraded Christians, and especially Catholics, since its founding on Easter Sunday in 1979."
Rubio added that according to Dodgers Vice President of Marketing Erik Braverman, the team's LGBTQ+ Pride Night, which is being held in conjunction with LA Pride, is meant to "'foster an atmosphere of acceptance for all,'" but he thinks the many Catholics in Los Angeles would find that claim outrageous.
"His words resemble your own closely enough that I am addressing you now to clear up any confusion about where the League stands on this matter," Rubio told Manfred in the letter.
Rubio also questioned Manfred about whether he believes it is "morally right for the most important league of our national pastime to honor a group that mocks religion, and one religion in particular."
Major League Baseball, he added, is a private organization in a free country that can award whatever groups it chooses, "no matter how loathsome."
"But baseball has always been tied to our nation's values, at the heart of which is faith in God," said Rubio. "It would be an outrage and a tragedy if the MLB, in pursuit of modern, secular, and indeed anti-religious 'values,' rebuked that faith and the millions of believing fans who cherish the sport."
Catholic League president Bill Donohue has also denounced the Dodgers' decision, accusing them of "promoting bigotry, not fighting it."
"By rewarding anti-Catholicism, the Dodgers have broken bread with the most despicable elements in American society today," he said in a statement, where he pointed out some of the graphic acts the "sisters" have reportedly performed in their appearances.
"This is a group of men who pretend to be women and dress up in vulgar, garish caricatures of religious sisters," Donahue said.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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