Yesterday it was reported that Holy Redeemer Church in San Francisco had been targeted by vandals presumably for its support of Proposition 8. The church was spray painted with “Ratzinger” (referring to the Pope) and Niederauer (referring to the San Francisco archbishop) along with swastikas and other graffiti.
Said Pastor Steve Meriweather to KCBS: “I think it's unfortunate that they selected our community to attack, because it's the wrong one.”
ABC7 wrote: “It appears the vandals are upset about the Catholic church's support of Proposition 8, which made same-sex marriage illegal in California. But, the Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church on Diamond Street is gay-friendly. Many parishioners voted against Prop 8 and they are upset their church was targeted. ‘We're very disturbed by the hierarchy's support of the Yes on Eight Campaign. We've been in conversation with the bishop, which is the way I think we need to handle it. I think Catholic teaching shows us we're all a community and we all need to talk to one another about it even if we have disagreements,' said Rob Hopckey.”
Niederauer's actions during the Prop 8 campaign attracted plenty of attention. The archbishop sent out an email flyer before the election to his Holy Redeemer parishioners urging them to make a “Yes” vote on Proposition 8, as was reported in the San Francisco Chronicle on October 18.
Said Matt Dorsey, a member of the Holy Redeemer Parish Council, to the Chronicle at the time: “It is really out of right field. I would expect this from Karl Rove, but not from the spiritual leader of (several hundred thousand) Catholics.”
Niederauer also defended his action on Prop 8 at the beginning of December in a letter posted to his website. Niederauer urged people to accept the procreation argument for the family and the “marriage” label, and wants gays to accept “a contract for the benefit of a relationship between adults” but not call it marriage. He forgives “single parents, grandparents, foster parents and others” who “fail to realize” the ideal procreative one man-one woman model but doesn't deny them his permission to marry, because they are heterosexual.
Basically, Niederauer wants gays and lesbians (many of whom do procreate through surrogates, etc, I might add) to accept their status as second-class citizens and move on.
The vandalism is being investigated.
Recently
SF Archbishop Niederauer Wants Gays to Accept Second-Class Status [tr]
S.F. Catholic church walks fine line on Prop. 8 [sf chronicle]
