Dolan OK with gay groups in St. Patrick's parade

[UrbScotty]

After years of strong resistance, organizers of New York’s St. Patrick’s Day parade on Wednesday (Sept. 3) said that gays and lesbians will be allowed to march under their own banner for the first time, and Cardinal Timothy Dolan — the parade’s grand marshal next March — has welcomed the move.

The decision is another sign of how quickly changing public attitudes toward gay people have pushed changes in state laws, government policies and the practices of private entities.

...

“Neither my predecessors as Archbishop of New York nor I have ever determined who would or would not march in this parade … but have always appreciated the cooperation of parade organizers in keeping the parade close to its Catholic heritage,” he continued.

Dolan concluded by praying “that the parade would continue to be a source of unity for all of us.”

http://www.religionnews.com/2014/09/03/gay-parade-catholic-cardinal-dolan/

[TommyCelt]

1. This is HUGE.

It doesn't matter to me that this likely came about because of the huge sponsors of the parade like Guinness and Heineken jumping ship. Money talks in most instances, and this is unfortunately how issues get attention in this country.

But perhaps the gentle charity of Pope Francis is starting to rub off just a little on the "princes" of the Church. For Cardinal Dolan, the Grand Marshal of the 2015 Parade, to make a statement like this...as well as the non-screeching acknowledgment of the rule change by The Catholic League...gives me hope.

I'm a Hibernian. I've marched in the NYC Parade several times. Because of the exclusion of GLBT-identified Irish groups in the parade by the AOH, I'd put myself on open-ended hiatus from the group. I may change that going forward...

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

2. Of course, there is damn-all Dolan could do about it even if he did object

And he's smart enough that whinging about it would only make him look bad.