Brother Bill Tomes
Op-Ed by Clifford Jackson
There has been significant corporate media coverage of the passing of a transgender activist and mass at St. Patrick Cathedral. Leading Catholic prelate Timothy Dolan and members of the Catholic hierarchy have been incensed and outraged by the behavior and language used by members of the LGBTQ plus community during the mass. I think this is another example of the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church and a perversion of the meaning of Jesus of Nazareth by the clergy and a glaring example of Cardinal Timothy Dolans” searing ignorance.
Malcolm X said in a speech in Los Angeles on May 5th 1962 that “ they accused Jesus of sedition because he was with the Leopors, with the prostitutes and he was with the despised and if Jesus was here today he would be with the so-called American Negro! “.
Sinead O’Connor , my hero , who died recently destroyed her career in many respects on national television thirty years ago when she condemned the Catholic Church and its hypocrisy that was glaring at that time and is certainly conspicuous in many ways today especially with their condemnation of the LGBTQ+ community. Malcolm X and Sinead O’Connor understood the real meaning of Jesus of Nazareth Cardinal Dolan and his Brethren in their condemnation do not.
Obviously Jesus of Nazareth, as Malcolm X astutely pointed out, was with those who were hated and in the most horrific circumstances. If Dolan and the Catholic Church were real followers and preachers of the meaning of Jesus of Nazareth they would be more concerned about the condition of those people during that mass and their pain that was expressed during that event than being insulted because their religious dogma and protocol was being upset. This hypocrisy and in my view superficial allegiance to church guidelines is not what Jesus of Nazareth was all about. He was more concerned about the suffering and humiliation of his children which the LGBTQ+ community are.
Thirty four years ago Brother Bill Tomes preached the word of Jesus Nazareth in one of the most notoriously violent housing projects in the country in Chicago called “ Cabrini Green “. An area that I am sure Timothy Dolan and many people like him would have been afraid of going into. Brother Tomes started the “Brothers and Sisters of Love”. He was not concerned about protocol or cosmetics or adhering to church dogma under all circumstances. He was in Cabrini Green because that is where Jesus of Nazareth would be.
From the beginning of the twentieth century through the 1960’s there were 70 thousand people who were defined as disabled or gay that were forcibly sterilized. I am not talking about the use of a pill. Castrations and involuntary medical procedures were performed on them in this violent, barbaric and uncivilized society. Where is Dolan and is crew in any way dealing with this evil?
Instead of being concerned about proper incantations and novenas they should be walking the walk of Jesus of Nazareth. Dolans” ignorance was conspicuous when he says “ our religious freedoms are second to none here”. What he doesn’t understand is that many of his brethren in this country have the Christian or catholic faith because it was forced upon them centuries before they were born. Just ask native Americans and some people of color who understand the real history of the annihilating of indigenous cultures and their ways of worship which the Catholic Church has a long history of.
Also these people should watch the series “ POSE” Starring Billy Porter which dramatizes the real raw experiences of the LGBTQ + community and the hatred and degradation that they deal with daily. Unlike what many so-called Catholics believe the poor are not lazy and the LGBTQ+ Community are human beings that are children of Jesus of Nazareth and deserve all the love and respect that Jesus of Nazareth gave to his other children.
Clifford Jackson, Larchmont
