St. Patrick's holds rare Mass of Reparation after 'scandalous behavior' at service for NYC trans icon Cecilia Gentili

Ceyeye Doroshow, who organized the memorial, admitted to The New York Times that she did not mention Gentili was trans to St. Patrick’s officials and kept her identity “under wraps.” Organizers did put out an extensive news release advertising the funeral at the church.

More than 1,000 people attended the service, which was live streamed on Trans Equity YouTube channel. Many of the mourners were trans and were seen wearing miniskirts, halter tops, fishnet stockings and fur stoles.

So many people showed up at the “homegoing service” that the Rev. Edward Dougherty, who presided over the Mass, commented on the size of the crowd.

“Except on Easter Sunday, we don’t really have a crowd that is this well turned out, you know?” Dougherty said during the service.

Gentili’s family on Saturday pushed back at St. Patrick’s, saying the funeral brought “precious life and radical joy to the Cathedral in historic defiance of the Church’s hypocrisy and anti-trans hatred.”

“Cecilia Gentili’s funeral service, which filled the pews in ways the Cathedral only can during Easter service and NYPD funerals, was a reflection of the love she had for her community and a testament to the impact of her tireless advocacy,” family members said in a statement to The New York Daily News. “Her heart and hands reached those the sanctimonious Church continues to belittle, oppress, and chastise, and she changed the material conditions for countless people, including unhoused people and those who needed healthcare.

“The only deception present at St. Patrick’s Cathedral is that it claims to be a welcoming place for all,” they said.

On Thursday attendees had heralded the Cathedral’s hosting of the funeral as a pivotal turn in the church’s treatment of trans Catholics.

Catholics have long excluded queer and trans people, and the national conference of Catholic bishops in the U.S. rejects the concept of gender transition. However, the Vatican announced in October the church would allow trans people to be baptized and serve as godparents under some circumstances.

In 1989, thousands stormed St. Patrick’s Cathedral in opposition to the Catholic Church’s policies on homosexuality, HIV/AIDS and abortion.

Catholics held a Mass of Reparation in Brooklyn in November to cleanse Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church. The Brooklyn Diocese said the church was desecrated when someone filmed a sexually provocative music video inside the house of worship.