Apology, Meant to Heal, Divides

A decision by the Roman Catholic bishop to deny a Catholic funeral to the owner of gay nightclubs linked to pornography has caused a rift between the church and the gay community.

Bishop Robert Brom has since apologized to the parents of nightclub owner John McCusker Jr. and offered to say a Mass for him. But the apology has aggravated some people who supported Brom’s initial decision and has not satisfied some gay activists.

“He did the right thing but for all the wrong reasons,” said Mike Portantino, publisher of the San Diego Gay and Lesbian Times. Brom was merely reacting to public criticism, Portantino said.

Brom last week ordered that none of the 98 Catholic churches in San Diego or Imperial counties under his jurisdiction could hold a funeral service for McCusker, 31, who died March 12 of heart failure during a skiing trip at Mammoth Mountain.

He took the unusual action after being informed by James Hartline, an anti-pornography activist, that McCusker’s clubs have been rented to firms filming gay pornography and that pornography stars often appear at one of the clubs.

Hartline, who has AIDS, believes that McCusker’s clubs promote unsafe sex and thus spread AIDS. The clubs, Club Montage and ReBar, feature “slave auctions” and “leather” activities.

“I used to go to Mr. McCusker’s clubs, I know what goes on there,” said Hartline, who describes himself as a Christian who has renounced homosexuality. “My crusade is against the pornography industry because it’s killing people.”

Before Brom’s ban, McCusker’s family had arranged for a funeral to be held at a church on the campus of the University of San Diego, a Catholic university. McCusker graduated from the university in 1996.

Episcopal church officials, urged by Councilwoman Toni Atkins, the council’s only gay member, held a funeral for McCusker, attended by more than 500 people on Friday at St. Paul’s Cathedral in San Diego. Brom was criticized in letters to the editor in the local newspaper.

“In 40 years as a gay activist, I’ve never seen so much love and compassion as people had for the McCusker family,” said Nicole Ramirez-Murray, who often writes about gay issues in local papers. “I think everyone felt the pain and hurt of the family for being denied the help of their church in their time of need.”

On Monday, after conferring with McCusker’s parents, Brom issued a statement apologizing to the family “for the anguish this has caused them.”

Although he did not explicitly say that he made the wrong decision in blocking the funeral, he offered to say a Mass for McCusker.

In his earlier statement, Brom said McCusker’s business activities were “contrary to sacred Scripture and the moral teachings of the church.” By banning a Catholic funeral, he said, he wanted to avoid a public scandal.

Msgr. Francis J. Maniscalco, spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Bishops, said it is not unusual for a bishop to deny a funeral for someone whose notorious life was not in keeping with Catholic teachings.

Still, such decisions are left to individual bishops, with no review by the church hierarchy, Maniscalco said.

McCusker was a financial backer of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center of San Diego, a leader in a gay business group, and a former board member of the San Diego Human Dignity Foundation.

Brom’s apology -- announced Monday night by McCusker’s mother, Christine McCusker during a rally at the community center -- disappointed Hartline.

Hartline called it a betrayal and a setback for his anti-pornography campaign.

Ernie Grimm, editor of San Diego News Notes, a conservative Catholic newsletter that often criticizes the church, said Brom had caved in to public pressure. “We’re not talking about a corner bar here,” Grimm said. “This is definitely on the edgier, seedier side of the gay community.”

Portantino said that without the apology, gay activists had planned to lead a boycott of offerings to the church and to picket at the home provided to the bishop by the diocese.

“I think in [Brom’s] mind, John was just a sleazy bar owner and he could do this to make a point,” Portantino said.

“What he didn’t realize was what a bright, fun, decent person he was and how many lives he had touched.”

A candlelight vigil is scheduled for Friday at the community center to review the issue and press religious leaders to open a dialogue with gays and lesbians.