A Chicago pastor publicly set fire to an LGBTQ pride flag outside his church, just a few miles from the city’s gayborhood of Boystown.
Father Paul Kalchik, of Resurrection Catholic Church in the city’s Avondale neighborhood, burned the flag despite being told by church higher-ups not to do so.
Now protesters are calling for the priest to be removed from his position.
“To think that this hatred is being spread in our neighborhood is not acceptable,” said 33rd Ward Ald. Deb Mell.
How about we take this to the next level?
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Dell gathered with about a dozen others, rainbow flags in hand, outside the church to make their voices heard. One sign read “hate is not holy.”
“It is not ok to demonize a whole community and put out hatred rhetoric to make himself feel better,” she added.
According to the priest, the flag, which also had a welcome message to LGBTQ parishioners, was in church storage for a decade. He told the Chicago Sun-Times it was “propaganda.”
A supporter of Kalchik oddly told reporters that the priest supports the LGBTQ community.
“He is a big supporter of them and he is not against them whatsoever,” the man, named Patrick, said.
“He was burning that flag which was not symbol of LGBTQ,” he added. Ah, that clears it up.
The archdiocese issued this statement: “…Archdiocese leadership previously contacted the pastor to notify him he could not move forward with that planned activity. We are following up on the situation. As Catholics, we affirm the dignity of all persons.”
QueerTruth
Everyone reading this… please stop supporting the Catholic Church.
Keep your faith in god, if you’re a believer, but please lose your religion.
There really is nothing else to do.
Brian
I wonder what would happen if, one Sunday, Catholic priests across the country saw only about 5 or 10 parishioners in front of them. Would that be a wake-up call?
The problem is that Catholics continue to attend masses, continue to send their tithes, continue to support the organization. When they don’t change, the priests know that they can continue raping people and covering it up. They can continue sending missionaries to the Amazon, erasing hundreds of native nations in the process. Everyday people support this, shrugging it off. It’s appalling.
Kangol
Why no photo of this anti-gay Catholic priest? Google his name and one turns up at the top of the search. Let’s see if the Archdiocese of Chicago punishes Kalchik; Chicago’s cardinal Cupich allegedly is liberal and more gay friendly than many of his Catholic peers.
BGinBigD
I guess this priest will do ANYTHING to defer the public’s attention to the sexual assaults committed by Catholic priests on their own parishioners. This religion is becoming more hypocritical everyday.
James
It’s not a church, it is a hate group.
ChrisGMN
Honestly, who the hell cares what the Catholic Church thinks? It is the most corrupt organization in the world and has been responsible for molesting thousands of children. It is a farce with no moral superiority over anything.
Also, I googled that priest and he absolutely has gay face. Probably just an angry closet case.
Kangol
I think we should care because the Church still has tremendous power. For example, one Catholic extremist (Neil Gorsuch) was installed on the Supreme Court last year, and another (Brett Kavanaugh) is on the verge of being installed now, despite having allegedly lied multiple times under oath to Congress (on top of other allegations against him). Both have the strong support of the Catholic bishops, and the church’s role in a number of problematic activities, like pushing anti-gay laws, denying service and public goods like health care to gay people under the guise of “religious freedom,” etc., are dangerous. We do not live in a theocracy but a secular democratic republic, and keeping an eye on the Catholic Church and all other churches and religions that try to interfere in and control the public sphere is something we should stay vigilant about.
JessPH
First Amendment gives him the right to burn any flag. However, his behavior is not free from consequences and he should be fired by the Archdiocese for insubordination.
EZinHTown
Actually, the First Amendment only applies to the Government and therefore the Church or for that matter. privvte employers are free to restrict speech. That said, I agree, he should be fired for insubordination.
DCguy
Anybody surprised? The Catholic and Mormon churches spent years and millions of dollars to attack LGBT rights.
radiooutmike
The church is dying out in the US. Parishioners are skewing older and older.
QueerTruth
Not fast enough though