Lakeview Church Says New Pride Parade Route Would Prevent Parishoners From Attending Mass

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church (Image Credit: Brandon Bartoszek)

We were wondering when some would complain about the new route for next year's Chicago Pride Parade. Somehow, it seems fitting the first complaint comes from a church.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church is behind a petition drive asking the parade be rescheduled or re-routed so that their laity may be able to attend Sunday morning mass.

On the surface, the complaint has merit. Last year nearly 800,000 people attended the Chicago Pride Parade, which was one reason organizers decided to amend the route to accommodate the influx of people and provide more CTA train and bust entry/exit points. A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Chicago told ABC 7's Chuck Goudie the petition was a parish issue, but added the church may have to close because the new route puts the parade past the church and parishoners couldn't enter.

Parade coordinator Richard Pfeiffer countered that the new route took Our Lady of Mount Carmel into consideration and that the church's laity could still attend mass my entering via the back of the church via an alley and access on Broadway.

44th Ward Ald. Tom Tunney is caught in the middle. As Chicago's first openly gay alderman and a member of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, he said he was "taken aback by the concern about the parishioners feeling they had a right and entitlement to make sure their Sunday services were protected and the hours remain the same."

Pfeiffer added that an offer was made to the church for barricades and marshals on the route to ensure parishoners who want to attend Sunday morning mass may do so. Maybe there's an unspoken concern of what may happen when one flamboyantly dressed group unexpectedly meets with another. For now, no resolution has been reached.

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By Chuck Sudo in News on December 1, 2011 11:30 AM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

benergy

So much ignorance in these comments. For one, the AGLO mass is self-funded by parishoners who want to be there, and is a unique and wonderful form of ministry. In fact, I became a parishoner of Mt. Carmel through the AGLO service. "Checking the web site" does not do this ministry justice, and despite the acronym, AGLO is not some "laughable [...] outreach."

Mt. Carmel is a landmark on Belmont between Halsted and Broadway -- in fact, it is the principal structure of any form of notoriety. The "community" does not want the noise and congestion to occur during morning services -- when most parishoners attend. Spinning this as some form of "intolerance" is missing the point entirely.

Perhaps the parade organizers should realize that instead of celebrating pride, they're brandishing arrogance. Asking parishoners of East Lakeview's principal church to attend service by entering via the back alley like common rats and listening to the intense noise of the outside parade is just that: thoughtless arrogance.

Navin_Johnson

Yeah, one day a year. You're bringing me to tears over here.....

BlueFairlane

When I hear the complaints from Mount Carmel, I don't assume some sort of intolerance. I assume the same sort of arrogance exhibited by a lot of Chicago churches that they somehow should be exempt from the inconvenience that comes from being located in a major city. Lots of businesses and residences also are inconvenienced by the existence of this parade. So what. It's a parade. When you're located along a major thoroughfare in a big city, you're going to have to deal with parades.

Joseph Finn

Checking their website, the church offers these services:

SATURDAY - 4:30 p.m.SUNDAY - 8:00 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 11:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.AGLO Mass - Sunday 7:00 p.m. - Archdiocesan Gay and Lesbian Outreach

Leaving aside the laughable aspect of a Roman Catholic church pretending to have a outreach program to people their own catechism refers to as sinners, they have plenty of services.

sat3911

Remember that the local churches are often run in ways that are not approved by the central church because they actually work with people. Also remember the Roman Catholic church is a giant outreach program to sinners.

tomdarch

The parade organizers also pointed out that numerous other churches have been along the parade route over the years and managed to work things out. On top of marshals and barricades on the sidewalk, they also presented a plan to provide marshals to manage the streets and alley to provide accesses to the church parking lot from Broadway.

It sounds like the very experienced parade organizers have covered the logistical bases for supporting the church. So, if the logistical issues have been pretty well covered, what, exactly is the problem?

It would be nice if the Mount Carmel parish community stopped whining and instead tried to genuinely and warm-heartedly welcomed folks from the parade. (coughcough...remember St. Sebastian's?) I heard that there's some obscure character in the Bible who promoted that sort of thing.

This sounds like a job for Stephen Colbert...