In a stunning reversal, the head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego will now allow a funeral to take place for a 31-year-old gay bar owner who died of heart failure. Bishop Robert Brom apologized to the family of John McCusker after previously refusing to have a funeral in any of the region’s parishes. Intense national pressure was focused on Brom during the past week, with organizations from Dignity to HRC attacking his order.
Brom ‘also promised to preside at a mass in memory of McCusker at The Immaculata Catholic church on the campus of the University of San Diego,’ McCusker’s alma mater, reported the Union-Tribune.
The church had denied the funeral because McCucker’s ‘business activities … were contrary to Sacred Scripture and the moral teaching of the Church.’ He ran gay bars, where porn stars also performed.
‘I deeply regret that denying a Catholic funeral for John McCusker at the Immaculata has resulted in his unjust condemnation, and I apologize to the family for the anguish this has caused them,’ Brom said.