New York City, N.Y., Aug 21, 2010 / 18:21 pm
In another development in the dispute over the Empire State Building’s refusal of a request to honor the 100th birthday of Mother Teresa in its lighting scheme, a coalition of Catholic dissenters has issued a statement affirming the decision and characterizing advocates of the honor as serving “the radical right.”
The head of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights responded by noting the variety of people who support the honors, including some bishops of India.
The Catholic League had asked the building to light up the skyscraper in the blue and white colors of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity, but the operating company of the building declined the request.
Led by the Catholic League, objectors to the decision pointed to the landmark’s previous lighting scheme honors for the 60th anniversary of the communist revolution in China, the 125th anniversary of the Salvation Army, and the deaths of Cardinal John O’Connor and Pope John Paul II.