Stefanick clarified that he thinks Stoney’s Bar and Grill has a right to refuse to host anyone they want.
“But they should expect those who are refused to react accordingly, and they shouldn’t be surprised at the angry e-mails and the Catholic groups who no longer want to go there.”
Jeanette DeMelo, the Archdiocese of Denver’s communications director, echoed Stefanick’s comments.
“A local bar is discriminating against our group and the content of our talks. For this bar, it’s a business decision and it’s acceptable for them to make that decision,” she told CNA Feb. 13.
“The bar has a right to be what it is, a sports bar with a noncontroversial atmosphere, which allows anyone and everyone to feel at home – except Catholics in collars.”
She lamented what she called a “double standard” in public opinion. The business decisions of secular businesses like Stoney’s Bar and Grill are seen as acceptable, while the Catholic Church is not allowed similar self-determination like refusing federal mandates for insurance coverage of contraception and sterilization.
“Catholics must make our stand – with charity but with great clarity. We can’t allow ourselves to be pushed out of the public square,” DeMelo said.
Stefanick added in his comments to CNA that the event draws a crowd. “There were about 300 people there on a night that otherwise would be kind of dead,” he said.
Theology on Tap’s next meeting will take place Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. at Katie Mullen’s Irish Restaurant and Pub on Denver’s 16th Street Mall. Theology professor Tim Gray will speak on the topic “Religionless Christianity,” in response to a popular YouTube video which professes love for Jesus but hate for religion.
Kevin J. Jones is a senior staff writer with Catholic News Agency. He was a recipient of a 2014 Catholic Relief Services' Egan Journalism Fellowship.