San Francisco, Calif., Mar 7, 2009 / 20:47 pm
Archbishop of San Francisco George Niederauer has ordered a parish to cancel the performance of a “gay-friendly” play directed at teens. The play was to be performed by students from a Catholic preparatory school.
Archdiocesan spokesman Maurice Healy told the California Catholic Daily that Most Holy Redeemer Church had canceled the play “Be Still and Know” at the request of the archbishop.
The parish bulletin said the play, based on the 2007 book “The God Box,” explores “the subject of homosexuality within a Christian, adolescent context.”
The book on which the play is based won an award from the homosexual advocacy organization the Lambda Literary Foundation. It was praised by the Episcopalian Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori, who said it opens up “long-abused biblical passages often used as proof texts to denigrate homosexuality.”