CHURCH REFUSES FUNERAL TO GAY MAN

Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego has backtracked after a church cancelled a man’s funeral simply because he was gay.

John Sanfilippo, a devout Catholic and a parishioner at the Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church in Little Italy for decades, died of emphysema last week.

So committed was he to his church that he even left it money in his will.

His partner of 28 years and family planned his funeral mass at the church, according to his wishes, but were later told that the funeral could not take place there because of Sanfilippo’s sexual orientation.

After the issue came to light in the media, Rodrigo Valdivia, the chancellor of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, intervened.

In an e-mail to