Lesbian Mother's Funeral Halted by Pastor

[Ultimate Paragon]

https://www.yahoo.com/parenting/moms-funeral-halted-by-pastor-over-affectionate-108083889917.html

A Colorado pastor halted the funeral of a 33-year-old mother of two over the weekend, reportedly because a memorial slideshow featured kissing and other moments of affection between the woman, Vanessa Collier, and her wife, Christina Higley. As a result, the crowd of more than 150 mourners moved flowers, programs — and Collier’s body in a casket — from New Hope Ministries to a funeral home across the street. The pastor’s decision has ignited anger both online and in the streets outside the church in Lakewood, where a large crowd of friends and supporters, unmoved by a reported apology from pastor Raymond Chavez, held a protest on Tuesday, chanting, “Shame on Pastor Ray!”

Collier was “a loving wife, daughter, mother, sister, friend — that’s who she was and that’s what she should be judged based upon,” Jose Silva, a family friend and protest organizer, told Fox 31 in Denver outside of the church. In a Facebook post announcing the protest, Silva noted, “I am a child of a lesbian mother and if my mom was to die, I would want ‘Dignity in her Death.’ As a Christian, I am against bigotry and stand with my friend Vanessa Collier’s family in seeking an apology and refund from Pastor Ray Chavez and New Hope Ministries. The acts that took place at her funeral were wrong and no family should ever have to go through that.”

This is absolutely loathsome!

[Søren]

Just go for the refund, the apology means jack shit.

[Sylvana]

Just go for the refund, the apology means jack shit.

That's because a refund actually hits where it hurts. Churches do lover their tax free wallets.
It is sad that you cant expect the same level of professionalism from pastors as you can from anyone else.

[Beezlebub]

I thought these things were shown to the workers before hand, to make sure everything's in working order.

[Barbarella]

I thought these things were shown to the workers before hand, to make sure everything's in working order.

I don't get it, either.

And these boneheads always wait until preparations or the ceremony has progressed far before balking.

[Askold]

I thought these things were shown to the workers before hand, to make sure everything's in working order.

I don't get it, either.

And these boneheads always wait until preparations or the ceremony has progressed far before balking.

It could be that the priest did not know and this was his "panic" reaction when he realized there was something he did not approve OR it could be that he knew and had planned to stop the wedding due to his bigoted views even if it meant hurting the family of the deceased...

If it is the latter I support the all-American way of taking this to court and demanding money for emotional pain.

If it is the former then he should have just kept his mouth shut and thought about the family. In a funeral, right after the religious rituals, it is the priests duty to console the family and help them deal with the grief.

[ironbite]

I thought I had a grip on the timeline of events but now I'm very much confused.  Did preacher man take the money to do the service, found out she was a lesbian, wrestled with his conscious for a bit then decide, 15 minutes into the thing, to kick everyone out?

Ironbite-or am I misreading things?

[mellenORL]

I think he was being a chickenshit douche. As I read it, they already knew she was a lesbian as she was a member of the church, and she was not in the closet. The pastor called it off when the family continued to refuse to remove the "offending" pictures of her kissing her wife from the memorial picture slideshow display. This way, Pastor Fucknugget was setting it up to look like, "I gave them multiple warnings and every possible chance to comply up to the last minute".

[rageaholic]

Read about this a couple of days ago.  The only response I could muster up was this