Los Angeles Dodgers ace pitcher Clayton Kershaw announced the organization's relaunch of a Christian Faith and Family Day while vocalizing his criticisms of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
"I think we were always going to do Christian Faith Day this year, but I think the timing of our announcement was sped up," Kershaw said Monday, according to a report.
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"Picking a date and doing those different things was part of it as well. Yes, it was in response to the highlighting of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence [by the Dodgers]."
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence have sparked outrage for their actions, including mocking the Catholic faith, pole-dancing with a cross depicting Jesus, and pushing views in favor of abortion rights.
The group was reinvited to attend the Dodgers' Pride Night next month after the organization had retracted the invitation in the wake of public backlash.
"After much thoughtful feedback from our diverse communities, honest conversations within the Los Angeles Dodgers organization and generous discussions with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the Los Angeles Dodgers would like to offer our sincerest apologies to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, members of the LGBTQ+ community and their friends and families," a statement from the Dodgers read.
"We have asked the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to take their place on the field at our 10th annual LGBTQ+ Pride Night on June 16th. We are pleased to share that they have agreed to receive the gratitude of our collective communities for the lifesaving work that they have done tirelessly for decades."
Recognizing the group's actions and its portrayal of Christianity, Kershaw said it was difficult to watch the videos featuring the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
"I don’t agree with making fun of other people’s religions," the three-time Cy Young Award winner and World Series Champion said. "It has nothing to do with anything other than that. I just don't think that, no matter what religion you are, you should make fun of somebody else's religion. So that's something that I definitely don’t agree with."
"As a team between my wife and I and different people that I respect, we talked a lot about the right response to this," Kershaw said. "It's never an easy thing, because it felt like it elicited a response."
Rather than a direct condemnation, Kershaw felt a showing of his support for his faith was a better alternative, he said.
"For us, we felt like the best thing to do in response was, instead of maybe making a statement condemning or anything like that, would be just to instead try to show what we do support, as opposed to maybe what we don’t," Kershaw said. "And that was Jesus. So to make Christian Faith Day our response is what we felt like was the best decision."
His criticism of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence had nothing to do with his views regarding the greater LGBT community, according to Kershaw, and he has no plans to boycott Pride Night.
"This has nothing to do with the LGBTQ community or Pride or anything like that," he said. "This is simply a group that was making fun of a religion, that I don’t agree with."
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"As a follower of Christ, we’re supposed to love everybody well, and I think that means being able to be at a lot of different places and be able to be a part of a lot of different things."
The Dodgers' Christian Faith and Family Day is slated for July 30.