text: Most Holy Redeemer at crossroads ON SAN FRANCISCO 
   
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   gallery_thumbnails_photo|photo-3335991|article-gallery-3791909|8 Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close gallery_thumbnails_show|article-gallery-3791909|article-gallery-3791909|0 gallery_overlay_open|article-gallery-3791909|article-gallery-3791909|0 gallery_overlay_open_thumbs|article-gallery-3791909|article-gallery-3791909|0 Image 1 of 9 Most Holy Redeemer, with a membership that is 80 percent gay and lesbian, in the Castro. Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle Most Holy Redeemer, with a membership that is 80 percent gay and... Image 2 of 9 A stained glass window is seen at the Most Holy Redeemer church in San Francisco. Photo: Megan Farmer, The Chronicle A stained glass window is seen at the Most Holy Redeemer church in... Image 3 of 9 Chuck Bold is seen leaving a church service at the Most Holy Redeemer Church in San Francisco. Chuck says, in reference to the new arch bishop, "give the guy a chance." Photo: Megan Farmer, The Chronicle Chuck Bold is seen leaving a church service at the Most Holy... Image 4 of 9 In this 2004 file photo, Father Steve Meriwether walks back into the church after a well attended Sunday Mass at Most Holy Redeemer parish church in the Castro. Photo: Kat Wade, SFC In this 2004 file photo, Father Steve Meriwether walks back into... Image 5 of 9 In this 2004 file photo, Father Steve Meriwether leads a well attended Sunday Mass at Most Holy Redeemer parish church in the Castro Sunday as the Roman Catholic Church opens the fight against homosexuality among priests and seminary students. Photo: Kat Wade, The Chronicle In this 2004 file photo, Father Steve Meriwether leads a well... Image 6 of 9 In this 2004 file photo, Father Steve Meriwether greets parishners after a well attended Sunday Mass at Most Holy Redeemer parish church in the Castro Sunday as the Roman Catholic Church opens the fight against homosexuality among priests and seminary students. Ran on: 09-27-2005 The Rev. Stephen Meriwether greets parishioners after Sunday Mass at Most Holy Redeemer Church. Photo: Kat Wade, The Chronicle In this 2004 file photo, Father Steve Meriwether greets parishners... Image 7 of 9 In this 2004 file photo, parishner Mark Andrew holds a rosary as he prays during Sunday Mass at Most Holy Redeemer parish church in the Castro lead by Father Steve Meriwether Sunday as the Roman Catholic Church opens the fight against homosexuality among priests and seminary students. Ran on: 09-27-2005 The Rev. Stephen Meriwether greets parishioners after Sunday Mass at Most Holy Redeemer Church. Photo: Kat Wade, The Chronicle In this 2004 file photo, parishner Mark Andrew holds a rosary as he... Image 8 of 9 Nicolas Volant is seen leaving a church service at the Most Holy Redeemer Church in San Francisco. Photo: Megan Farmer, The Chronicle Nicolas Volant is seen leaving a church service at the Most Holy... Image 9 of 9 Most Holy Redeemer at crossroads 1 / 9 Back to Gallery gallery_thumbs_close|article-gallery-3791909|article-gallery-3791909|0 gallery_overlay_close|article-gallery-3791909|article-gallery-3791909|0 
   
   Most Holy Redeemer is at a crossroads. The Catholic church in the Castro district has arguably the largest gay parish in the nation, and controversial new decisions have members worried about leadership, policies - even that the church might be shut down. 
   
   And it all began with drag queens. 
   
   When the archdiocese refused to allow drag queens to serve as emcees for charity events at the church's community hall, it fed rampant paranoia about antigay sentiment. The decision was initially blamed on incoming Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, an outspoken opponent of same-sex marriage who has been championed by extreme conservative Catholic groups. Some read the drag-queen ban as a calculated slap in the face. 
   
   Cordileone doesn't start his new job until October, but clearly the issue is bigger than drag queens at a fundraiser. The decision calls into question the responsibility of a church in the community, of the acceptance of all walks of life and the tenets of religion. 
   
   "Paranoia is very high," said Supervisor Scott Wiener, who represents the district. "There are a lot of gay people for whom this religion is very important. It's just very, very sad." 
   
   Even the possibility of closing the church, despite its illustrious San Francisco history, seems real. 
   
   "The (incoming) archbishop holds the keys to this building," said church business manager Mike Poma. "He could close us any time." 
   
   And for some, the move to quell the drag-queen decision by declaring that Ellard Hall would be closed to community events only made things worse. 
   
   Most Holy Redeemer's new pastor, the Rev. Brian Costello, who did not return a phone call, arrived in July from a church in the Richmond District. But he made a point in his first official message to welcome "old, young, married, gay, lesbian, transgender, affluent, home-cradle Catholics, radical, traditional, questioning and fervent." 
   
   So, while he was initially opposed to having drag queens as entertainment for two fundraisers for sobriety and wellness groups at Ellard Hall, he listened when Poma asked him to reconsider. 
   
   "I told him, this is just dinner. It's not a strip show," Poma said. "I told him it was going to be a powder keg." 
   
   Poma says Costello responded by making two calls to the archdiocese, where the idea was turned down flat. 
   
   "We have to give (Costello) a break," Poma said. "He's got a boss, you know. And he's never been immersed in gay culture in his life. He's learning." 
   
   What he's learning is that what might seem very strange in Middle America is everyday life in the Castro. Drag queens may not be mainstream, except at Most Holy Redeemer, where they regularly attend Mass. 
   
   "We had some boys in miniskirts last Sunday," Poma said. "And Father Costello met with them." 
   
   It should also be said that some of the gay groups that have been using the hall have gone way over the top. Several years ago the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence featured a drag queen known as Peaches Christ, who waved a crucifix shaped like a dildo. Even longtime gay parishioners thought that was too much. 
   
   The odd part of this manufactured controversy is how well the church has been working. A robust congregation of 450 to 550 members, more than 80 percent of whom are gay or lesbian, consider themselves practicing Catholics. For a religion that doesn't always seem welcoming to gays, that's impressive. 
   
   So are services. Poma says he brought his mother to Mass and she couldn't get over the warm sound of "all those men's voices." Poma says the music at Most Holy Redeemer is so renowned that visitors come from all over the country. 
   
   "We had some the other day," he said. "Afterward they said, 'You've renewed my faith.' " 
   
   Hopefully, incoming Archbishop Cordileone will also attend with an open mind. And leave with the same feeling. ||||| SAN FRANCISCO — The announcement by Pope Benedict XVI has been dubbed the "Bombshell by the Bay." 
   
   Next week, a key player in the passage of Proposition 8 — a man who has decried the "contraceptive mentality" of modern life — will become the leader of the Catholic Church here in the city that thrust same-sex marriage onto the national stage, the birthplace of the Summer of Love. 
   
   Supporters view Archbishop-designate Salvatore Cordileone, the 56-year-old son of a commercial fisherman, as a charming and brilliant defender of the faith. He is fluent in Spanish and Italian, has been known to sing vintage TV theme songs in Latin and is a deep believer in a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. 
   
   But many gay and lesbian Catholics worry that they will be marginalized after Cordileone's arrival. Oasis California, the Episcopal Church's gay ministry, convened a meeting recently at a Castro District bar to discuss how spiritual people should respond to the "architect of Prop. 8" coming to town. 
   
   Cordileone's appointment "re-emphasizes the Vatican's concern, and the U.S. bishops' concern, about gay marriage," said Father Thomas J. Reese, a senior fellow at Georgetown University's Woodstock Theological Center. "Even in a city like San Francisco, they're willing to appoint someone who … has a high state and national profile on this issue. 
   
   "They're serious," Reese said, "and they're not going to back down." 
   
   During a July news conference, Cordileone was circumspect when discussing the "cultural challenges" his new diocese would present — which he said revolved around "issues of family life and, essentially, come down to our understanding of the human person, the purpose of our human sexuality, what God calls us to do and how he calls us to live and how he calls us to love." 
   
   But in a recent interview at the headquarters of the Oakland diocese, where he has served as bishop for three years, Cordileone was more direct: Gays and lesbians who are in sexual relationships of any kind, he said, should not receive the sacrament of Holy Communion, the central ritual of Catholic life. 
   
   "If we misuse the gift of sexuality, we're going to suffer the consequences," he said, "and I firmly believe we are suffering the consequences." 
   
   The prelate's light-filled office overlooks Oakland's Lake Merritt. Just beyond the graceful urban estuary, he said, are "100 blocks of inner-city neighborhoods. Those are fatherless children." 
   
   Cordileone will lead a flock of more than 500,000 Catholics spread over 91 parishes in three counties — San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin. Although it is not as influential as the country's largest dioceses, New York and Los Angeles among them, it is a high-profile destination for a fast-rising archbishop. 
   
   And though he strives to deliver Catholicism's absolutes in as nuanced a fashion as possible, Cordileone said, people need to understand that "the church is not going to change its teaching. ... The solution isn't to say, 'Well, I'm just going to disagree and continue being a Catholic.' That's not how we arrive at holiness." 
   
   Unlike secular organizations, however, the church cannot just slam the door on dissenters, he said. Instead, the Catholic Church must reach out, support people, "move them along to understand." 
   
   Cordileone, who heads up the subcommittee for the promotion and defense of marriage of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, came early to the Proposition 8 battle. 
   
   In 2007, the California Supreme Court was considering the constitutionality of a voter initiative that changed the state family code to say that "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." 
   
   That September, the San Diego City Council was poised to join a friend-of-the-court brief in support of legalizing same-sex marriage in California. Cordileone — who grew up in San Diego and was its auxiliary bishop at the time — wrote a heartfelt letter to the lawmakers: 
   
   "We believe that marriage, by its very definition, can exist only between a man and a woman," Cordileone wrote. "Moreover, study after study — not to mention common sense — show that children fare better in life when raised in a home with a loving father and mother in a stable, committed relationship." 
   
   Society and its governing bodies should do everything in their power to "encourage healthy and stable marriages," he added, while treating "persons with same-sex attraction" with "respect, compassion and sensitivity." 
   
   The council voted to act in support of gay marriage. But Mayor Jerry Sanders, who had been expected to veto the measure, called a last-minute news conference. Facing reporters, he choked up. One of his daughters is gay, he said. He could not tell her that she did not have the right to wed. 
   
   A few weeks later, a small group of traditional-marriage backers gathered in a San Diego living room to strategize about how to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot in case the state Supreme Court overturned Proposition 22, which ultimately it did.
target: – Critics are calling it "bombshell by the Bay." The pope has sent a strong message to his Left Coast faithful by naming a key backer of Proposition 8 against gay marriage as the new archbishop of San Francisco. Salvatore Cordileone, who officially takes charge next week, is considered an "architect" of Proposition 8, notes the Los Angeles Times. He helped develop the proposition to shoot down the state's gay marriage measure when he was an auxiliary bishop in San Diego. Cordileone's appointment by Pope Benedict "re-emphasizes the Vatican's concern about gay marriage" even in a city like San Francisco, Father Thomas J. Reese, a senior fellow at Georgetown University, tells the Times. "They're serious, and they're not going to back down." Cordileone, who heads the "defense of marriage" subcommittee for the US Conference of Bishops, has warned that Catholics have to understand the "church is not going to change its teaching," and has said that the sacrament of Communion should be denied to gays and lesbians in a relationship. "Paranoia is very high," says San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener, whose district includes Most Holy Redeemer Church in the Castro, which could be the largest gay Catholic congregation in the nation. "There are a lot of gay people for whom this religion is very important. It's just very, very sad," he tells the San Francisco Chronicle. The archdiocese recently banned drag queens from serving as emcees at charity events at the church. In Cordileone's most recent controversy, he was busted for drunk driving last month in San Diego—and apologized. The 56-year-old archbishop will lead more than 500,000 Catholics in 91 parishes in three counties: San Francisco, San Mateo, and Marin.