The Boston Globe reports that the Mass “marking gay pride” is back on.  A special liturgy with the theme “All are Welcome” was originally scheduled to be held at St. Cecilia’s in Boston on Sunday, June 19.  Pressure from conservatives — including a blogger under the pseudonym “Joe Sacerdo” — apparently lead to the Mass being canceled by officials of the Archdiocese of Boston just days before it was scheduled to take place. Now the Mass has been re-scheduled for July 10.  This is, indeed, good news!

When I saw the references to blogger “Joe Sacerdo” in the Globe stories announcing the Mass cancellation, I was surprised that an pseudonymous source was given such weight by a such a major news publication. Though I’m no journalist, it’s my understanding that media of a certain caliber have very strict guidelines on the use of “anonymous sources.” Globe reporters David Abel (see Canceled Mass outrages gays) and Mark Arsenault (see For one priest, the choice is clear) both admitted that they did not know “Sacerdo” was a pseudonym and that they would not have cited him as a source had they known this.

So the question is:  Who is ‘Joe Sacerdo’?

Possibly a priest (the Latin word for priest is “sacerdos”), one wonders why this person, whether priest or not, feels compelled to hide behind the veil of a made-up name. If you are a priest, what are you afraid of Fr. Joe? While there are many reasons for choosing to write under a pseudonym, it’s hard to understand what such a reason might be in this case.  The blog that Joe authors (Bryan Hehir Exposed) is “focused on sharing and exposing the actions and words of Fr. J. Bryan Hehir, Cabinet Secretary of Social Services for the Archdiocese of Boston and a key aide to Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, O.F.M. Cap.” [Apparently Joe thinks that Fr. Hehir, a well-respected priest in Boston and throughout the country, is simply too liberal and needs to be “exposed”!]

Come to think of it, it’s rather ironic that Joe authors a blog about exposing someone else, while he himself remains pointedly unexposed.