Gay advocates now believe they can tell the Church how to spend its money.

About one hundred protestors stood outside the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica on Sunday, angry with the archdiocese’s use of $10,000 in “private gifts” in a campaign to support traditional marriage in Maine.

Of course, many of the people there pretended that they were mad because they think the money could’ve gone to help local poor people or local Catholic schools. But in reality, this was a protest meant to scare bishops into not supporting traditional marriage in the future.

Guys like Ed Reggi who organized the protest talked to the media about the importance of the Church keeping the money local but Reggi is a gay advocate and organizer of “Show Me No Hate.” In a tell tale sign, he asked the crowd rhetorically. “Why not fund love, archbishop?”

You’ve got to love that gay advocates feel that they are entitled to tell an Archbishop what he’s allowed to spend the Church’s money on. St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson didn’t agree they had the right.

St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson released a statement in response to Sunday’s protest, saying the donation came from a “special needs fund” supported with “private gifts” that is not used for formal operations. The fund, used at the archbishop’s discretion, has provided help to other dioceses for such causes as disaster relief and abortion issues.

“We do have the obligation as Catholics to carry out Christ’s teachings, whether in the privacy of our own home or in the public square,” Carlson said.

Of course, some “concerned Christians” at the protest said they believed that the Church should be stripped of its tax exemption because it is involved in politics. That, of course, is ludicrous. The Church should not be forced into silence by the government or by gay advocates.

Expect more of this in the future.

Here’s a local news story on the protest:

One interesting note was that James O’Keefe of the now famous ACORN Pimp videos and the Lila Rose pro-life videos was present at the protest. Reggi said it was O’Keefe showing support for the cause but I have my doubts.