In the hours before the Dodgers hosted the San Francisco Giants on the team's 10th annual Pride Night on Friday night, Phoenix-based Catholics for Catholics organized what it called "a prayerful procession" in a parking lot outside Dodger Stadium. A couple of hundred people, many wearing red clothing in honor of the sacred heart and toting signs, gathered in advance of the game.
The group had urged participants not to bring children because "we do anticipate hostility from anti-Christian protestors."
The gathering attracted a large Los Angeles Police Department presence, with officers standing around watching as traffic approaching stadium backed up. Three helicopters flew overhead.
One woman held a blue sign invoking the name of the late Dodgers Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully, a devout Catholic, that read, "Vin Is Sad." In her other hand, a white sign said, "Uphold Dodger Code of Conduct. No Mocking Religion."
The gathering came as this year's edition of Pride Night has prompted reactions from religious people, including prominent faith leaders, Catholic nuns and even the team's All-Star ace.
Under a barrage of criticism from some conservative Catholics, the team rescinded an invitation to a satirical LGBTQIA+ group called the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to be honored at Pride Night. The Sisters' performers -- mostly men who dress flamboyantly as nuns -- are active in protests and charitable programs.
A week later, after a vehement backlash from LGBTQIA+ groups and their allies, the Dodgers reversed course -- reinviting the Sisters' Los Angeles chapter to be honored for its charity work and apologizing to the LGBTQIA+ community.
The Dodgers' reversal was welcomed by LGBTQIA+ allies, including some Catholic nuns. But it infuriated many conservative Catholics, even at the highest levels of the U.S. hierarchy.
On Monday, the team was lambasted in a statement from Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Military Services.
They asked Catholics to pray on Friday "as an act of reparation for the blasphemies against our Lord we see in our culture today."
"A professional baseball team has shockingly chosen to honor a group whose lewdness and vulgarity in mocking our Lord, His Mother, and consecrated women cannot be overstated," the archbishops said. "This is not just offensive and painful to Christians everywhere; it is blasphemy."
Criticism wasn't confined to Catholic ranks. The Rev. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, told listeners of his syndicated radio show that the Dodgers "completely capitulated."
"The company is falling all over itself with what one author called years ago, 'The Art of the Public Grovel,'" Mohler said.
Pitchers Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers and Trevor Williams of the Washington Nationals criticized the Dodgers for reinviting the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, saying they resented the group's mockery of Catholicism. Williams, on Twitter, encouraged his fellow Catholics "to reconsider their support of an organization that allows this type of mockery of its fans to occur."
But each pitcher said he had no objection to the broader tradition of Pride Nights.
"This has nothing to do with the LGBTQ community or Pride or anything like that," Kershaw said. "This is simply a group that was making fun of a religion. That I don't agree with."
Some athletes have objected to Pride Nights in recent years. Last season, five pitchers with the Tampa Bay Rays cited their Christian faith in refusing to wear Pride jerseys.
Late last month, Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Anthony Bass apologized for expressing support on social media for anti-LGBTQIA+ boycotts of Target and Bud Light.
During the recent NHL regular season, seven players opted out of wearing rainbow-colored jerseys on their teams' Pride Nights. The Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild did not wear rainbow warmup jerseys after doing so in previous seasons.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.