NEW YORK -- A group of gay and allied Catholics gathered to worship together at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City with dirty hands in response to comments made by Cardinal Timothy Dolan. However, even as they were gathering, they were told by the police that they would be barred from entering the Cathedral unless they washed their hands.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has asked Catholics to pray, fast, and abstain from meat on May 3 “for the justices of the US Supreme Court, that they would respect the authentic meaning of marriage by upholding California’s Proposition 8.”

Nicholas Coppola, the gay man who was stripped of his involvement with his local Roman Catholic parish, delivered 18,603 signatures with GLAAD to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre, requesting to be restored to full engagement with his local parish. The signatures were gathered through the social justice organization, Faithful America in less than one week after launching the campaign.

America’s most high-profile Catholic official, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, says that gays and lesbians are “entitled to friendship” with each other, but that “sexual love” is intended only between a man and a woman.