A Massachusetts city’s archdiocese announced Thursday that it is revoking a Jesuit grade school’s Catholic designation and suspending Mass on campus after administrators insisted on flying the gay “pride” and Black Lives Matter flags.
Bishop Robert J. McManus of the Diocese of Worcester penned a decree to the Nativity School in the town, reciting his open letter from May in which he wrote that “these symbols (flags) embody specific agendas or ideologies (that) contradict Catholic social and moral teaching.”
While he affirmed that the lives of blacks people, as well as those of all people, do matter to the church, McManus claimed that the radical social justice organization has hijacked the message of equality to promote the dismantlement of the nuclear family, which contradicts Catholic principles as well.
The BLM movement “has co-opted the phrase and promotes a platform that directly contradicts Catholic social teaching on the importance and role of the nuclear family and seeks to disrupt the family structure in clear opposition to the teachings of the Catholic Church,” he wrote.
“The flying of these flags in front of a Catholic school sends a mixed, confusing and scandalous message to the public about the church’s stance on these important moral and social issues,” he continued.
In addition to rescinding the Catholic title of the school, the bishop also suspended the practicing of Mass, sacraments and sacramentals on campus premises. These also can no longer be sponsored by the school in any church building or chapel within the diocese, he added.
Referring to the Catholic Church’s canon law, McManus said that he has a responsibility to oversee Catholic Schools within his Diocese, “even those operated by lay groups who seek the use of the title ‘Catholic’ for their schools.”
He also cited a recent memo from the Vatican on Catholic schools contending that they are “ecclesial entities” that actively participate in spreading the mission of the Church and should therefore be subject to its guidance.
Despite repeatedly requesting that the Worchester school remove the flags, McManus said the administration refused to budge.
“This leaves me no other option but to take canonical action,” he said.
The bishop’s declaration comes amid Pride month, which many Fortune 500 companies capitalize on during the month of June by incorporating the rainbow flag and LGBT+ promotion into marketing, merchandise, retail items, and other elements of their business strategies.