One for the Catholic Church. Robert J. McManus is the bishop of Worcester, Massachusetts. Following the refusal of a private Catholic school to take down Pride and BLM flags, Bishop McManus declared that the school could no longer call itself Catholic. He claimed that the symbolism behind the flags was not in line with Catholic doctrine.
McManus published the news in a Thursday decree. It was then printed in The Catholic Free Press.
The affected school —the Nativity School of Worcester — founded in 2003, is the only tuition-free private middle school in the region. This school is home to approximately 60 students of low income families.
As reported by Daily Mail, while it took McManus over a year to respond to the flags, he ultimately said they “represent specific agendas or ideologies [that] contradict Catholic social and moral teaching.”
Daily Mail
The objection to the pride flag is over rules regarding same-sex marriage in Catholic teaching, with the church saying that being gay itself isn’t a sin – but that gay relationships are.
McManus clarified, however that Black Lives Matter opposition is based on the organization itself and not anti-racist sentiments behind the slogan.
McManus explained:
While the Catholic Church “stands unequivocally behind the phrase ‘Black Lives Matter,” 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.”
However, as to be expected, all is not well within the Worcester Catholic community in response to the bishop’s declaration, as reported by the New York Daily News. Guillermo Creamer Jr., an openly gay alum of the school and current chair of the Worcester Human Rights Commission, said Bishop McManus is “on the wrong side” of the argument.
I’m a proud, openly gay alumnus of the Nativity School of Worcester. The school’s leadership in promoting inclusion is something I am very proud of.
The Bishop’s outdated rhetoric has no place in Worcester. It’s time to continue promoting inclusion and acceptance in the church.
No word on which side Creamer thinks God is on.
I’m a proud, openly gay alumnus of the Nativity School of Worcester.
I am proud of the leadership the school has taken to promote inclusivity.
Worcester is not the place for Bishops’ outdated rhetoric. It’s time to continue promoting inclusion and acceptance in the church. pic.twitter.com/Ec4Il3hCNz
— Guillermo Creamer Jr (@GuillermoCJr) June 16, 2022
“Simply because one man wants to rip away its Catholic status, the school will not be bullied into changing its ways,” declared Creamer.
Look, I’m neither Catholic nor gay — and I judge neither — but contrary to Creamer’s condemnation of Bishop McManus, I’m pretty sure that the issues at hand between these two guys (and within the Catholic Church and the Christian community in general) are perhaps beyond either of their respective pay grades.
Have you ever checked this with God? Just sayin’.
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