A middle school in Massachusetts can no longer call itself Catholic after they refuse to take down their pride and Black Lives Matter flags.
Bishop Robert J. McManus said the Nativity School of Worcester is supporting movements that are “inconsistent with Catholic teaching.”
“These symbols (flags) embody specific agendas or ideologies (that) contradict Catholic social and moral teaching,'” McManus said, according to CNN. “It is my contention that the ‘Gay Pride’ flag represents support of gay marriage and actively living a LGBTQ+ lifestyle.”
McManus said that while the Catholic church “stands unequivocally behind the phrase ‘black lives matter’ and strongly affirms that all lives matter,” the Black Lives Matter movement “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 said that the school flying the flags “sends a mixed, confusing and scandalous message to the public about the Church’s stance on these important moral and social issues.”
McManus decreed that the school can no longer identify itself as Catholic after the current school year. The Nativity School also cannot celebrate mass, be listed in the Diocesan Directory, or fundraise with diocesan institutions.
Nativity School is independently funded and does not receive money from the Diocese. However, they plan to appeal the bishop’s decision, according to CNN.
The school’s president, Thomas McKenney, said they will continue to fly the flags.
“As a multicultural school, the flags represent the inclusion and respect of all people,” McKenney said in a statement. “These flags simply state that all are welcome at Nativity and this value of inclusion is rooted in Catholic teaching.”
Most of the students attending the school are people of color.
This is shameful. I am Catholic. I attended Catholic schools. I thought I was taught not to judge. I was taught to love people as they are. What kind of message does this send to young impressionable children. Shame on that Archbishop.