Jesuit School Stands Firm As Bishop Strips It of Catholic Designation Over Pride Flag
A Jesuit school in Massachusetts has said it will not take down Pride and Black Lives Matter flags after the local bishop announced the school would no longer be designated as Catholic if they did not do so.
Bishop Robert McManus of Worcester issued a decree on Thursday that The Nativity School in that city may no longer identify as Catholic, may not celebrate Mass or any sacraments either on its property or in any church building in the diocese, may not fundraise involving diocesan institutions, and must remove Bishop Daniel Reilly, Worcester’s bishop emeritus, from its board.
The decree comes after a months-long dispute between the bishop and the school over the flying of the flags, which McManus said send “a mixed, confusing and scandalous message” about church teaching. McManus previously issued two public letters on his desire for the flags to be removed, which leaders at Nativity rebuffed. The tuition-free school serves economically disadvantaged youth who are predominantly Black and brown.
In response to this new decree, school president Thomas McKenney sent an email to the Nativity community explaining how the leadership would respond, writing, in part:
“Nativity will seek to appeal the decision of the Diocese to remove our Catholic identity through the appropriate channels provided by the Church in circumstances like this. At the same time, after meaningful deliberation and discernment by its Board, leadership team, faculty, and partners, Nativity will continue to display the flags in question to give visible witness to the school’s solidarity with our students, families, and their communities. Commitment to our mission, grounded and animated by Gospel values, Catholic Social Teaching, and our Jesuit heritage compels us to do so.”
McKenney thanked “long-time and many new partners, the Worcester community and beyond and the Jesuit community” for their support as the dispute played out. He wrote:
“Nativity is stronger than ever because of the understanding and support of its amazing community members, benefactors and – most of all – students and their families. Please know that any decisions made by the Diocese will not change the mission, operations or impact of Nativity. With your ongoing partnership, we will continue to provide a transformational education for many years to come.”
Support for Nativity continues to grow in the wake of this decree. Yvonne Abraham, a columnist for The Boston Globe, sharply criticized McManus. She noted that the decree comes in the middle of Pride month and just “a few weeks after a white supremacist gunned down Black shoppers in a Buffalo supermarket,” but it seems the bishop “does not concern himself with optics.” Abraham continued:
“McManus deems the flags scandalous, but the real scandal here is the fact that this single man — out of touch, and clinging to an archaic version of a church from which legions have fallen away — has targeted a school that lives out the very essence of the values on which he claims to be the authority.
“For its part, the school has vowed to keep flying the flags, ‘to give visible witness to the school’s solidarity with our students, families and their communities.’
“It’s clear who is actually doing God’s work here, and it’s not the bishop.”
—Robert Shine (he/him), New Ways Ministry, June 17, 2022
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Patch, “Worcester Nativity School May Lose Catholic Status Over Flags”
This is a sad,shocking decision. It appears to be so bias against black and LGBTQ people.
The response from the school’s president, Mr Mc Kenney, was perfectly stated. He might also have told the Bishop,McManus, that Christianity is not supposed to be mean.
I attended a Nativity School run by Franciscans and the lessons I and learned because of their compassion and caring was one of Inclusion despite all the proclamations of the Bishops of exclusion. This is what I have carried with me throughout my 81 years and today, know that inclusion and Love of God and others is the only answer. We stand with you Nativity and have you in our prayers.
Jesuit School Defiant As Bishop Strips It of Catholic Designation Over Pride Flag
The real question for me in this matter is, “Does Bishop Robert McManus of Worcester actually have the faculty to essentially excommunicate a Jesuit School from the dioceses? How can the Bishop prevent an ordained Jesuit priest who is not in his “chain of command” from celebrating mass?
When I read this news this morning, I was very sad. I immediately thought of St. Paul’s soliloquy on love. “If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” (1 Cor 13:1 NRSV)
Is this going to be another case to the Roman Rota?
Very well said, thanks. In addition to 1 Cor 13, I am reminded of another quote from Paul: in Gal 2:11-14, when he describes opposing Peter “to his face” because he was plainly in the wrong. If Paul could so boldly correct even Peter when he needed it, it is all the more right that Nativity and its president — with our support (the “donate” button is quite obvious, at top right https://nativityworcester.org/ ) — should oppose McManus to his face.
Dr. Seuss has said: “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those (who) matter don’t mind.” Bishops like McManus speak in a voice we sheep do not recognize.
It’s the bishop, not the school, who is being defiant!
It may be time for the bishop to fly a *white* flag… and surrender. Lol.