Senior Center Leaves Catholic Parish after Refusing Anti-LGBTQ+ Request

Jennifer Remillard, Director of the South County Senior Center, with members of the community

After disagreements over LGBTQ+ programming, a senior center in Massachusetts has decided not to renew its lease with the local Catholic church.

Since 2021, the South County Senior Center in South Deerfield, Massachusetts, has rented Holy Family Catholic Church’s function hall in the same town. The collaboration began when the senior center’s building had shut down, leaving seniors with no place to go. The church allowed the senior center to use the function hall on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings.

However, the senior center’s Board of Oversight decided on May 2nd not to renew that lease with the church due to an anti-LGBTQ+ request from parish. Leaders of Holy Family had asked that the center’s Rainbow Elders luncheon program, a group for LGBTQ+ seniors that occurs off church property, not be publicized in the center’s newsletter.

Joyce Palmer-Fortune, chair of the Board of Oversight, said removing the Rainbow Elders program could lead to discrimination lawsuits or loss of grant funding. In addition, Palmer-Fortune believes that differing beliefs of the senior center and the church has “sort of poisoned the relationship a little bit.” She explained, per the Amherst Bulletin:

“‘I don’t think there’s really a good compromise that doesn’t endanger a quarter of a million dollars in grants. . .This co-beneficial relationship was fine, but will we want to rent there knowing that they don’t really like some of the other things we do? I sort of feel like there could be friction there because of that, just because they asked.'”

Fr. David Aufiero, pastor of Holy Family, claimed that the Rainbow Elders program is “simply not consistent with the stances of the church.” However, he believes an alternative arrangement could have been worked out through negotiations.

Holy Family Church’s lack of acceptance for the LGBTQ+ community is unfortunate, since the Diocese of Springfield, in which the parish is located, has recently taken positive steps towards LGBTQ+ inclusion. Since 2018, Bishop William Byrne has partnered with Catholics for Inclusion, a local LGBTQ+ advocacy group, to make the church more welcoming. Recently, Byrne and the group co-authored an op-ed about “how the Synod on Synodality prompted them to advance efforts for LGBTQ+ inclusion.” The op-ed calls for open collaboration between the institutional church and LGBTQ+ folks.

Holy Family Church should follow Bishop Byrne’s lead, opting for dialogue and education that can generate greater understanding and acceptance for the LGBTQ+ community. The first step in accomplishing this goal would be to rebuild their relationship with South County Senior Center, and specifically with those involved in the Rainbow Elders program.

—Sarah Cassidy (she/her), New Ways Ministry, May 30, 2024