Jesus Was Known to Have Associated with Thieves, Prostitutes and other Sinners but Never with Hypocrites.

The good news is that Boston’s St. Cecelia’s Roman Catholic parish community will celebrate a rescheduled gay pride Mass on July 10. The bad news is that the Mass was canceled in the first place. The Mass was originally scheduled for June 19, the last day of Gay Pride week in Boston. However, on June 12, the day of the Gay Pride parade, the day when all the media is all focused on all things gay, Boston Archdiocesan spokesman Terry Donilon (a man whose salary I greatly admire) announced its cancellation. Apparently, the Archdiocese was taking the heat from some conservative bloggers over the issue, and reacted in a ham fisted way more typical of the disgraced Cardinal Bernard Law. Predictably, the “you know what” hit the fan.

At Sunday Mass on the day following the cancellation Rev. John Unni, the pastor of St. Cecilia’s, gave an impassioned sermon supporting inclusion of parishioners “gay or straight, rich or poor, young or old, black or white.” Other local gay activists joined a chorus of condemnation, including Gene Robinson, the Episcopal Church’s first openly gay bishop.

O’Malley reacted to the negative backlash over the Mass cancellation on his blog, stating, “The Church exists to announce the Gospel and invite people to conversion, to greater discipline in their lives as they seek to follow Christ’s teachings, which apply to everyone, regardless of their sexual orientation.” Two days later the date of the rescheduled Mass was announced.

This Lent, the Archdiocese launched a mid six figure public relations campaign called “Catholic Come Home”. Some 2,000-3,000 TV ads welcomed lapsed Catholics back to “Mother Church”.

In announcing this program, Archdiocese of Boston Secretary for Faith Formation and Evangelization Janet Benestad said: “while the commercials will do a great deal to invite people back, the program will not be successful unless parishes are ready to receive them”.

No parish was more “ready to receive them” than St. Cecelia’s. The pastor, Fr. John Unni has been famous for running a parish in which all immediately feel welcome. When the Jesuit Urban Center closed a few years ago, its predominately gay community came en masse to Masses at St. Cecelia where priest and parishioners welcomed them with open arms.

So what is it? Are gays really welcome in Boston’s  Catholic Archdiocese? What does Cardinal Sean really think?  Once again the Catholic hierarchy came across looking like hypocrites. Jesus was known to have associated with thieves, prostitutes and other sinners but never with hypocrites.