Logo of St. Paul School, Hingham, MA
This Sunday's bulletin at St. Paul Parish in Hingham includes a letter from Fr. James Rafferty, pastor at St. Paul, regarding the recent conflict over the admission of a young boy to the parish school. (See previous posts here and here.) Here's the text of Fr. Rafferty's letter:
Dear Parishioners:
Today is Pentecost Sunday and I ask you to pray that the same Holy Spirit, the Advocate who was poured forth upon Jesus’ disciples, will be poured forth anew on each and every one of us so that we can live and proclaim the Gospel to the ends of the earth. I am aware of the notoriety that has come to St. Paul Parish as the result of a recent rescinding of a recent decision of a student not to enroll a child in our parish school. I write to you now to address this controversy while continuing to respect the privacy of the family involved.
Our enrollment process for all prospective students includes discussions with their families to ascertain if our school can meet the educational and spiritual needs of each individual child. I want you to know that, in this instance, the principal and I believe our decision was made in the best interests of the child based upon our discernment that in our Catholic environment, with its teaching on marriage as a covenant relationship between a man and a woman, a child from a same sex family might feel discomfort, frustration or confusion. Additionally, in our small school, without support services, we were concerned whether we could help a child of this age reconcile an inherent conflict between our teachings and his home life. This does not mean that we have made the right decision. Only God in His wisdom can determine the answer to that question.
I do not want this matter to be a source of division and I ask that we continue to pray for one another and for all involved. The Archdiocesan School Office has taken an important step in announcing that it will develop a policy to assist in the resolution of these types of issues. We welcome this development and we hope that the Archdiocese involves many pastors, principals and parents in open discussions.
May God bless us all with a renewed outpouring of grace from the Holy Spirit this Pentecost Sunday.
Sincerely,
Fr. James Rafferty, Pastor
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