The Archdiocese of Boston is offering to help an 8-year-old boy displaced from a Hingham Catholic school because his parents are lesbians find a new Catholic school to attend this fall. “The archdiocese does not prohibit children of same-sex parents from attending Catholic schools,” said Mary Grassa O’Neill, secretary for education and superintendent of Catholic schools, in a statement.
“We will work in the coming weeks to develop a policy to eliminate any misunderstandings in the future.”
Grassa O’Neill said she reached out to one of the boy’s mothers yesterday and expressed “concern for the welfare of her child” in the wake of St. Paul’s Elementary Principal Cynthia Duggan and parish priest the Rev. James Rafferty’s withdrawal of the boy’s acceptance to the school.
Grassa O’Neill offered to help enroll the boy in another Catholic school, and the mother was “gracious and appreciative of the suggestion,” the statement said.
Archdiocese spokesman Terrence Donilon declined to comment on whether the archdiocese sought to allow the child to attend St. Paul’s.
The parents had enrolled their son in the school because, they said, they wanted him to have a strong education that emphasized Christian values.
His acceptance was withdrawn Monday after Rafferty told the mothers that their relationship “was in discord with the teachings of the Catholic Church,” they said.
The move sparked immediate controversy among Catholics, including a petition by the Washington, D.C.-based liberal advocacy group Catholics United that collected more than 2,500 petition signatures asking Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley to ensure that Catholic schools allow all children to have access to a Catholic education.
SIC: BHC