Fr. William Breslin, a priest from Sacred Heart of Jesus parish in Boulder has banned children from entering his elementary school because their mothers are lesbians.
NCR has more from reporter Thomas Fox including this snip:
I asked Breslin what moved him to ban the girls from entering the parish elementary school and he responded: “Let me tell you clearly. This whole matter is about having the freedom to uphold the teachings of our faith. It’s about preserving that freedom when a secular society doesn’t want us to have it. The same thing is happening in Washington, D.C., where government is dictating to the church.”
When Breslin looks out at the world he sees an increasingly secular society, one that has lost its moral compass, and, as it grows more secular, it is all the more important the Catholic faithful stand firm and speak their minds, defending the faith.
This is what Breslin thinks he has done, taking a stand against homosexuality.
The priest writes a blog on the parish web site. In it he has explained his seemingly unpopular decision.
Last week he allowed comments to be posted freely. When they became so overwhelmingly critical of him, he took them off the site.
On his blog, Breslin wrote, “The complaint [against me] goes more or less this way: Jesus would never have turned anyone away, no matter where they came from or who they were. Now let us set things right.“Actually Jesus did turn people away. In Mark 5 Jesus healed the demoniac, and after the healing the man wanted to become a disciple. Jesus said, No, go back to your own people and tell them all that the Lord in His mercy has done for you. And when the rich young man wanted to follow Jesus, He told him, Go first and sell what you have and give it to the poor and then come follow me. And in John 6, Jesus taught a very hard message so that most of those following Him turned away and would no longer walk in His company. He did not soften His message so as to win them back.
Um, no! Perhaps Fr. Breslin needs to go back to seminary and learn his scripture more carefully. Jesus doesn’t turn anyone away for their sins, but uses people for who they are. People turn away from Jesus on occasion in scripture, but the invitation from Jesus is always offered. The people Fr. Breslin cites in scripture are not denied by Jesus, but rather one is sent to evangelize others and the other goes away of his own free will.
Lastly, these children are being punished for nothing that they have done, but rather for the actions of their parents. Talk about a stupid decision. I guess if you want to proclaim the church’s teaching on homosexuality with vigor the best thing to do would be to restrict education to children who may or may not be gay. That makes sense.
Regardless, NCR has the complete story. The really interesting thing about this story is that the church is divided on generational lines with younger people supporting the children and their parents and the older crowd supporting the priest’s decision.
This is going to end badly for all involved I fear. I’ll wager that the school has to close for lack of enrollment. How about you? Opinions?