Worcester School's Catholic Ties Revoked Over LGBTQ, BLM Flags

WORCESTER, MA — Diocese of Worcester Bishop Robert McManus issued a decree Thursday instructing Nativity School in Worcester to stop identifying itself as a Catholic school.

Nativity School flies LBGTQ+ and Black Lives Matter flags outside its Lincoln Street building, which McManus said embody "agendas or ideologies (that) contradict Catholic social and moral teaching."

Apart from stripping the school of its Catholic status, McManus said the school could no longer perform or sponsor Mass ceremonies and must remove Bishop Emeritus Daniel P. Reilly's name from its board of directors list.

In response, Nativity School pledged to appeal the decree — and will keep flying the flags.

"At the same time, after meaningful deliberation and discernment by its board, leadership team, faculty and partners, Nativity will continue to display the flags in question to give visible witness to the school’s solidarity with our students, families and their communities," Nativity School President Thomas McKenney said. "Commitment to our mission, grounded and animated by Gospel values, Catholic Social Teaching, and our Jesuit heritage compels us to do so."

McManus' decree comes after the bishop, on several occasions, ordered the school to remove the flags. McManus wrote several public letters to the school this spring and warned Nativity School in May that it could be stripped of its Catholic affiliation.

McManus said the LGBTQ+ flag stands against the Catholic church's opposition to gay marriage. He also said the Black Lives Matter flag represents a movement that downplays the "importance and role of the nuclear family and seeks to disrupt the family structure."

McManus said the diocese "stands unequivocally behind the phrase 'black lives matter' and strongly affirms that all lives matter."

Nativity School was founded in 2003 to offer free schooling to low-income boys from Worcester in grades five to eight. McKenney said the school began flying the two flags in January 2021 at the request of students who wanted to show that the school was welcoming to anyone.

"Both flags are now widely understood to celebrate the human dignity of our relatives, friends and neighbors who have faced, and continue to face hate and discrimination," McKenney said Wednesday. "Though any symbol or flag can be co-opted by political groups or organizations, flying our flags is not an endorsement of any organization or ideology, they fly in support of marginalized people."