Homosexual Protest at Acushnet, MA, Parish

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today [Monday, May 21] criticized the demonstration held yesterday during the 10:30 a.m. Mass at Saint Francis Xavier Parish in Acushnet.  Ten protesters, some carrying signs, marched on the sidewalk across the street from the entrance to the church.  They were protesting the brief appearance last week of a sign on the church’s message board supporting the traditional definition of marriage.

The demonstration culminated five days of protests directed against the parish which included a sign posted on the church’s back door making a vile sexual reference to the Virgin Mary, another sign nailed to the church’s fence characterizing Catholic teaching as “hate,” and a number of profanity laced phone calls, at least one of which called for the church to be burned down.

The Catholic Action League called the protest “an outrageous attempt to penalize Catholics for expressing their constitutionally protected religious beliefs.”

Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle stated: “The arrogance here is beyond measure.  Apparently, the Catholic Church cannot be permitted to proclaim its only moral code on its own property.  If it does, its houses of worship will be picketed on Sunday morning during Mass by the forces of tolerance, pluralism, and respect for diversity.  It should be obvious to any fair minded observer that homosexual activists have no understanding of the First Amendment, and have nothing but contempt for the religious freedom rights and moral sensibilities of Roman Catholics.  These threats and protests are clearly intended to intimidate Catholics into silence on the issue of same sex marriage.”

“The traditional definition of marriage, which for millenia was believed always and everywhere by everyone, is now demonized as hatred and bigotry.  Something unheard of in the history of the planet, the idea that two persons of the same gender could contract marriage (which homosexual activists, as little as twenty years ago, denied they were seeking) is now treated as beyond criticism.  The punitive, illiberal, and authoritarian character of the homosexual movement in this country is becoming increasingly evident.”