With OutVets New England included as the first LGBT group to officially march in this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade through South Boston, at least one other group has pulled out in protest. The Immaculate Heart of Mary School has announced it will not send its marching band to the Sunday, March 15, parade.
This is the second consecutive year the Roman Catholic grammar school in Harvard, Mass. withdrew over the issue of allowing any sort of LGBT group — even military veterans — from participating.
According to a March 2 Huffington Post report:
“The Immaculate Heart of Mary School, which traditionally sends its marching band to the South Boston route, said on Friday it would withdraw following a decision by the Allied War Veteran’s Council, the parade’s organizers, to admit a group of gay and lesbian veterans called OutVets to participate.
“We can’t associate with that,” Brother Thomas Dalton, principal of Immaculate Heart of Mary School, said in a phone interview. “It would appear we were condoning it.'”
And further:
“The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, a conservative group, called the school’s withdrawal ‘an act of courage.'”
However not all parties in the Catholic Church share the Catholic grammar school’s and Action League’s perspective. Huffington’s report notes:
“In New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan has said he will serve as grand marshal of this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, despite conservative criticism that he should withdraw over the inclusion of gay marchers.
Pope Francis, the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, has sought to move Church discussions towards social justice issues and focus less discussion on sex, even as Church dogma on homosexuality has remained unchanged.”
