Paul Wilczynski's Observations

Diocese Attempts To Silence Gay Activist; Scraps Unitarian Congregation's Lease

According to Out In Seattle,

The Diocese of Camden, New Jersey has leased space for three years to the Unitarian Unversalist Congregation of the South Jersey Shore. Now, the congregation has been forced out of their leased space without warning because of what they believe is their commitment to truth.

"We find what Father Lavin and the Diocese of Camden have done to be completely unacceptable,"HeartStrong Executive Director Marc Adams says. "We refuse to allow them to imply that my message and the message of HeartStrong is wrong, sinful or unacceptable. They may be able to attempt to try to intimidate or silence those who subscribe to their beliefs, but they can't silence or intimidate HeartStrong."

Gay author/activist Marc Adams, was scheduled to share his personal story and speak about HeartStrong, a non profit educational organization providing outreach and support to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered students from religious educational institutions on November 5, 2006.

The scheduling of that program sparked a wildfire of resistance and anti-gay Catholic positioning which ignited on November 2 and is now just beginning to burn full force. The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Jersey Shore leased space from the Campus Catholic Ministry Center at Stockton College in Pomona, New Jersey, since February, 2004.

On Thursday, November 2, 2006, Father Pat Lavin of the Catholic Campus Ministry Center called Betsy Searight, church administrator for the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Jersey Shore. Father Lavin reported that he had received numerous phone calls from the Knights of Columbus expressing their disapproval of Marc Adams' program. Father Lavin said he was concerned that he would be fired if the Sunday service with Marc Adams as guest speaker as publicized in a local newspaper. ...

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 11:41 AM