Mark Arsenault wrote a piece in today’s Boston Globe about Reverend John Unni, the Boston-based priest who welcomes gays and lesbians into his Roman Catholic parish. It’s a follow-up on the story I wrote about Sunday on the controversy surrounding a Gay Pride Month mass planned by Father Unni.
Arsenault writes:
Four years ago, a methodical search for a new place of worship led a group of gay Roman Catholics to the Rev. John Unni, the youthful priest at St. Cecilia’s Church. The search committee was blunt: Would the priest accept an influx of gay and lesbian parishioners. “He told us, ‘All are welcome,’ ’’ said John Kelly, now head of the St. Cecilia Rainbow Ministry.
He continues:
Unni was 16 when his father died. The St Theresa Parish community in his hometown of North Reading responded with meals delivered to the family’s door, with rides to practices and rehearsals and whatever help they could offer a broken family.
“People lived out the Gospels,’’ Unni, 49, said in an interview yesterday evening. “That’s when I learned what church was.’’
“All we’re trying to do is welcome a group that has been marginalized,’’ said Father Unni. “Jesus met people where they were at. He went to them and reminded them who they were in God’s eyes.’’