BOSTON: Catholic Archdiocese Retracts "Gays Are From Satan" Newspaper Story

The Archdiocese of Boston has retracted its column claiming that gay people are created by Satan. (On Monday that column was excerpted here on JMG.) The article was written by David Avila, the policy advisor for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops' Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage.

The 182-year-old newspaper withdrew the column from its website on Wednesday, saying it had failed to recognize the "theological error" before publication. It posted an apology from Avila saying the column didn't represent the position of the Conference of Catholic Bishops, whose stated purpose is to "promote the greater good which the Church offers humankind," and wasn't authorized for publication. Avila said he deeply apologized for the "hurt and confusion" the column caused. Archdiocesan officials said Avila's apology would appear in the issue of The Pilot to be published this week, The Boston Globe reported. The Boston archdiocese, the bishops' group and Avila were involved in communications leading to the decision to retract the column, said archdiocese spokesman Terrence Donilon, who called Avila "passionate about his faith and passionate about his church."