Home News Local News ‘Unity’ meeting relocated due to conflicts with Catholic beliefs

‘Unity’ meeting relocated due to conflicts with Catholic beliefs

Participants clasp hands at a unity vigil in Greenport in 2015. File photo

(Updated: 3 p.m.) The “unity town hall” slated for Sunday afternoon at St. John the Evangelist School in Riverhead has been relocated.

The March 26 meeting will instead be held at the Hilton Garden Inn on Route 58 in Riverhead, according to Sonia Spar, one of the organizers.

The group relocated because of concerns that the meeting agenda — or some of it — “conflicts with our Catholic beliefs and values,” according to the church secretary. The change was announced at masses this weekend.

Father Larry Duncklee, pastor of St. John the Evangelist, understood that the meeting was going to be about immigration issues, according to church secretary Fran Reyer.  Reyer told RiverheadLOCAL yesterday the pastor informed Sr. Margaret Smyth Friday that the church property could not be used. She said today that was her mistake. She said in an email today that was her assumption about how the relocation came to pass.

Duncklee said this morning the decision to relocate was made by the group’s organizers, not by the church. 

He said in an email he announced the change to parishioners at masses this weekend.  

The reason given was simply this,” he wrote.  “The original intent and spirit of the meeting was somehow being misrepresented in a way that was an affront to the Catholic Church which was graciously offering space for this community event. Some of the ‘invitees’ (who I will not mention) were using it as a platform to promote their agenda.”

Event organizers could not immediately be reached for comment.

Speakers at the “unity town hall” event will include representatives of Planned Parenthood and the LGBTQ community.

Planned Parenthood advocates for women’s reproductive freedom and provides birth control as well as abortion services. Both are contrary to fundamental teachings of the church. The Roman Catholic catechism, which sets forth the dogmas and basic tenets of the church, says that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered,” contrary to the natural law and “under no circumstances” can be approved.

Organizers were scrambling over the weekend to locate a new venue for the meeting and announced Monday it wold be held at the Hilton Garden Inn.

The Hilton Garden Inn is located at 2038 Old Country Road in Riverhead. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.

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Denise Civiletti
Denise is a veteran local reporter and editor, an attorney and former Riverhead Town councilwoman. Her work has been recognized with numerous awards, including a “writer of the year” award from the N.Y. Press Association in 2015. She is a founder, owner and co-publisher of this website.