A "vocal and aggressive" online protest has forced a Hunterdon County parish to withdraw its offer to host a lecture by the Rev. James Martin, a popular Jesuit priest known for his views on reaching out to gays in the Catholic Church, parish officials said.

Martin's lecture, originally scheduled for Feb. 15 at Our Lady of Lourdes in Readington, will be moved to a restaurant, the Razberry Banquet and Conference Center in nearby Frenchtown.

"I'm sorry to say that another lecture has been cancelled, or in this case moved, thanks to pressure from a far-right website named 'Tradition, Family and Property,'" Martin wrote on his Facebook page Saturday.

More than 12,000 people signed an online petition sponsored by The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, a non-profit activist group known for opposing liberal views of Catholicism. The petition called on the Diocese of Metuchen to "find a true Catholic speaker to replace Fr. Martin" for its Lenten lecture.

Rev. Len Rusay, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes, said his church was swamped with phone calls and emails from people opposed to Martin's lecture. Rusay made the decision to withdraw the invitation to use his church for the event hosted by the diocese.

"It was a difficult decision, but when all is said and done, I can be at peace that our parish, our staff, and our community will be without divisive individuals and circumstances in our midst as we prepare for and begin the season of Lent," Rusay said in a letter to his parish.

"I am certain that there will be many ramifications to this decision, but I can confidently move forward knowing that this decision was not influenced by any organization or group of individuals but by my conscience and the good of the parish," Rusay wrote.

Martin, the editor-at-large of the Jesuit magazine America, has had several lectures canceled across the country in the past due to pressure by critics of his views on homosexuality. Last year, the seminary at the Catholic University of America disinvited him after he was asked to lecture on its Washinton, D.C., campus.

He recently published a book titled "Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity," which has received both praise and criticism within the Catholic community.

Martin had previously spoken at Our Lady of Lourdes in 2014 without any protests, he said. His Feb. 15 lecture was not scheduled to focus on the gay community. Instead, Martin is scheduled to offer a reflection for Lent on "Jesus Christ: Fully Human, Fully Divine."

In his Facebook post, Martin called on Church leaders to stop giving in to pressure from online protesters.

"So it's finally time for bishops, priests and lay leaders finally to stand up to the hate-mongering of online groups with no standing whatsoever in the church, who seek to substitute their spurious authority for legitimate church authority, and who seek to run the church by fear and hatred," Martin wrote. "Otherwise, what are we doing as a church?"

Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KellyHeyboer. Find her at KellyHeyboerReporter on Facebook.