BOSTON (AP) -- The Jesuits are closing a Boston church that ministers to those with homosexual orientation and putting the building up for sale because they can no longer afford to keep it open, the order’s leader say.

The Jesuit Urban Center in the city’s South End will close at the end of July, said Father Thomas Regan, the superior of the New England Jesuits.

The sexual orientation of many in the congregation did not play a role in the decision, and there was no pressure from the Vatican or the Boston Archdiocese to shutter the church, Regan said.

The Roman Catholic religious order has become financially reliant on salaries paid to members who teach at Boston College, College of the Holy Cross, and Fairfield University -- all Jesuit schools -- but as they retire or die, the order is being forced to cut back on its activities, he said.