Catholic Bishop says Mass for LGBT+ at Nottingham Cathedral

 

lgbt-mass                  bishop-mckinney

The Right Reverend Patrick McKinney, Bishop of Nottingham said Mass for LGBT+ Catholics, their families and friends as part of the Year of Mercy which ends on 20th November. The Cathedral was filled with many members from the lgbt community who had yearned for exactly this kind of event that so clearly demonstrated the Church’s welcome and acceptance of their sexual identities, and of their faith as members of the Church.

Quest Chair Ruby Almeida and Quest National Committee member Claire Jenkins had met with Bishop McKinney in early February 2016. Discussions focused on how Quest could help the Church to send out a strong, clear message to lgbt Catholics that they were welcome and that they had a place in the Church. Special thanks go to the Quest East Midlands group for their enormous energy and hard work liaising with the Nottingham Diocesan Office and especially with Fr. Andrew Cole, Private Secretary to the Bishop of Nottingham and Canon Geoffrey Hunton Dean of Nottingham Cathedral.  In May 2015 Cardinal Nichols celebrated a Sunday Mass at Farm Street  “welcoming gay Catholics”. A similar Mass was held in Brentwood, Essex on Sunday 13 March 2016. However, this Mass is indeed a unique occasion for all who attended the Mass, and for the Catholic Church. It is the first time that a Mass, not a regular Sunday Mass, and celebrated by a Bishop has been held specifically for the lgbt community. We were all blessed to be a part of Church history and to see a new day dawn upon the faithful lgbt community.

 

img_20161015_165219                Quest members, families and friends from Quest East Midlands,

                Quest in the North, Quest West Midlands, Quest London and

                Quest South East