Bishop Brendan Leahy has said the Catholic Church must continue Pope Francis’ journey of inclusion, ahead of a prayer and reflection gathering this Thursday for LGBTQI+ people, their families, and allies.
The event, organised by a joint working group from the dioceses of Limerick and Killaloe, will take place at 7 p.m. at the JPII Oratory in the Crescent Shopping Centre. It forms part of the dioceses’ response to the Universal Synod’s invitation to engage with those who feel “excluded or judged because of their marital situation, identity or sexuality.”
Speaking about the gathering, Bishop Leahy said it would be an opportunity to pray and listen together with LGBTQI+ people and their loved ones.
“Pope Francis has left us many great legacies and one of them is that we must become a more inclusive and listening Church,” he said. “He was very much a Synodal Pope, a Pope of journeying, and brought us all with him on that. One of his key themes on this ‘journeying’ was inclusion, to pay attention to those who have been marginalized or excluded.
“LGBTQI+ people are amongst those with whom we are obliged to engage in a more deliberate and meaningful level, and our prayer gathering is putting that into action.”
The gathering follows a series of meetings organised by a small working group focused on LGBTQI+ outreach. As part of this, LGBTQI+ people were invited to take part, and Scripture scholar Dr Jessie Rogers was invited to speak on what the Bible might say about the issue. The group also worked through Fr James Martin’s Building a Bridge over a number of meetings and consulted a psychotherapist experienced in this area.