In ‘watershed moment,’ Catholic Cardinal apologizes for church treatment of LGBTQ people
In what is believed to be a first-of-its-kind event, Cardinal Wilton Gregory, who has served since 2019 as leader of the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., held a Jan.
22 prayer service for members of the local LGBTQ Catholic organization Dignity Washington. The service, which is like a Catholic mass but doesn’t include the offering of holy communion, took place at 6:30 p.m.
at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Georgetown. Dignity Washington officials said the event came about after they met with Gregory at his diocesan office in September and he agreed to their invitation for him to hold a religious service for the local LGBTQ community.
Dignity Washington President Vince Rodriguez told the Washington Blade he and fellow Dignity members were honored and moved that Gregory went beyond just holding the service by offering an apology for the way the church has treated LGBTQ people. “There is no room for religious bigotry that is largely fueled by lack of knowledge and ignorance on the part of peoples who may call themselves religious but whose behavior violates the basic tenets of most of the great faith traditions of the world,” Gregory said in written remarks that he read as part of his homily or sermon at the prayer service. “I apologize for my own failure to emulate Christ’s compassion,” he stated in his remarks. “The way that we have treated our LGBTQ brothers and sisters has brought them tears and to many of us disgrace,” he told those attending the service. “I apologize from the heart for the hurt that has resulted in the loss of so many of our family members who belong to God no less than I do,” he said. “I apologize not only for those whose past actions have scandalized and wounded these men and women.
