Gay church service to be broadcast on BBC

By Amy Bourke • April 17, 2007 - 12:38

The service will be broadcast at 8:10am on Sunday 29 April on BBC Radio 4.

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The BBC is to broadcast from a church that has been an inspiration to gay, lesbian and transgender Catholics around the world.

A service will be broadcast from the Catholic Parish of Most Holy Redeemer, in San Francisco's gay Castro district.

The parish offers a "spiritual home" to all, including LGBT church members and parishioners with HIV/AIDS.

William Joseph Levada, now the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the former Archbishop of San Francisco, allowed this parish to continue operation, although the congregation is mainly gay and lesbian.

According to Ekklesia.co.uk, Father Donal Godfrey SJ of the University of San Francisco will preside, and James Alison, theologian and author of "Is it Ethical To Be Catholics? - Queer Perspectives," will also be preaching.

A statement from the Roman Catholic section of the lesbian and gay Christian Movement in the UK said:

"It is the style of ministry and liturgy at places such as MHR that influenced many of us familiar with these parishes, and so inspired us to develop the kind of parish-set ministry with LGBT Catholics that we now celebrate in Central London."

The service was recorded in October, and will be broadcast during the traditional Sunday Worship slot, which has 2 million listeners every week.

The service will be broadcast at 8:10am on Sunday 29 April on BBC Radio 4.

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