Pittsburgh Bishop David A. Zubik has been meeting with people in the LGBTQ+ community following a canceled June “Pride Mass” at a Catholic university, saying he hopes “to pave a path for LGBTQ people to feel and be more welcomed” in the church. The meetings followed the bishop’s calls to scuttle a planned June 11 liturgy for people who identify as LGBTQ+ held at the Chapel of the Holy Spirit on the campus of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. The diocesan statement also included excerpts from a recent letter Bishop Zubik had sent in response to messages he had received from disappointed event organizers. In the June statement, the bishop confirmed that Neither Bishop Zubik nor university president Ken Gormley had been informed of the Mass — which would have coincided with the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, commonly known as Corpus Christi. Among the groups listed as “co-hosting” or affiliated with the planned event were Catholics for Change in Our Church, the LGBTQ Outreach Ministry at St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Pittsburgh, Pax Christi, and The Welcome Table at St. Mary Magdalene Parish in Pittsburgh. Faithful America also launched a petition asking Bishop Zubik to reconsider his decision to cancel the Mass, claiming that more than 16,000 people had signed.
