How a Black Church Has Welcomed LGBTQIA+ Catholics

At Oakland, California’s St. Columba Church, liturgy meets lived experience among a congregation composed largely of Black Catholics. Led by Father Aidan McAleenan, who’s open about his own gay identity, the Diocese of Oakland parish proudly welcomes queer Catholics and advances community-oriented ministry rooted in Black Catholic tradition.

St. Columba rejects anti-LGBTQIA+ Catholicism — despite the efforts of San Francisco Bay Area prelates like Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone to exclude queer people from the faith. The archbishop is well-known for denying Communion to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi because of her pro-abortion views. In 2024, he tried to block San Francisco priests from following Pope Francis’ directive to bless queer couples. He also reportedly prohibited the presence of drag queens and LGBTQIA+ Catholic group Dignity/San Francisco from gathering at Most Holy Redeemer, a parish with a long history of queer and trans allyship.

With a diocesan leader like Archbishop Cordileone, it’s no wonder Catholics like Ignatius Bau found their way across the Bay, excited by the hospitality of St. Columba. Ignatius and his late husband, John Bare, joined the parish after discovering St. Columba’s booth at the Oakland Pride festival in 2017.

What greeted them was a church shaped by Irish and Italian immigrants and forged by and for Black Catholics. In the 1980s, Father Paul Ross Vassar brought to St. Columba “a vision for liturgy that reflected the African American Catholic experience.” He hosted Black scholars and activists and grew a vibrant school and parish community. The parish has changed drastically since Father Paul’s leadership, with gentrification devastating the Black community in Oakland. Today, amidst rampant right-wing attacks on immigrants, Black and Brown people, and the LGBTQIA+ community, St. Columba remains outspoken against injustice. In front of the church sit crosses representing every victim of homicide in Oakland, a reminder “of the toll that gun violence takes, particularly on Black and Brown communities.”

St. Columba’s culture of acceptance today can be recognized as a product of the Black Catholic tradition. “I don’t want St. Columba to be known as an LGBT church,” Ignatius shared. “It is in the African American tradition, and because of that, it is then inclusive” of immigrants, refugees, and the LGBTQIA+.

Affirming queer people comes easily to a community that Black Americans nourished as a response to exclusion and prejudice. St. Columba exists first and foremost as a place that Black Catholics can “access all the roles of ministry,” lead as laypeople, and freely practice their faith. It was not too long ago in our country’s history that this was not the case.

In gratitude for the parish’s “expression of hospitality” toward queer Catholics, St. Columba’s annual Pride barbecue celebrates all who make this inclusivity possible. It’s a thank-you to the congregation for showing up as allies every Sunday, united by a belief in equity and justice for all.

With Fr. Aidan’s support, the parish’s Pride ministry is disrupting the culture of shame that queer Catholics often experience. Fr. Aidan has remained devoted to “absolute inclusivity” and uplifting the Black Catholic tradition throughout his 18 years at St. Columba, sharing that the bishop once said he “wouldn’t move [him] because [he] was too liberal and would do the same thing somewhere else.” The congregation has grown as a result, with some parishioners driving from 60 miles away to be there on Sunday, “from places they don’t feel welcome.”

The parish’s worship resembles what Ignatius described as fighting a “false theology of fear, an understanding of our God and the Gospel as judgment-based, that somehow we have to earn God’s love.” This work starts with the Mass itself. Over the years, Fr. Aidan has invited queer couples to share homilies, including Ignatius and John in 2022. Liturgy at St. Columba emphasizes diversity. “And if anything,” Ignatius shared, “our calling is to understand how to use that diversity of our experience as gifts to the church.”