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LGBTQ+ Mass Held in Hoboken During Pride Month
On Sunday June 23rd, Our Lady of Grace, located on Willow Avenue in Hoboken, held its 7th annual Pride Mass with the intention of being more inclusive towards LBGTQ+ members of the community who identify as Catholic. Held on a scorching sunny Sunday morning, the prepossessing church was filled from the front pews all the way to the back with eager and happy LGBTQ+ community members. As a Catholic and transgender man, I arrived with much enthusiasm to witness my first ever Catholic Pride Mass. I was not disappointed.
I had grown up Catholic my entire life but at some point in my teenage years, I fell away from the faith for a while. Being transgender, I had grown up with the belief that I didn’t belong in church. But seeing that there were a couple of open and inclusive churches in New Jersey, I started to search for a local house of worship. The internet led me to Our Lady of Grace in Hoboken and after planning it out, I found myself sitting in the church meditating about how I felt while inside the church before the service.
Our Lady of Grace’s seventh annual Pride Mass began in 2017 out of a desire to be more inclusive with LGBTQ “brothers and sisters, especially those who have felt alienated from the church for a variety of reasons.”
