Fr. Donal Godfrey SJ
Tonight there was a prayer service in the Most Holy Redeemer that was recorded for BBC Radio 4 - Religion and is planned for broadcast a Sunday morning in Mid-January 2007. The service included a lot of beautiful music and a very strong homily by Dr James Alison. The theme for the service was beng lesbian and gay in a Catholic parish.
One of the more touching parts, however, was a reflection by Sr. Cleta telling about how the parish 22 years ago had opened its gates to the Castro's gay community and embraced the diversity.
You will find the good people of our parish old, young, married, gay, lesbian, transgender, affluent, homeless, blue-collar, converts, cradle Catholics, radical, traditional, questioning, fervent. What you're least likely to find here is complacency or indifference. We seem to be a church with no accidental parishioners: everyone singing in our pews or making sandwiches for the poor in our hall is committed to a vision of a better world and a better Church to serve it. From Pastor Meriwether's welcome
After the service the BBC thanked us...
What a cute Englisman they sent us! 
I just love public service! 
But I would like to be a fly on the wall when the show is broadcasted in the UK... Will people call and complain? Write e-mails? Send out a Roman inquisition (by the way now led by the previous Archbishop of San Francisco!)?
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