Outreach, an LGBTQ Catholic ministry founded by Fr James Martin SJ, will host a “mini pilgrimage” through New York City this autumn, visiting sites connected with the LGBTQ Catholic experience and the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
“We are very much looking forward to welcoming LGBTQ Catholics, and their friends and families, to New York City for a weekend of Masses, lectures and pilgrimages to several local churches, which will culminate with a prayer service at the Church of St Paul the Apostle, the mother church of the Paulist Fathers,” Fr Martin told the Catholic Herald in a statement.
“Our recent pilgrimages and regional prayer events have proven to be wonderful ways to worship together, share faith and support a group of people who often feel unwelcome in what is, after all, their Church too,” he added.
The New York event will be Outreach’s second pilgrimage. Its first, in 2025, brought around 50 pilgrims to Rome during the Jubilee Year celebrations.
According to Outreach, the New York City pilgrimage, which will be led by Fr Martin and two Outreach staff members, “seeks to bring together LGBTQ Catholics, allies and those who minister to them both in New York City and abroad”.
Pilgrims will visit the AIDS Memorial Park, the Stonewall National Monument and several churches. The programme also includes talks by Sr Karen Halfenstein of the Sisters of Charity of New York and Fr Michael Zampelli SJ.
Sr Karen served as Vice President for Mission at St Vincent Catholic Medical Centers during the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in New York City. During her tenure, the hospital opened the first AIDS ward on the east coast of the United States and became known for its care of patients with HIV/AIDS.
“Sister Karen and Father Michael have been ministering to the LGBTQ community for decades, and have incredible first-hand stories of walking alongside our community, especially at the height of the AIDS epidemic,” said Conor Reidy, Outreach’s executive director, who will also help lead the pilgrimage.
The pilgrimage will take place from September 25 to 27.
