Oakland Parish’s Roots in Black Catholic Spirituality Prompt LGBTQ+ Welcome

St. Columba Church in Oakland, California has emerged as a safe haven for LGBTQ+ Catholics, who have been welcomed into the social justice-focused parish rooted in Black Catholic spirituality and tradition. Indeed, the community has linked LGBTQ+ equality and ending racism in a common effort for justice.

As witnessed during Pride, St. Columba is outwardly welcoming towards the LGBTQ+ community. KTVU highlighted the way that parishes does so. For instance, Fr. Aidan McAleenan, the pastor, stated the importance of having Pride flags within the church. He explained, “We’re saying to them, ‘We’re here, we’re a part of you, we’re a part of God’s children, we deserved to be loved as everyone else.”

Juan Zamora, an Oakland resident, joined St. Columba in 2018 when the parish had a Pride barbecue at the beginning of June. Zamora commented on the difficulty he faced in being a church member before joining St. Columba:

“‘When I realized that I was gay back in 2006, I stopped, you know, approaching the church I have questioned in the past my relationship with God because me being gay and a church not accepting who I am.'”

Since joining St. Columba, Zamora said it has become a home for him:

“‘As a Catholic, and as a Latino person, having a church like St. Columba means a lot to me. It makes me feel good that there are other churches in the Bay Area that are catholic and have their LGBTQ ministry and have LGBTQ members and have talked about how open they are and welcoming they are to everybody.'”

The parish’s welcome emanatas from its African American spirituality. On the parish website, St. Columba’s calls itself a “parish of social justice” and “ a community whose vision focuses on African American spirituality. . .This simply means that the community worships and serves God by means of African American traditions.”

When McAleenan became pastor of St. Columba in 2008, he made changes to the parish to be more reflective of the predominantly Black congregation, reported ABC 7 Bay Area. McAleenan “hand-carved an African symbol for God, hung pictures of Black saints, painted angels he bought from Costco, even commissioned a new Black Jesus.” He described how important it was to adapt the church building to the community worshiping in the space, saying, “People cried. It was so emotional to walk in a church and then see the artwork look like them.”

In the summer of 2020, when Black Lives Matter resurfaced strongly, McAleenan called Oakland’s Bishop Michael Barber racist as he felt Barber was not adequately responding to the hurt and rage felt especially within the Black community. More recently, the Diocese of Oakland has come under scrutiny for the transgender-negative policy it is seeking to pass, despite protest from at least one of its Catholic schools.

St. Columba is a special parish within Oakland that seeks to love and welcome those often unloved by the wider society, and often unloved within the church. Because of this McAleenan faces questions from congregants about the appropriateness of their ministries saying, “A lot of Catholics come on up and go like ‘Does the bishop know you’re here? Does the pope know you’re here? Is this okay?'”

It is clear that Fr. McAleenan is hopeful for a continued movement towards inclusion within the church, as he stated:

“‘In the Bay Area, there’s been an evolution, a strong evolution of acceptance, of love, of inclusion, and I think out of that experience, it’s become a norm, and therefore I think there’s an invitation, for us as a church to look at the sexual teaching of the church and update it in the light of God living in his people.'”

St. Columba is on New Ways Ministry’s list of LGBTQ-friendly Catholic parishes and faith communities. If you are seeking a welcoming church, the list can be found here. If you know of a parish or faith community that should be included on the list, click here to let us know.

Looking to start or develop LGBTQ+ministry at your parish? Consider hosting New Ways Ministry’s “Next Steps” discernment workshop or order a copy of New Ways and Next Steps: Developing Parish LGBTQ+ Ministry,” information about which is available here.

—Liam Myers (he/him), September 30, 2023