The city’s most outwardly gay-friendly parishes are concentrated in Manhattan, a center of both gay culture and efforts to build a gay-friendly Catholicism.

brothers and sisters, that the Holy Spirit will confirm them in the knowledge that their life partnerships are a blessing not only for them but for the community.” Francis Xavier asked the congregation to pray “for our L.G.B.T.Q. The weekend after the statement was released, a deacon at St.

When the Vatican issued a statement in March that said priests could not bless same-sex unions, which it derided as a form of sin, these parishes and a handful of others in Manhattan issued statements of dismay or used homilies during Mass as an opportunity to comfort L.G.B.T.Q.