On 15 February, Saint John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church’s (SJERC) Diversity & Inclusion Ministry met with Father Matt Buening, pastor at St. Matthew’s in Baltimore and Coordinator of LGBTQ+ Ministries for the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The discussion was very productive focusing on what is happening in the Archdiocese to welcome our LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters. This included the growth of several parish-led LGBTQ ministries such as Open Arms Ministry at Resurrection Parish in Ellicott City who attended Masses at St. John’s a few months ago and were in the bulletin this past weekend.
At the end of the meeting, the Diversity and Inclusion Ministry members were able to do preliminary brainstorming of ideas/activities to reach out and broaden our knowledge and awareness of our LGBTQ+ community. Before deciding next steps towards outreach, the Diversity and Inclusion Ministry would like to hear from SJERC’s congregation with suggestions for fellowship and activities to welcome the LBGTQ+ community. Please forward suggestions to Christian Svetnicka at DiversityInclusionMinistry.SJERC@gmail.com.
If you are interested in learning more about the Diversity and Inclusion Ministry’s vision and efforts to reach out to all God’s children of every race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and background, the Ministry would love to have you join us! Please contact the Diversity and Inclusion chair, Ulumma Abii at DiversityInclusionMinistry.SJERC@gmail.com for more information.