New York parish holds ‘Pride Mass’ on Trinity Sunday
The Catholic Herald• June 23, 2025
All Saints Catholic Church in the Diocese of Syracuse, New York, has been at the centre of increasing public controversy after hosting a “Pride Mass” on June 15, Trinity Sunday.
The Mass, which saw the sanctuary decorated with a rainbow flag, began with 70-year-old Fr Fred Daley – who openly identifies as gay – bowing to the congregation and saying “Namaste”. The priest then encouraged parishioners to wave at those joining from home and acknowledged that the service was taking place on the “territory of the Onondaga nation”. After the introduction, Fr Daley asked the congregation, as it is Pride Month, to give a round of applause to the “LGBTQ folks”.
During the service, the priest invited a transgender person and member of a local Episcopalian church to come to the pulpit to share “his journey to the truth, his truth”.
Alongside repeated references to “Pride Month”, parts of the Gospel reading were altered, as was the Eucharistic Prayer.
The Mass concluded with a prayer acknowledging God as “Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier”.
The church also made headlines this month after a Catholic convert removed and burned the Pride flag displayed outside the church during the night of June 6–7. On Flag Day, June 14, a new flag was reinstated during a public “re-raising” ceremony.
All Saints Parish was formed by the merger of two local parishes, Our Lady of Solace and St Thérèse of Lisieux, and celebrated its opening on the Feast of All Saints in 2008.
The parish website states: “In the spirit of Vatican II, All Saints Parish is an open and welcoming Catholic Christian community.” It also states that it “rejects white privilege” and admits “to conscious and unconscious enabling of the creation of and support for oppressive systems and racist policies.”
The church does not shy away from political demonstrations, having recently called on parishioners to participate in protests against Donald Trump through “No Kings”, described as a nationwide day of resistance and solidarity.
Alongside political activity, in the bulletin for June 14 and 15 the parish also invited parishioners to attend an exhibit at a local art gallery that “confronts the toxicity of religious orthodoxy and sheds light on the struggles of breaking free from rigid belief systems”.
Bishop Douglas John Lucia of the Diocese of Syracuse has yet to comment.
(Photo by Roni Bintang/Getty Images)