10.06.2025
Christ Church Cathedral to Welcome American Bishop at Annual Pride Service
Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin will welcome a special guest for the annual Pride Service, taking place this Friday, June 13 2025, at 6:30 pm. The Rt Rev Dr Bonnie A Perry, Bishop of Michigan in The Episcopal Church in the United States, will preside at the annual service.
A reception and celebration will immediately follow, honoring charitable partner BelongTo Youth Services, the national organization supporting LGBTQ+ young people in Ireland.
Bishop Perry will also lead a workshop at Christ Church Cathedral on Saturday June 14 at 1:30 pm and will preach at the Cathedral’s Trinity Sunday Patronal Eucharist on Sunday June 15 at 11 am.
Details on all events can be found at bit.ly/christchurchpride.
The annual Pride Service was first celebrated in 2021 in the Cathedral and continues to be
organised by Changing Attitude Ireland (CAI). CAI is a church–based organisation founded to effect change in attitudes both within and without the church towards the LGBTQ+ community.
This year’s special guest joins other luminaries that have served as previous celebrants and
preachers. In 2024, Dr Mary McAleese, former President of Ireland, preached at the service. She was also welcomed as the new patron of CAI.
Bishop Perry is excited to visit Dublin to share the good news of her ministry. “I’m delighted to be part of the Pride celebration and conversation at Christ Church Cathedral,” she says. “I’m very much looking forward to our time together, getting to know one another and having an opportunity to learn from each other. To be a part of Christ Church Cathedral’s storied 1000 year history as a guest preacher is an honor.”
Bishop Perry is XI bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan in the United States. Following her consecration in February 2020, she made history as the first woman and openly lesbian bishop in Michigan. Her position oversees a diverse diocese of 78 worshipping communities and more than 14,000 baptized members. The diocese encompasses the Detroit metropolitan area and adjacent regions that stretch as far west as Lansing, Jackson, and Hillsdale.
Bishop Perry serves with a passion for congregational vitality, believing that all communities of faith should be relevant and engaged with their neighborhoods. She expanded the diocese’s race relations work and launched the Spirituality and Race Mission, which focuses on exploring issues of racial equity within the context of spiritual redemption. Recognized as a leader in the movement toward sensible and safe gun culture, Perry was elected a co–convener of Bishops United Against Gun Violence and co–founded End Gun Violence Michigan.
Bishop Perry’s expression of ministry also gives focus for equality in voting rights and LGBTQ+ full inclusion worldwide. In November 2023, she was appointed to serve on Michigan’s first–ever statewide LGBTQ+ Commission by Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Bishop Perry resides in Detroit with her spouse, The Rev Dr M Susan Harlow, a pastor in the United Church of Christ.