(LifeSiteNews) — Bishop Mark Brennan of Wheeling-Charleston received a “blessing” from a rabbi during a Shabbat Shalom service at a Jewish temple last week.
The livestream from the June 5 “First Friday Shabbat” service shows Brennan, who will officially retire as bishop of Wheeling-Charleston on July 1, being invited to receive a “special blessing” from Rabbi Joshua Lief as he approaches his “emeritus” status. Brennan, who signaled approval of Fiducia Supplicans, which permits “blessing” homosexual “couples,” and encouraged standing to receive the Eucharist in his diocese, has participated in several inter-religious services over the years.
The “blessing” is viewable at the link below, beginning at 48:33.
“A beautiful friendship built on respect and love of God’s creation,” the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston wrote in a Facebook post following the event.
Brennan has previously joined Lief to celebrate interfaith services. In 2021, they celebrated an inter-religious service for the secular Thanksgiving holiday, along with representatives from multiple Protestant denominations. In 2023, after the October 7 attacks on Israelis, Brennan joined Lief and leaders of other faiths, including a female Presbyterian, in a service to pray for Israel.
Indeed, when Pope Leo accepted Brennan’s resignation as ordinary of Wheeling-Charleston in May, Lief called him “a tremendous friend and colleague” and lauded their interfaith work over the years.
“I was honored to work with him on many projects to do more good in the wider Wheeling community,” the rabbi said. “I look forward to working with his successor and building bridges across faiths so we can improve the lives of all in the city, state, country, and world.”
Brennan has previously indicated support for heterodox positions and opposed Catholic tradition. In 2023, after Pope Francis issued Fiducia Supplicans, which allowed for the “spontaneous blessing” of homosexual “couples,” Brennan supported the document, saying its “change is widening the scope of our consciousness of who can receive blessings.”
The bishop also called on the faithful in Wheeling-Charleston to stand after the Agnus Dei at Holy Mass and appeared to encourage them to receive Holy Communion standing rather than the traditional kneeling posture.
As previously reported by LifeSite, Brennan will be succeeded next month by Washington Auxiliary Bishop Evelio Menijar-Ayala, who entered the United States illegally back in 1990.