By Emily Ford
Contributing Writer
Dominican had its first LGBTQ Mass on Oct. 31 in the Rosary Chapel; this is one of the examples of greater inclusion that University Ministry is working toward.
The university has been collaborating with Common Ground, also known as People Respecting Identities Sexuality and Mindfulness (PRISM), in various ways. However, an LGBTQ Mass is new.
After building a stronger relationship and finding support of this community, those in the Ministry and Mission Department believe this is a “next right step” in making that relationship stronger.
Olivia Kneip, PRISM student president, says the goal of the Mass is to separate religion and sexuality and bring students together in a safe space in the church.
Kneip said this event will act a stepping-stone for the organization as it begins to become more active in the Dominican community.
This Mass is a breakthrough for Dominican by showing that the university is open to “radical inclusion” of previously marginalized communities, said Amy Omi, one of the university ministers.
“We think it’s necessary for a member of the community to act as a special speaker when honoring a marginalized community,” Omi said.
“There was a guest, Father Michael Trail, as well, who is a member of the Chicago LGBTQ outreach program. There were also special prayers and faculty made sure to step back and let the students write the prayers. This is our approach to every specialized Mass that we hold,” she said.
“It was beautiful, and it was first of its kind.”
Omi and others have been working toward this radical inclusion in many areas.
“I am aware of the fact that Catholicism doesn’t have a perfect track record,” she said, “there are things like racism, colonization, whitewashing and homophobia in its history that we need to face.”
Omi makes sure to question herself constantly in order to hold herself accountable as a white female faculty member. By doing this, she said she can make sure that a biased perspective that could be rooted in white supremacist framework, does not appear in her work.
“Because we are a Hispanic-Serving Institution, I am learning about how to better my work. My focus is white accountability,” she said.
However, though radical events like the LGBTQ Mass are happening, this doesn’t mean that these progressive changes didn’t face some setbacks, she said.
The Thursday before the Mass, there were calls made to the Ministry Department from a grad student who was upset about the event and threatened to show up with a group of people to protest Mass.
No protesters showed up and the Mass was able to carry on peacefully with a security guard present for the entirety of the event.
According to Omi, due to mixed opinions from within the church and Catholic tradition at the school, there was some resistance to the creation of the LGBTQ Mass from “higher authority.”
These mixed opinions include conservative opinions in traditional faith that typically do not agree with such changes, she said.
Higher education and Catholicism are very closely linked together and can cause controversy on how the church evolves. This does not exclude universities such as Dominican.
She explained that the tightly knit relationship is critical to how universities create campus culture and what they base their academic curriculum upon.
Statements from major figures in the church like Pope Francis come to great significance in these times because this is how people can find resolution in the community.
Claire Noonan, vice president for Mission and Planning, referred John DeCostanza, assistant vice president for Mission and Ministry, to speak for the department on behalf of the event.
According to DeCostanza, there was no particular reason for why was this the first year that Dominican hosted this Mass. He said it will be a consistent event in the future.
“The foundation of relationship is communication,” he said. “There’s a really important moment toward the end of Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), in which he writes, ‘Greater possibilities for communication thus turn into greater possibilities for encounter and solidarity for everyone. If we were able to take this route, it would be so good, so soothing, so liberating and hope-filled! To go out of ourselves and to join others is healthy for us.’ This Mass and others like it are an opportunity for encounter, for God’s goodness to enter in and do the rest.”
Precious Porras, vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion, brings fresh perspectives since her arrival to Dominican last spring.
Events such as the upcoming Mass and said that only speaks to how things must change and that simply talking about change is not enough says Porras, we need to be the change we wish to see.
“Amy (Omi) and I are focusing on critical examination by shining the light on discrimination and racism.”
By embracing all students who attend Dominican, Porras and Omi are working together to seek representation on campus in both space and personnel and in turn, help create events like the Mass.
“I believe we are all members in the body of Christ, and we want radical inclusion because the church and the university are for everyone,” Omi said. “Resistance can be racist and luckily we are able to push forward with the LGBTQ Mass.”
Omi said the struggle is ongoing.
“Sometimes there’s more to a solution than physical activism,” she said, “there’s a lot of work to be done at a systemic level.”
