By: Katy Agans
Contributing Writer
University Ministry prides itself on being a safe and inclusive place for everyone.
Dominican’s LGBTQ+ Mass on March 19 was unsettled by the removal of pride decorations and a “hurtful” message written in a prayer book discovered the night before the Mass, according to Tara Segal, the director of the university ministry.
The Rosary Chapel was decorated with pride regalia including pride flags and candles honoring transgender individuals who lost their lives this year due to violence.
The night before the Mass, Waters Intern, Rachel Esser, went into the chapel to find that all the pride decorations had been taken down and placed on the windowsill, according to Segal.
The next morning, Esser and Andrew Mercado, the assistant director of ministry, put back all of the pride regalia and decorations. There they found a “hurtful” message written in the form of a prayer in the prayer book, according to Segal.
This message targeted the LGBTQ+ community. Segal declined to provide further details about the contents of the message.
Ministry staff reported the incident to campus safety and decided to put on the Mass as planned, according to Esser.
Segal wants students to know that this behavior was not OK and not supported by the University Ministry.
In fact, University Ministry has openly supported the LGBTQ+ community in the past, with this being the third LGBTQ+ Mass University Ministry has put on. They also hang pride flags in the ministry center year-round and hosted an affinity circle for allies last semester, according to Segal.
University Ministry will continue to support the LGBTQ+ community, according to Segal.
“The better we get to know ourselves, and each other, the better we get to know God.”
Not everyone is happy with the way that University Ministry handled the latest LGBTQ+ Mass. Chloe Young, a student at Dominican and former Waters Intern, said she felt like the whole Mass was surface level and conditional.
A lot of people in the LGBTQ+ have religious trauma, making the idea of even attending a Mass hard for some members of the community, according to Young.
This wasn’t addressed at the Mass, but it needs to be if queer people are being asked to go into religious spaces, according to Young.
