Saint Xavier University will be hosting a Safe Zone training session for staff and faculty and an Ally training session for students on Nov. 13.
The Safe Zone and Ally programs help faculty and students to learn the basics of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer community and how to respectfully support and guide members of this community.
The Xavierite staff feels that this is a very important, positive step for the Saint Xavier community.
In the past, it has been rare to see programs like Safe Zone and Ally exist within a Catholic university.
We recognize that it is not always easy to run a university with values that are consistent with that of the Roman Catholic Church while also meeting the needs of a new generation and changing social and cultural standards.
However, the staff feels that movements and programs like this show that Saint Xavier is willing to adjust to students of all different types of backgrounds and lifestyles.
While the university has a Catholic lineage and it is important to preserve that legacy and the beliefs that inform it, it is also important to remember that the school has some responsibility to service the student population that keeps the doors to this institution open. Those students do not all conform to the Catholic ethos that helped make Saint Xavier University a reality.
We believe that it is the job of a university’s faculty, staff and students to create a safe and comfortable learning environment or every member of the school’s community.
Safe Zone and Ally training bring Saint Xavier closer to fostering that type of environment for it’s LBGTQ students.
With the installment of the new, progressive-thinking Pope Francis, the Catholic Church as a whole appears to be coming around. After all, Christ’s teachings were not about exclusion; they were about understanding and helping the downtrodden.
Now, in the 21 century, the downtrodden are not those afflicted with leprosy or unenlightened Roman citizens like Saul.
Today, the downtrodden are those with unequal rights, those treated as social outcasts because of their sexual identity. The more these issues are discussed in the open, the less taboo they become and the less taboo they become, the less inequality will continue to warp and corrupt the lives of those suffering from the inequality in question.
The social issues have changed. As people who were once considered “different” slowly are enveloped into mainstream society, the Catholic Church and its entities like universities have to adapt as well.
This adaptation must also include giving persons of that social status a place where they feel comfortable to learn and grow as an individual.
Saint Xavier University has provided that opportunity for years and now as an institution it is only growing in that tradition.
According to Matthew, Jesus said during the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
We see the training of faculty and students on sensitivity to the LGBTQ community as a fulfillment of our thirst for righteousness.
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The Xavierite Staff
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