Graffiti sprayed on three United churches
Man charged in vandalism makes court appearance
A Saskatoon minister says she felt a sense of purpose as she cleaned up homophobic graffiti that stained her church’s building and two others in the city.
Early Sunday morning, Grosvenor Park United Church and Mcclure United Church, as well as St. Andrew’s College at the University of Saskatchewan, were vandalized.
All three are part of the national Affirming Ministries Program, a network made up largely of United churches that, according to Affirm United, “strive to be fully inclusive of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities.”
Grosvenor Park United Church learned about the defacement during its online worship sermon. Some members needed grieving time, while others were furious.
Rev. Laura Fouhse of Mcclure United was focused on the practical side of filing a police report and addressing the damage. What she didn’t anticipate was the sense of “healing” that would come with stripping away the red paint, she said.
“It felt (like) something practical that I could do and be with other community members to do,” Fouhse said.
“Cleaning it off felt like a concrete action against that sort of hate.”
According to Saskatoon police on Monday, a 36-year-old man is charged in connection with the vandalism.
He appeared briefly in Saskatoon provincial court on Monday.
The ministries in an open letter said they “wish to to practise compassion towards the vandal” but “also stress the need for the police and our wider community to take these incidents seriously.”
The Affirming Ministries Program, launched in 1992 and officially endorsed by the United Church in 2000, has five affiliated ministries in Saskatoon, three of which were targeted.
“These acts have hurt and shocked our communities and leave us determined to continue our commitment to solidarity with the LGBTQIA+ community,” read an open letter signed by Rev. Nobuko Iwai of Grosvenor Park United, Rev. Debra Berg and Rev. Laura Fouhse of Mcclure United, and Dean Richard Manley-tannis of St. Andrew’s College.
Fouhse said her initial feeling was one of disappointment. She doesn’t feel this was a personal attack against her as a lesbian, but she is concerned about the members of the congregation who belong to the LGBTQIA+ community who are affected by this event, she said.
“I wish I was surprised by this,” Manley-tannis said about the vandalism, calling it a reminder that much work still needs to be done in support of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Within minutes of posting on social media for help to remove the graffiti, Fouhse had assembled a team that took less than an hour to have the church doors cleaned. Knowing that the caretaking staff at St. Andrew’s College would need help, they quickly got to work removing the damage from that property.
The ministries are encouraging people in Saskatoon to use chalk art to decorate or share positive messages on sidewalks at the defaced sites or in front of their personal homes, Fouhse said, as “one way love and hope can overpower hate.”
Cleaning it off felt like a concrete action against that sort of hate. REV. LAURA FOUHSE