‘Why would you do that?’: Seattle University’s chapel another target of hateful vandalism

SEATTLE — Another house of worship in Western Washington has been vandalized. This time it was Seattle University’s Chapel of St. Ignatius. The university’s ministry team found the damage Sunday afternoon before mass.

“Why would you do that? What’s the point?” Ethan Greger, a junior at the university, said. “It’s gross there’s no point, there’s no point in doing that at all.” This comes after a Jewish Temple in Capitol Hill was targeted with hateful graffiti and members of Holy Spirit Lutheran Church in Kirkland left service last month to find hateful flyers on their windshields.

“Seattle is you know, it’s going a little bit downhill, vandalism, crime, drug usage,” Greger said. He typically goes to the chapel to reflect but now the doors are locked.

“It is a church, it should not be closed at all so I mean so there’s never really a time where churches should be closed,” he said. The president of the university, Eduardo Peñalver said this chapel means a lot to the university.

“It’s sad and disappointing, it was a sad and disappointing moment for me to learn about it,” he said. Several pieces of furniture inside the chapel were damaged including slash marks on benches and pew cushions. Those responsible also scratched out the name of God and Christ that are inscribed on the walls. Plus, some of the plants were tossed and thrown on the floor. Additionally, about ten books were thrown into the water.

“We have no idea why the person came in and did but it was just a devastating thing to learn because again it’s such an important place for our campus,” Peñalver said. For now, the doors will remain locked as the university figures out how to better protect it.

“We felt like we needed to lock it down in case the person who did this came back,” Peñalver said. Seattle University Public Safety and Seattle Police are investigating.

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