The Right Community

When Mary Page began college, like so many of our students, she was searching for a faith community where she could feel truly at home.

“I was raised Catholic,” she shared. “Then in high school, I left the church, but not physically. I was still practicing, but I wasn’t believing in it or participating fully in it. I wanted to distance myself from the church, but all of my family was part of it, and all of my social connections were through it.”

As graduation approached, Mary Page found herself reconsidering her relationship with the church, or at least Christianity. “I wanted to give it another shot; to try and find things I do like about church. In opening my mind up, I realized there were a lot of things I really liked about it and things I really liked about being Christian. I’m at the point now where I know I want to be Christian, but most of my knowledge of what that means comes from Catholicism. It was really scary to leave that behind and figure out where I feel like I’m in the right community.”

That’s when she (sort of literally) stumbled across something unexpected on campus.

“I was walking around UNF, and I saw chalk on the sidewalk that said ‘Queer Bible Study.’ I thought, ‘What in the world?’ I’d never seen those words put together, and it completely intrigued me.”

Still, Mary Page walked in with some nerves. “I had never been to a Bible study before, I hadn’t really been around a lot of queer people, and I tended to avoid large groups of Christians. All three of those things were very new territory for me. But it was a very good experience. I remember being overwhelmed by how much I liked it. Afterwards, I thought, ‘That was incredible.’”

And that first day was only the beginning. Queer Bible Study meets every week, and students read the bible through the lens of the queer experience. And Mary Page was there.  

“I kept coming back because it felt really healing. It was great to have a space where I could learn more about what being queer looks like— especially what being queer looks like in the church. It’s also a place where I could find a church community that I had never seen before. I like how we put ourselves into each story and look at the context surrounding it.”

That sense of belonging and healing has continued to grow, and now Mary Page is eager to deepen those connections. She’s especially looking forward to her first retreat with this new community. “I haven’t really done a retreat except for the required retreats I did in school, so I’m curious because I don’t know what to expect. I also am excited because I really like being in the woods and outside, and I think this is a good group of people to experience this with!”

The retreat is in a few weeks, and we couldn’t be more delighted to have Mary Page join us at no cost, thanks to our “First-Time Friends Initiative." Generous donors and partners like you allow students who have never joined us on retreat to attend for free. We are so thankful for you and your support of students like Mary Page.