Panicked Indiana University Students Thought Catholic Priest Was KKK Member
Indiana University students apparently freaked out over rumors that a Ku Klux Klan member holding a whip was spotted on the Bloomington campus Monday night.
Some students took to Twitter to warn the campus community about the Klansman wearing white robes in their midst, which created some degree of hysteria there.
Fright Night in Bloomington turned out to be a false alarm, however.
It was subsequently revealed that the individual who was mistaken for a KKK member was actually a priest of the Dominican order who was innocently on a frozen yogurt run and was armed with rosary beads rather than a whip, The Weekly Standard and other news outlets reported.
“In the clear light of morning, it was discovered that the ominous figure in robes was in fact Father Jude McPeak, a Dominican friar, who has been ministering in Bloomington for two years. In fact, on the night of the incident, he was walking to a local frozen yogurt shop with a group of students after leading a men’s group. The supposed whip in his hand was, in fact, his rosary beads.”
A resident advisor at one of the Indiana University campus dormitories, who initially recommended that students stay indoors via a mass email after word about the man in the KKK outfit circulated on social media, explained what occurred on Facebook, according to The Tab.
“This is what happens when there is miscommunication. So what happened tonight goes like this: a person saw white robes and what looked to them like a weapon, got scared (rightfully so), warned people, warned staff, which in turn caused me to warn my residents because I need to look out for my residents, which in turn made it spread. Then my residents, terrified, come running to me, saying yeah the report must be true, they saw him and couldn’t believe there was a klansmember with a whip. And I see this picture. It’s a priest. With a rosary. Now, I get it why a person would be scared…So when someone warns other people, we need to be cautious. However, what I’ve learned from this is to take anything with a grain of salt…”
Father Jude McPeak, who is an associate pastor/campus minister at the St. Paul Catholic Center at Indiana University, separately told The Tab that he found out about what happened the following day. “I thought it was kind of funny. A lot of my friends have been teasing me. It’s been humbling.”
He also noted that while he often gets strange looks for wearing the traditional clothing of the Catholic order, he “never heard of a brother triggering an email going around” or anything to the extent of Monday night KKK scare at Indiana University.
He added that a student even approached him at the Red Mango frozen yogurt store that night and asked if he was a KKK member.
He just came out to have some froyo and he's feeling very attacked right nowhttps://t.co/2PibPQO858 pic.twitter.com/AuwKXO5ap7
— Griffin Leeds (@GriffinLeeds) April 5, 2016
“Dominican brothers wear a habit consisting of a tunic, scapular, capuce, cappa, leather belt, and Rosary. Many Dominicans choose to carry a longer Rosary that hangs down the length of one’s leg — and I guess could resemble a whip, if a person had never seen a whip or a rosary before,” TownHall columnist Christine Rousselle explained.
The Friars themselves good-naturedly tweeted out some helpful guidance for Indiana University students for future reference so that they can tell the difference between Dominican priests and KKK members.
To avoid confusion in the future @TheTab @HoosierCatholic when following @TheWhiteHabit pic.twitter.com/27xJsdDa7u
— Dominican Friars-Province of St. Albert the Great (@OPDomCentral) April 6, 2016
“And, to answer the question on everyone’s mind, at the Red Mango Father Jude ordered an original and dark chocolate froyo mix with coconuts and peanuts on top,” The Tab concluded.
[Photo courtesy of McAnt via Wikimedia Commons|cropped and resized|(CC BY-SA 3.0)]
