Catholic Campus Ministry celebrates 100 years

Although it has existed 100 years, Catholic Campus Ministry on the Southeast Missouri State University campus has changed with the times, becoming more active in its mission of bringing people to a relationship with Jesus Christ through the church.

It does this through missionaries, Masses and social gatherings for special occasions.

An example of that outreach is an organization called Fellowship of Catholic University Students, FOCUS for short. It's a group of young adult missionaries who take two years out of their lives after college graduation to become missionaries on university campuses to offer scripture study, said Deacon Tom Schumer.

Southeast has four such missionaries, and the primary way they reach the university's estimated 3,000 Catholic students is by offering scripture study. There are 19 small Bible-study groups in which students participate weekly.

The ministry also offers social activities for special occasions and weekly Sunday Masses and a Sunday dinner after the late Mass.

Proclamation of Holy Gospel by Deacon Rob Huff. Bishop James V. Johnston, Jr. seen holding his Crosier is Bishop of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau. Candle bearers: Andrew Green (Missionary with Fellowship of Catholic University Studentsñ"FOCUS") and Shiron Fonseka (CCM Student). Altar Servers standing behind Deacon Huff: Allen Kirchner and Gideon Barr (CCM Alumni and Diocesan Seminarians). (Photo by Dennis Vollink)

Tuesday evenings feature Credo, offering students an opportunity to further explore fundamental Catholic beliefs.

"We have students that are both Catholic and non-Catholic coming to that to learn about what we have in our treasury of beliefs," Schumer said.

The Rev. Patrick Nwokoye said when he contemplates the 100th anniversary of the ministry, which is being celebrated all year, he thinks about the people who founded the center and made it a reality.

Nwokoye, who is from Nigeria and grew up in Italy, arrived at the ministry in 2006 as chaplain and director. Now the chaplain with Schumer as director, he notes that campus ministry is important in the life of a church.

" ... It's not only a place where young people are formed, but also a lot of questions and a lot of decisions are made while they're in college, so it's a great thing to have the presence of the church there where you can actually help ... people discern and understand where they need to go, or what they need to do with their lives, ultimately," Nwokoye said.

He said being on campus is quite fun.

"When I say fun, you can do so much in terms of ministry," Nwokoye said, adding that people in the clergy should go through a place like the campus ministry. " ... You always have to read the signs. You always have to find new ways to make the gospel relevant, and, all the time, things you thought you had figured out, you may not always have it figured out. You have to learn to adjust differently ..."

The Newman Center and Catholic Campus Ministry is what Schumer calls a fixed-base presence of the Catholic church. Mass is offered daily, except Saturday. There is a 5:15 p.m. Mass Monday through Thursday and a noon Mass on Friday. A group of students also meets each morning at 7:30 a.m. in the chapel to pray.

"We have a pretty humble place. We have a leaky basement. We have a very much undersized chapel, but the students [who] come here, they experience, I think, a friendship and a fellowship and an experience of Jesus Christ through our sacraments, and the people that are here, that's really nice," Schumer said.

One of the greatest challenges the ministry faces is keeping students in the fold, particularly since college may be the first time they've been away from home.

" ... That's one of the reasons why we have the missionaries working out on campus to, quite honestly, keep students as much as possible from falling away from the routine and ordinary practice of their faith tradition," Schumer said. "It's important work and ... I think what's true about all important work -- it's not easy because there [are] a lot of secular influences on a campus like this that we, quite honestly, have to compete with."

Facilities

Some preliminary planning has been done to look into improving the ministry's quarters.

"There is certainly a need and an ambition, and I believe some momentum, to make something like that happen. That would involve, most fundamentally, a new, or certainly vastly improved worship space. Right now, our St. Thomas Aquinas Chapel is undersized and not adequate for the number of people that we are serving, so we're hopeful that we might be able to remedy that in the near future," Schumer said.

The ministry receives no funding from the university, but receives operational funding from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, of which it is part. Capital improvements would "involve a great deal of help from faithful people in the community," along with alumni, faculty and others.

An advantage the ministry has is its location at 512 N. Pacific St., right across from the Grauel Building. "We have a lot of foot traffic that comes by ...," Schumer said.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

388-3639

Pertinent address: 512 N. Pacific St.

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... You always have to read the signs. You always have to find new ways to make the gospel relevant, and all the time, things you thought you had figured out, you may not always have it figured out. You have to learn to adjust differently ...*"

The Rev. Patrick Nwokoye

Chaplain