Mass With Father Paul

Daily Mass happens each Tuesday and Thursday at the Campus Religious Center at 12n.  For the 20-21 and 21-22 school years, Father Paul Schumacher was the presider at almost every daily Mass we held.  This year, he stepped back from presiding, although he attends almost each daily Mass held here.  Last week, the priests of the Diocese were at Pastoral Leader Days.  Father Paul was not attending those, so he presided at Mass so our college students and community did not have to forego their daily Mass opportunity.  He shared a strong message of sharing the love of Christ with others and helping them to feel like they were important to someone.  

Father Paul was the priest who was instrumental in working with the college and other Church leaders to bring the Campus Religious Center to fruition.  It is always a special joy when we have the opportunity to see his spirit and vitality in action because we know this was instrumental in bringing the love of Christ to our campus.  Thank you, Father Paul, for continuing to serve this Campus Community with such love and dedication!

                                                  

Corporal Works of Service Project: Baking for Funerals

Part of our mission in Catholic Campus Ministries is to help our students prepare to be a part of parish life when they graduate from SMSU and find their parish communities where they find jobs.  Part of this is the reminder of all of the needs a parish has, from serving as lectors and ushers, to helping bury the dead of the parish.  This past week, the Newman Club was contacted to help with cupcakes for dessert at the funeral of one of our parishioners.  Special thanks to Abbey for the mad baking skills, and Dave for frosting and delivering.  This is an essential part of who we are as Catholics living in community with each other!

Our Lenten Journey

Lent begins tomorrow.  It is a time of sacrifice and penance, fasting and almsgiving, as we prepare to walk with Christ to the Cross.  It is a tradition of Catholic Campus Ministry to share in our journey as community.  As a group we pray the Stations of the Cross and make tie blankets for Birth Rite.  We participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, spend time with the Blessed Sacrament in Adoration, and seek Reconciliation with the Lord.  Each Lent, we travel our Lenten journey together.

Many thanks to Abbey, Ashley, Natalia and Olivia for the preparations they made to help us be ready to begin this year's journey.  If you would like to support our "Tie Blankets for Birth Rite", we can always use more fleece.  Please contact Becki at the Parish Office to make your donation!

Valentine's Day Dinner Celebration

This year, Valentine's Day fell on a Tuesday, so we were able to celebrate the event on the actual day!  It doesn't happen very often, so we are especially grateful when it does.  Our Valentine's Day Dinner is an opportunity to come together to celebrate our community and the love we have for each other in a little fancier setting.

Our leadership team of Abbey, Olivia and James did a fabulous job of preparing for the event, from shopping through decorating.  We also saw them, along with Jon and Ethan for the extra work they did on cleaning up.  We appreciated Dealyn, Chris, and the rest of their table of eight for joining us for the celebration.  Finally, we wouldn't have had the experience we have if it hadn't been for the culinary magic Dave worked in the kitchen.

Mark your calendars for February 13, 2024, when we will celebrate Valentine's Day next year!

Tropical Night 2023

Our goal is to have the Campus Religious Center open for student activities one Saturday evening a month.  We always choose to have it open on the Homecoming Night and Tropical Night to ensure students have a safe place to hang out while still celebrating all of the excitement on campus.  We had a fun night playing dominos and Disney Pictopia.  It was a small crowd, but we got a chance to know each other better.  We are looking forward to the next night of activities.  Join us on Saturday evening, March 18th, for an evening of diamond art!

New Fridge, Thanks to Our Alumni!

Last fall, we began having issues with the refrigerator at the Campus Religious Center.  The compressor would periodically freeze up and shut down, which caused us to lose the entire contents of the refrigerator twice in four months.  The first time was considered a bit of a fluke since it is a problem that can occasionally happen with the make and model of the refrigerator we had.  The second time, we realized we had a significant problem.

One of the alumnae of Catholic Campus Ministries and the Newman Club happened to be at the Campus Religious Center while we were handling the clean-up of the second fridge failure.  The next day, we received a call that there would be a donation coming to help replace the refrigerator so other students would be able to enjoy the same meals and opportunities as they had received while they were students at SMSU.  Our grateful appreciation to all of our alumni who paid it forward for the current (and future) students we serve.

Mini Retreats Are Back!

Prior to COVID-19 changing the landscape of campus ministry at SMSU, Catholic Campus Ministries offered several half-day retreats each year.  While we worked to maintain that during the changes we experienced in campus ministry, the reality is the retreats could not be as effective when we couldn't consistently meet in person.  Retreats went on hiatus.  It took some time to be able to lay the groundwork to bring them back, but it has happened!

We had our first mini-retreat Saturday, February 11.  It began at Holy Redeemer Church at 8am to join in the celebration of the daily Mass and provided the students with the opportunity to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  After Mass, we shared in breakfast, then moved to the Chapel for the praying of the rosary.  We prayed the Joyful Mysteries and shared our personal intentions for the time we would be spending with the Lord.  

Finally, we watched the videos of the two speakers from Day One of the SEEK23 Conference:  Paul J. Kim and Chika Anyanwu.  Both are powerful speakers.  This was the first opportunity for some of our students to be able to hear their messages, while others had seen them first hand at the conference.  The videos sparked great conversation.  It was so good to be able to share with each other as we grow our relationships with the Lord, and each other.

Our participating students were Abbey, Ashley, James, Luci and Olivia.  Father Shawn was the celebrant of the Mass and was able to join us for part of the retreat at the Campus Religious Center.  Special thanks to Dave J. for managing the behind-the-scenes logistics of the retreat!

Mark your calendars for March 18 and April 1, 2023, for the remaining two retreats of this school year.