Rate your College Campus Parish

[manualman]

I thought some might find it useful to hear the good and bad of what is happening on campus parishes.

I’ve been out for a while - 1993. I went to the University of Wisconsin - Madison. AKA Berkley of the Midwest.

Unfortunately the Nuemann Center was hardly recognizable as catholic.

Every communicant received from the person in front of him in line. A woman gave about half of the homilies. (Though not ‘miked’ she also appeared to be ‘concelebrating’) Homemade bread that sured seems leavened to me was used for the host. (And it was extremely crumbly, after communion, many crumbs were visible on the hard floor). The language of the mass and redings were all altered to be unisex. The point where I broke and started going to a non-campus parish (St. James) is when they actually changed the words of the Lord’s Prayer to “Our Father/Our Mother God, who art in heaven…”

I have heard that there has been some crackdown, but haven’t been back since. If anybody knows anything more recent, do tell.

Tell us your experiences in the parishes at your college.

 

[Rascal]

I imagine college campus Catholic churches have it tough. My college parish did not have a sacrarium. As a Eucharistic Minister, I found that odd and discomforting. There were a few other mnor changes that might be typical, but not as bad as “Mother God” for the Lord’s prayer. That’s straight out of the Bible!.

The recent pastor at my current parish has done wonderful work catechising parishoners on apprpropriate liturgy celebration and understanding.

 

[sarcophagus]

We don’t have one…the closest to religion it gets is a prayer room for muslim students…yup, I rate it a zero!!

 

[goravens]

The St.Lawrence Center at the University of Kansas is awesome! They have a very committed staff, priests, and a large student body that’s very involved from fellowship to study help to service and worship at Mass. The Masses there are very orthodox, prayerful, and reverent - plus the majority of the students participate. They’ve started a couple houses on just off campus where Catholic women can live together, and one where Catholic men can live together kind of as an alternative to Greek life. They have a program where students can receive a degree/certificate in Catholic theology through the St.Lawrence center too. It’s directed by a Steubenville grad. And many of their students teach in area CCD programs as well. I can’t say enough good things about it. Many other college centers look to them as a model when starting their campus center or re-engergizing it.

 

[Vivienne]

The college campus parish at Western Washington University is amazing. In the past 5-6 years it has been transformed from an ultra-liberal feel good experiance to a fairly conservitive and holy place. There are many holy vocations coming out of it - priests, sisters, lay consectrated, holy marriages.

It is standing room only at the Sunday Mass. They have adoration, rosary, daily Mass, study groups on the Theology of the Body, prayer at the abortion clinic, mission trips to Mexico, a soup kitchen.

The students love Christ and His Mother, the Catholic Church, our Holy Father. They really seem to grasp that they are the hope for the future and they have plans to bring about the culture of life.

From what I have seen two things happened to transfrom this college parish. The first is they started having Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. The second is that they started studying the Theology of the Body.

If in the future, you hear good orthodox changes being made in the Archdiocese of Seattle, there is a good chance that it started at the Catholic Campus Ministries Newman Center at WWU.

 

[Meggie]

Alumni Chapel
NU Campus

Still funky looking from the 70’s, probably some questionable design elements…

but the Homilys are FANTASTIC…and the people are wonderful, the Preists are GREAT

Daily Mass offered daily (who’d a thunk it) at noon. Perpetual Novena celebrated Mondays…
…three Masses on Sunday

YAY wonderfulness

Campus ministry is also rampant…retreats (fun ) lock ins, voulenteering stuff…I love two of the three campus ministers…the other I wouldn’t mind not seeing anymore…

 

[Fitz]

You mean my college campus had a parish? Ouch, what a hard question for me. I went from attending a Catholic College and going to church every week because we all just did to transferring to one of our state schools. I was bad, inconsistent, and I have to say downright stupid in matters of faith. I wanted to decide on my own. Remember when that got popular in the olden days of the beginning of the feminist movement? I admit to being caught up in the equal pay for equal work, etc. I’m OK, You’re OK, Our bodies ourselves, all seeming very foolish to me as I write this.

If I could go back and do one thing differently, it would be to go to church in college all the time. I think I would have so much happier and I might have spared myself some misery.

 

[chb03c]

My Campus parish is great. Its at Florida State University we have a campus ministry called the Catholic Student Union (CSU) we have got a wonderful faith based community and the Brotherhood of Hope.

 

[prolife4000]

goravens:

The St.Lawrence Center at the University of Kansas is awesome!

I totally agree!! I graduated from there in 2003 and really miss all the people and the classes that were offered. It was so nice to see such a wonderful Catholic campus center on such a liberal campus.

 

[alyssa]

St. Mary’s at Texas A&M is GREAT. 15 out of 10. I especially LOVE adoration, which is 8am-11pm mtwr, something I never had at my old church .

 

[SFAgal03]

St. Mary’s at SFA in Texas is one of two Catholic churches among 35+ Baptist churches and several other denominations of Christianity, plus one synagouge (sp?) and the closeness of it to the dorms are about the only good thing. The priest there is much more interested in socializing than doing his job. He has often said, while doing announcements at the end of Mass, to give money to his church and not the other one in town. The student leadership is really nice, and the student center is a friendly place, but Fr. Stephen is not, in many people’s opinions, suited for the job of a college priest…at least. He was very put out at a Fish Fry for Parent’s Weekend when we asked him to bless my mom’s laryngitis-ed throat. There have been complaints in the double digits about him to the monsignor at the other church, Sacred Heart, and at least 3 to the Bishop of Tyler in this past semester alone. Please, pray for him to either have an awakening a realize that he’s losing people in the faith due to his blatant rudeness, or pray for us that we may all endure him anyway and not let God’s message get lost in the rudeness.

Sacred Heart, slightly off campus, is a beautiful church that is filled with friendly people who are God-centered. That’s where I usually go, unless I can only make a later Sunday night Mass.