Newman Connection helps Catholic students keep the faith at public institutions

ANN ARBOR — It’s the line of questioning almost any college student returning home after fall semester is bound to hear.

How did your classes go? Do you like your roommate? Are you eating well? Are you sleeping enough? How are your friends?

But Catholic parents might consider asking their aspiring scholars another question: How is your faith life?

For students from the Archdiocese of Detroit who choose to go away to a university outside the archdiocese’s boundaries, connecting with one’s faith can be a challenge in an unfamiliar environment. That’s where campus ministry comes in, trying to connecting with incoming Catholic students who aren’t too familiar with what parishes or ministries are available.

“Here at (the University of) Michigan, we have a big welcome event in the fall called Festival, where we have groups set up tables and students can meet all the organizations that are available,” said Brittany Tobias, director of stewardship and communication at St. Mary Student Parish in Ann Arbor, which serves Catholic students at the University of Michigan. “We’re involved with the Newman Connection, where students who graduated from Catholic high schools are directed to register. We use the Newman Connection to reach out to them with a welcome email, we do mentorship program, freshmen get paired with upperclassmen and learn how to get involved with parishes and programs we have on campus.”

For most young people, their family’s home parish is all they know, so going away to school in an unfamiliar town to find a place of worship can be a daunting task.

At Michigan State University, St. John Church and Student Center in East Lansing also uses the Newman Connection to introduce students from the Archdiocese of Detroit to campus ministry and surrounding parishes.

“Unless students are coming from the Lansing area, we need to introduce them to the parish,” said Katie Diller, director of campus life and ministry at St. John. “Michigan State still offers an optional religious preference in the packet they give to incoming students. So we get a lot of forms back, with students’ new ‘msu.edu’ email addresses.”

After establishing a connection with Catholic students on campus, Diller said Michigan State’s campus life and ministry team organizes retreats and alternative spring breaks, along with a series of talks on Catholic thought and philosophy hosted at St. John.

“We offer a rich, Catholic intellectual life on campus,” Diller said. “We have an American Catholic thought and culture series, with one talk that focuses on American saints. We have a lecture coming up on the black Catholic experience, (and had) a talk on faithful citizenship before the election.”

Diller said campus life at Michigan State works with parishes in the Lansing area to pair internship-seeking students with parishes needing help, and helps education students looking to complete their student-teaching requirements with local Catholic schools.

In western Michigan, at St. Luke University Parish at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, a small town just west of Grand Rapids, Fr. Brad Schoeberle, CSP, has seen tremendous growth in the Catholic campus life, coupled with the growth of the university itself in recent years.

“We have students from every county in Michigan here, and I know we have a lot who come from the Detroit area,” Fr. Schoeberle said. “Generally, it seems students from the Detroit area have a higher percentage involved in ministry.”

St. Luke University Parish has a new office a mile west of the main campus and just south of the residence halls. Their old location was in a strip mall in Allendale, away from regular foot traffic for university students.

“The main office for us is close to campus, so that’s made a big difference for us in terms of foot traffic,” Fr. Schoeberle said. “We’re in an area that’s being developed and continues to grow; we now have a building that looks more like a traditional church, and that’s a big attraction. Our parish began in 2007 as a part-time ministry out of St. Michael Parish in Coopersville, and now we see about 300 students each week and have a parish leadership team of 25 students from all different areas of the state.”

Having an authentic Catholic presence on campus is the most important element in helping students to keep the faith while away from home, according to campus ministry leaders.

“We find a lot of our students are looking for that community,” Tobias said. “We have a 9 p.m. Mass that is student-driven, a place that anyone is welcome. We tell students the parish is a great place to spend their Sunday nights after Mass. We keep it open so they can study, watch TV or socialize, and we have food, so many come because we feed them.

“Students want a place to express their faith,” Tobias continued. “They want something they see as familiar. And they want to see an active Catholic presence on campus, a community where they feel they belong.”