Alonso encourages Newman Center volunteers to always make a connection with the students who might be inquiring about something simple like Mass times.
“Engage them in a conversation by asking their name, where they’re from or what they’re studying,” Alonso said.
It can all go a long way to making the students feel comfortable at the Newman Center, and that will get them coming back for more.
“Last year I went to a College Night and got plugged right into it,” said Thomas Kupitz, a sophomore at ASU. “It’s a good atmosphere of peers.”
He noted that opportunities available at the Newman Center cater to the whole individual by offering service projects and socializing, small faith sharing and retreats.
“The environment has pushed us to go and do stuff,” Kupitz said. “There are activities to keep you engaged.”
Sense of community
Up in Flagstaff, second-year student Catherine Eyer told a similar story. She began going to Sunday Mass at the Newman Center and then attended XLT, which combines adoration of the Blessed Sacrament with praise and worship music, some Scripture and preaching.
It was her experience at XLT that drew Eyer into the Newman Center. This year, she was manning the signup table before the Mass on the Grass outside the center’s chapel.
“I just like to be involved in things,” she said. “Most of the people I’ve met here are phenomenal. There’s a definite community. It’s like a close-knit family.”
Fr. Lowry hopes the Catholic community at NAU will grow even closer. He plans to do his part by “being visible” on campus and at the center. He’ll be celebrating Mass and hearing confessions daily, and he’s already spruced up the center’s front yard with some sand for volleyball games.
Fr. Lowry didn’t hide the fact that he’ll also be spending his days fostering vocations at NAU and supporting students in discernment.
“College is the time when we discern all our vocations,” he said. “The bishop was purposeful in giving me my two titles: chaplain of the Newman Center and associate vocations director.”
But for many of the new freshmen and returning students who attended Mass at either Newman Center, perhaps the most apparent thing was that even away from home, they still have a family in their brothers and sisters in Christ.
“It’s just so amazing to have a Catholic community on campus,” Eyer said.
Printed with permission from The Catholic Sun, newspaper for the Diocese of Phoenix.