College Newman centers announce renewed focus on vocations

Change will bring diocesan leadership to ASU in 2010

By Ambria Hammel | Aug. 6, 2009 | The Catholic Sun

College is often a time for students to “find themselves” professionally and spiritually.

That latter part is taking on a renewed focus for campus ministries at two of the state’s major universities.

Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted appointed a full-time priest as chaplain of the Holy Trinity Newman Center at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff July 1.

He also announced that a diocesan priest would assume leadership of All Saints Newman Center at Arizona State University July 1, 2010.

“These concrete steps are aimed especially at evangelization of our youth and young adults. This includes a special focus on the development of a culture of vocation and stewardship, which is built on encountering Christ,” the bishop explained. “We see our Catholic high schools and the Newman Centers as primary places to foster vocations.”

Fr. Paul Sullivan, director of vocations for the diocese, agreed, noting that Texas A&M has 37 men and women in formation for religious life.

He hopes the good work of the Newman centers continues and  that they become places where young men and women will easily hear and answer their call to the priesthood and religious life.

For others, the move could create a greater sense of continuity between Catholic high schools, parishes and universities and then back to ministries at the parish after graduation, Fr. Sullivan said.

NAU gets full-time priest

Fr. Matt Lowry, associate director of vocations for the diocese, is now also full-time chaplain for the Newman Center. A priest’s presence on campus has been juggled among other duties since the late 1990s.

Fr. Lowry is eager to step in and stay put.

“With a priest present, there will be a much greater emphasis on the sacraments, which are what the students need more than anything. This will promote greater conversion,” Fr. Lowry said.

He hopes some of the school’s 4,000 Catholics crowd the Sunday liturgies so that he can add a third weekend Mass and plans to offer Mass and confession daily.

Fr. Lowry wants students to get a Catholic and intellectual formation in a public university setting — and he’s ready for the students to keep him on his toes as they question the faith and sometimes struggle with understanding.

Pending changes at ASU

It’s that desire to learn Church teaching that some say has made the Western Dominican Province a natural fit at ASU’s Newman Center for the last 40 years. The priests are rooted in preaching, teaching, community and prayer.

Lisa Armijo, who began going to the Newman Center in Tempe as a graduate student in 1997, said the Dominicans know campus ministry.

“They change lives, inspire lifelong vocations of service [and] create hospitality for the displaced,” she said, adding that their preaching “provides hope, guidance and perseverance of faith.”

Lourdes Alonso, campus minister, said their leadership has enhanced the lives of many ASU Catholics and turned the center into one of the largest Catholic campus ministries in the country.

She said consistent comments praise the Dominicans’ “welcoming influence and successful ability to reach students and young professionals who have left the Church or who have drifted from regular Mass attendance.”

Many local Catholics were surprised to learn that the Dominicans are serving their last school year at ASU. Dominican Father James Thompson, interim director of the Newman Center in Tempe, broke the news to parishioners at Masses July 4-5 and by letter July 6.

Fr. Thompson wrote that the Newman Center staff is working with diocesan leadership to ensure the transition year — which includes the handing over of an estimated $50 million capital campaign — goes smoothly.

“We await new developments with hope and optimism and are eager to continue forming future generations of faithful, Catholic leaders,” said Mary Macuga, development director at the Newman Center.

More details about the transition will become available in the coming months. That’s when the Western Dominican Province will announce whether it will accept the bishop’s invitation to head another diocesan parish.

“The need of engaging the culture by inviting all people to have an encounter with the living Christ is an important work for the whole Church,” said Fr. Sanfilippo, vicar for priests. “And it is a work the Diocese of Phoenix wishes to directly engage in on our university campuses.”