Newman Center welcomes new faces

TEMPE — Fresh faces abound on Arizona State University’s campus as classes resume this week and the local Catholic community embraces them.

It marks the second reception of new faces in just over two months for staff and students at the All Saints Catholic Newman Center across the street from ASU. June brought diocesan priests to the Newman Center staff.

“I couldn’t have hoped for a smoother transition, due mainly to the care and foresight of [Dominican] Father James Thompson,” Fr. Rob Clements, director of the Newman Center, said of his predecessor. “He prepared for me a complete dossier of Newman history, customs, experiences, practicalities, statistics…everything!”

That report left him ready, Fr. Clements said, to pick up where the Dominican priests left off after 40 years of campus ministry.

The change from a Dominican-run Newman Center to one staffed by diocesan priests was part of a uniform revamping that Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted initiated last year at both Catholic Newman Centers within the Phoenix Diocese.

He spelled out his vision in a 3,000-word pastoral letter, “Serving Truth in the University.” The letter provides a historical look at the function of the Newman Center and mentions the “essential” role of collaboration for Newman Centers with parishes, Catholic high schools and youth programs as well as diocesan offices.

“This collaboration will help young people remain closely connected to the life of the Church, especially in the transition to and from university life,” the letter states.

It worked for Laura Poole, a young adult member of the Newman Center since she was an ASU student. Poole is now a lector and has adjusted to the staff changes despite a lot of community angst up front.

“Ever since putting it in God’s hands, it’s been a great transition,” Poole said.

For Peter Bremer, a senior at ASU and a Newman Center intern, it helped having formal closure with the Dominican priests.

“There was one Mass where Fr. James ‘passed the torch,’ so to speak, to Fr. Rob [Clements].”

Janie Moreno, an adult member of the Newman Center for four years, said seeing both priests work together through the transition, and doing so with a positive outlook, helped.

Fr. Clements, who has made it a point to “listen well,” said the staff and parishioners have remained positive and hopeful too. They’ve also offered honest perspectives and advice.

Carrie Powell, director of campus ministry at the Newman Center, said that both Fr. Clements and Fr. John Muir are excited to be there.

That excitement includes making an ongoing “Prepare Him Room!” expansion project — initiated by the Dominican friars and the community — a top priority, Powell said. Fr. Clements updated churchgoers last month on a building project — for which $4.3 million has been raised — and will show more developed plans at a follow-up meeting Aug. 29.

Groundbreaking could occur early next year.

The priests are also bringing new ideas and energy for campus outreach, Powell said.

That includes occasional “pinch-hitting” at daily and weekend Masses by Fr. Paul Sullivan, diocesan director of vocations, who is living with the Newman Center priests.

Another new outreach method involves the September launch of a new domain name,
www.asucatholic.org, for the Newman Center’s website. Fr. Clements said to expect video podcasts, a digital bulletin for community events, staff blogs and Q-and-A interactions with the priests.

It will also link to existing Twitter and Facebook accounts.

The Newman Center will give away USB drives with the new web address and ministry information after the Sept. 1 launch.

For now, the staff expects its giant “Hey Catholics, We’re over here” sign that it uses during ASU’s Welcome Week activities to help draw in the Newman Center’s next wave of new faces.

“We are excited to welcome new students with open arms and renew old friendships with students who will be returning,” Powell said. “We want to enable students to find Catholic friends and to discover a place filled with people who understand their desires and struggles as Catholic college students at the country’s largest public university campus.”

Some 2,000 Catholic students are currently registered at the Newman Center.