Newman Center offers new connections

2021 was a tough year for students at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.

The covid pandemic forced students to stay home and study online for more than two semesters. By the start of Fall 2021, first-year students felt lost, transfer and international students even more so, while juniors and seniors couldn’t wait to move on.

As students slowly stumbled in for Sunday Mass, a sense of stupor permeated the air. No one lingered. The culture of “hanging out” at the Newman Center suddenly ended.

But for the three campus ministers, Amy Barragree, Bea Romo and myself, it was a call to rebuild the community. Barragree trained the interns to keep the Newman Center opened, cleaned and stocked with food. She resumed Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) classes, and Roma got the student organization Islander Catholic up and running. I put together a new choir with musician Daniel Reyes and decorated the chapel with fresh plants to enhance the liturgies.

“One of the first things we did to try to rebuild that sense of community was to offer free lunch after Wednesday Mass,” Barragree said. Her tortellini soup was a hit with former students and continues to attract today. While eating, conversations began to flow, and for those who had time, the ping pong table invited a moment of relaxation. By offering flyers about Newman events and free coffee on campus, word spread and in-person social events were gradually reinstated but not without challenges. 

“The biggest trial was starting completely over, due to the circumstances,” said Cheyenne Novicke, the president of Islander Catholic. “We were all new officers and some new to the university.” Yet, with the mentorship of Roma, Novicke learned to do her best and trust God with the rest. “In the end, we were blessed with many in-person events and a growing number of [club] members,” she added. She hopes to “serve as a welcoming community for this new semester.”

Like Novicke, other upper-class students made a conscious effort to serve and give it their all to make the community grow again – their sacrifices of: time and energy; getting out of their comfort zone; taking on leadership in the organization; and gathering in small groups for retreat planning.

Field trips turned into a pilgrimage and became another opportunity to connect and rediscover faith traditions. A visit to the Schoenstatt community in Rockport and the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle brought a connectedness to local history. After the Stations of the Cross around the basilica with life-size statues, junior student Raymond Herrera mused, “And Jesus did all that for me?”

For others, a Saturday morning spent at the Mother Teresa Shelter, serving ice cream or hot chocolate, proved to be a meaningful experience. To see the face of Christ in our suffering brothers and sisters gave students the courage to reach out and have conversations with the clients. When asked what he thought of the community service activities, freshman Teren Hendricks replied, “I think helping others helped me learn more about myself and appreciate what I have.”

Before participating in beach clean-up, I gave a presentation on the Catholic social teaching on care for creation. After collecting seven huge bags of plastics at the South Padre Island National Seashore, the lively lunch conversation revolved around the need to make lifestyle changes on campus to give a much-needed contribution to the global issue of climate justice.

Lastly, Evangelical Catholic (EC) is a ministry program taking hold at the Newman. Its goal is to form a missionary community that is equipped to live out lay apostolate. In the dorms, the university center and the Newman Center, small groups of 5-10 students delve into Scripture readings and share their faith. As Abbygail DeLeon, new choir member and participant of small groups, shared, “The Newman Center serves students in a Christ-like way with welcoming and open arms to all who enter. It was through this characteristic that I found a home away.”

What’s next? The training of a new set of future small group leaders and the much-awaited Awakening retreat. Student leaders have been preparing every detail of that retreat since last fall, and we ask everyone to pray so that all the participants may experience the transformative power of the grace of God.

The Islander Awakening Retreat is open to anyone currently enrolled in college. The event will be on Feb. 18-20 at the Pax Christi Retreat Center in Calallen. Rides to the Center will be provided from the Newman Center at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. The cost for attending the retreat is $60 (scholarships are available). Register by contacting Bea Romo at (614) 312-5217 or email at [email protected].