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Catholic Service and Ministry Appeal

newman center in carbondale forms community, nurtures faith

By LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

It was cold, really cold with temperatures dipping into the single digits, but the lights burned warm and bright at the Newman Center in Carbondale. Campus minister, Jeff Jenkins, was checking on the food that had been ordered for the center’s weekly “Dinner and Discussion” with SIU-Carbondale’s students.
The Newman Center receives $127,000 from the annual diocesan Catholic Service and Ministry Appeal to assist with their ministry.

The Dinner and Discussion is just one of a number of events to bring students together for fellowship — the dinner — and sharing — the discussion.

Other events include a discussion group for graduate students, a volunteer trip for 10 students this year to provide service at a Navajo reservation in Arizona and weekly liturgies, among other opportunities to grow in faith.
This semester’s  Dinner and Discussion theme, Jenkins said, is “con-verse-ation” or discussion of Bible verses. This particular discussion centered on St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapter 14, verses 1-8, 12. Paul writes to the Romans about judging others. The chapter begins with: “Accept him whose faith is weak without passing judgment on disputable matters.”

The passage ends with: “If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.”

Jenkins asks the group to divide, gives them the reading and questions to spark conversation.
“The Newman Center provides a place for young adults to take hold of their faith,” Jenkins said. “In college, you make decisions about the way you will live your life and you decide at what level you will embrace your faith. The Newman center encourages” students.

The students, comfortable with one another, begin with petitions and a blessing for their food. Lively conversation follows with the meal, and then discussion of the evening’s topic.

For Doug Gembala, a “fifth year” student, the Newman Center embodies family. “If students are away from home,” the center “gives them the opportunity to communicate while you’re eating. It brings family values to life; it gives you the chance to converse with others in a family setting.

Gembala, who has become more involved at the center, set up its website and, along with other students, helped repaint the center. “I wanted to get more involved,” he said.

Freshman Cheryl Hagler said she can relate to people — other Catholics — at the center “more than in the dorms.”
People at the Newman Center “don’t pressure you to do things you don’t want to do — like drinking,” Hagler said.
In her first year of college, the Newman Center has become “my family.”

While Hagler said it was a little difficult to walk through the doors the first time, as soon as she walked in, everyone welcomed her and invited her to join the different activities.

Senior Justina Pruemer is student teaching this semester and lives in the Grey House, next to the center and run by the center for students who volunteer in various ways at the university.

Pruemer said last semester she led an early morning rosary at the center for any “early birds” who wanted to join her. Because of student teaching, she volunteers in the evenings at the center to answer phones.

“As a transfer student, I came to the Newman Center,” she said, and was immediately welcomed and included.
Pruemer met her fiancé at the Newman Center, who slid in alongside Pruemer as the evening discussion was getting under way.

For many of the students, the center’s bookkeeper, Nancy Huffman, takes care of more than the books and figures.
“She’s like a mom,” Gembala said and recounted an incident when he and student Tom Dunn were stranded with a car stuck in the mud. Huffman and her husband rescued Gembala and Dunn, spending a few hours helping them extricate their car and themselves from a frustrating situation.

Over and over, students repeatedly said the Newman Center provided not only a safe haven for them while away from home but a real family to share their joys and sorrows, nurture their faith and strengthen their values while they live and study.

“The college years are most critical for faith formation and commitment,” Jenkins said.
The Newman Center provides many activities and liturgies to encourage participation and growth in their faith, Jenkins added.

The Newman Center is “making Christ visible in southern Illinois.”

For more information about the Newman Center, please email cathnews@bellevillemessenger.org.