Religious Questions Aren’t Going Away: A change in Catholic Campus Ministers

Mary Beth Reynolds, Catholic campus Minister at Brown since 1999, left October 29 to accept a position as spiritual care coordinator for Home and Hospice Center of Rhode Island. In a Brown-RISD Catholic community wide e-mail on October 13, she wrote in part:

After more than seven years of Sunday bagels and class suppers, weekly Cenacles, ice breakers and discussions, extended service trips, striving to learn the names in each new class, helping prepare students for the sacraments… approaching the end of my time as Campus Minister.

My reading this e-mail came about the same time I read Joanna Liu’s article “Religious Students at Brown: The Silent Minority?” in Issue III of this year’s Spectator. In following up, I decided to look more closely into the single largest religious community on campus, the woman who had stood at its helm for almost twice as long as most Brown students have been alive, and the man recently hired part-time to fill her shoes.

Born and bred in Rhode Island, Reynolds graduated from Providence College knowing she “wanted something more than to just get a job” and considered the Peace Corps. But Reynolds, like so many among us, found her charity was based in her faith and it was through the lay Jesuit training corps she found her temporary spiritual home, teaching in the Bronx.

Upon this understanding of faith based giving, Reynolds attended the Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, MA. After graduating she returned to New York, this time working for the catholic dioceses of Long Island, NY. There she coordinated young adult ministry for those in their 20’s and 30’s, an often overlooked group in a church full of children, families and older churchgoers. Continuing her passion for working with young adults and welcoming the opportunity to return to her home state, Reynolds jumped at the position of Catholic campus minister that opened up at Brown. She came ready for the unknown.

She has since learned a lot about campus ministry which she describes as “about formation.” She explains that the traditional students are in the formation process—intellectual, social, emotional and spiritual formation—and that is “part and parcel of faith” during their college years. Reynolds has always had an interest in the direct pastoral work and talking to students about their faith. Yet, she finds that it takes a lot to get students into her office. “Most students are careful who they talk to… Every now and then a random student e-mails me to talk but it usually takes a lot to build trust for a student to come to talk.” Reynolds cherishes the pastoral piece, meeting people about human not necessarily spiritual issues. Reynolds calls those discussions “privileged moments.”

“It’s pretty amazing students show up at all” Reynolds said about students attending mass during their college years. She said it must stem from “an infectious desire to want to be part of a community” and that students “miss something when they opt out.” According to Reynolds, many students raised Catholic choose not to participate in the Catholic community because they disagree with the church’s teaching on a certain social issue, such as abortion or birth control. However, to Reynolds, that is disappointing because although Church doctrine is significant it does not define being a Catholic. “Religious questions aren’t going away,” Reynolds said, “a lot of learning is missed” when people choose not to practice their faith, struggle with it, “use their head,” talk to others and ask questions. This inner struggle and reflection is what helps people grow in their own understanding of their faith. “We’re not robotic,” she said. I must agree.

Sixteen percent of the undergraduate student body, or 950 students, identify with the registrar’s office as being Catholic. “I’d say about 1/3 of those who report to be catholic attend at least one catholic event or mass a year,” said Reynolds, and about “ten percent are what she would consider active”.

“It’s a miracle of grace anyone comes at all” said Father Henry Bodah, Brown’s Catholic Chaplin Bodah noting that there is no external pressure to practice one’s faith here. “Everyone who comes more or less voluntarily…their parents or spouse isn’t making them,” he continued. Bodah believes about 200 students attend mass every weekend between Manning Chapel and St. Joseph’s Church on Hope St.

Reynolds leaving “is a change, Mary Beth has been here long enough to get to know people’s names to be pretty on top of things. Chris (the new Catholic minister) is very enthusiastic, but the situation is unfair, he will only be here for ¾ of a year and you have to go through it once to know what you have to do.”

Sterling was born in Wisconsin but grew up in Texas where his dad was in the Army. From the ages of 4-7 he lived in Germany on an American Army base. After graduating high school, Sterling joined the Air Force for ten years, during which time he was stationed in Germany, Alaska and finally Texas. Sterling grew up Lutheran but by the time he joined the Air Force was not practicing any religion. While stationed in the cold, but “beautiful” Anchorage, Alaska, Sterling found his place in the Catholic Church. During his studying to convert, he was transferred to Saudi Arabia for 4-5 months.

“The desert is a great meeting place with God,” Sterling says of his time in Saudi Arabia but also acknowledges that it was “a little scary, newly trying to find out what it meant to be Catholic” when a lot of the world, including where he was stationed, hated Christians. As a member of the United States Armed Services stationed in Saudi Arabia, Sterling was not allowed bring his own personal religious articles such as a bible or a cross, though they were available on base. “It was an intense time to be studying, I really enjoyed it,” he said.

Sterling is recently married and currently finishing his degree in psychology at Rhode Island College, where he is the leader of Students for Life and highly involved in the Catholic community, in the fall, leading a retreat on personality types and prayer methods. He also works in youth ministry of St. Phillips in Greenville, RI.

When Reynolds was leaving she called the Catholic Chaplain at Rhode Island College, Father Mike Najim, to see if he knew anyone who would interested in taking over her position. Najim recommended Sterling due to his older age and dedicated involvement in the Catholic community at Rhode Island College. Sterling accepted the job on a part time basis. Sterling has found the students of the Catholic community to be “very embracing” to him in his position and he has been very impressed with their commitment to leadership and their knowledge of their faith. Sterling attended the Catholic community’s student winter break trip to Nazareth Farm in West Virginia, helping with home repairs in the impoverished community of Appalachia. Nazareth Farm is a Catholic group that believes in simple living, or, as Father Bodah refers to it, a “Spartan existence.”