Chaplains are there for students after high school graduation
Students who graduate from Catholic high schools are not forgotten when they go to college. Neither are Catholic students who graduated from public high schools.
Bishop Carl A. Kemme has assigned chaplains at many of the universities in the diocese and loans one of the diocesan priests to minister at Kansas State University.
Fr. Ed Herzog
Fr. Ed Herzog graduated, so to speak, from being a chaplain at Bishop Carroll Catholic High School to a similar role this year at Newman University.
“I hope to continue the great work that Fr. Adam Grelinger and his assistant, Emily Simon, started,” he said. “I was here 15 years ago as a student, and they really developed the program in many ways. The sense of community here has really grown and that’s what I hope to continue to do.”
Fr. Herzog said he has been telling his students that the most basic definition of Christianity is God inviting us into friendship with him. “That’s one of the things that I’m looking to develop here – and this is well underway in many ways – I’m just hoping not to screw it up.”
Church: more than Sunday
He wants to help students understand that the church is far more than what we do on Sundays, he said, far more than just going to Mass and receiving the sacraments – as important as those things are – they are meant to build the church. “Those things are meant to build a sense of community and to foster what our Lord says in the scripture where two or three are gathered in his name, there he is.”
He said he is focusing on all of the students on campus – those who are Catholic and those who aren’t.
Fr. Herzog is also teaching an introductory-level scripture course called Exploring the Bible.
“It is great. I had my first class yesterday and began by teaching on the book of Ecclesiastes, the notion that all is vanity, that everything is meaningless, that the Bible is looking to answer the question or the problem that is put forth by Qoheleth and Ecclesiastes.”
He said the students – both Catholic and non-Catholic – are at different stages in their faith journey and that some may even have some antagonism towards religion.
“One of the things I’m enjoying about this assignment – the teaching aspect in comparison to where I was at at Bishop Carroll – is that it’s evangelization in so many ways. I had students who have had religion classes for 12 years, and now I’ve got some who’ve never been exposed to it before, or who have been exposed to it minimally. And so to really be able to preach kind of the essence of the Gospel is really exciting to me.”
Fr. Drew Hoffman
Fr. Drew Hoffman says his job is to nurture encounters with the Lord for Wichita State University students.
“I facilitate a welcoming Catholic experience for college-age kids…to provide them with community and fun as a basis, and building on that encounter with Jesus Christ.”
Fr. Hoffman is beginning his fourth year as the pastor of the St. Paul University Parish. He was a chaplain at the St. Isidore Catholic Student Center at Kansas State University before moving into his parish office building in the shadow of WSU’s huge water tower.
Fighting the world
The ministry is challenging because of what the students have been exposed to, he said, “what they think about the church when they arrive on a college campus and the negative experiences or notions they have of the church – fighting that, along with the wounds of their own whether they have to do with the church or not.”
Another hurdle is the culture, Fr. Hoffman said. “The competition of entertainment and pleasure that is available on a college campus – we’re constantly battling against that. We’re also trying to work through and with that to answer those deep, deep questions of their hearts.”
Reaching hearts through stomachs
One of the techniques Fr. Hoffman uses to attract students is food.
“I tell people all the time that no place on this campus offers more free food than we do. Every day there is some sort of free-food event – especially in the first few weeks. We’ll have barbecues, we’ll have live music,” he said. “We have a coffee shop in our basement. Right now our FOCUS missionaries are on campus running a mobile coffee shop, they’ve set up a cart giving out free coffee and meeting people.”
Missionaries helping
Father Hoffman is being assisted by six FOCUS missionaries this year. FOCUS is an acronym for Fellowship of Catholic University Students.
“There are hundreds of things taking place, ways we start with fun and then provide the ‘real meat’ as we go on,” he said, referring to the Gospel.
“So often people lose hope in our young people and the church. But if you saw how many kids are around and how enthusiastic they were, I think people would have a lot of hope for the future by seeing this college campus right now.”
Fr. Derek Thome
Fr. Derek Thome said it’s a great joy to be part of an awakening moment in college students’ lives.
“They’re open to new experiences, ways to discover who they are, and who God is calling them to be,” he said.
Fr. Thome is in his third year as the chaplain of the St. Pius X Catholic Student Center at Pittsburg State University.
Over time he has revised the understanding of his role of being a chaplain to young adult students, he said.
“That’s been a shift for me. I think early on, I thought, oh, man, this is so unique. This is so different. But in some ways, it’s actually just realizing they’re no different than the rest of us, grappling with the question of freedom. To be honest, in some ways, they’re actually more receptive if we can present the goodness of the gospel to them.”
Student participation up
The year has started out strong with student participation in activities up one-third over last year, and a greater awareness of their mission regionally, he said. “It’s been transformational for me to see that.”
The student center, which was renovated about four years ago, is playing a role in that, Fr. Thome said.
“Being able to invite people into a beautiful space is a great asset, a great gift. You know, the pursuit of the transcendentals is something that philosophers would argue is attractive for all of us, and we know that as Christians to be God. Having a physical space that exudes that is already opening a door to their hearts that we don’t even have to do in conversation. It’s one of those things where it just starts the story for us.”
Freedom to love God
The challenges they face aren’t as different from what adults face as one may think, he said. “The question remains for all of us how to live out our freedom. As a priest it’s even the same, freedom equips me to choose the good and to decide where God is calling me to participate in the good in every moment.”
Fr. Thome said he invites anyone interested in joining the mission of the St. Pius X Catholic Student Center to visit CatholicGorillas.org. The gorilla is Pittsburg State’s mascot.
Fr. Trevor Buster
Familiar faces made a smoother transition for Fr. Trevor Buster from his role as parochial vicar of two west-side Wichita parishes to the chaplaincy at Kansas State University.
Students from his Wichita parishes attending K-State welcomed him and are also working with him at St. Isidore’s Catholic Student Center.
“Some of them were working at the front desk this morning,” he said last week. “It’s neat to be working together. I knew coming in that I would be collaborating with students I knew in the past.”
Fr. Buster began serving at St. Izzy’s on July 1.
“I really didn’t know what to expect,” he said adding that he is now in the Diocese of Salina in a new role. “What’s surprising is how big of a machine it is up here. There are a lot of people on staff and a lot of students who come here.”
That includes daily Mass, he said. “I’ve been blown away by the number of students who come to daily Mass. We’ve have about 200 kids who come to Mass at 9:09 every night.”
Mass is celebrated every night except on Fridays and Saturdays at the beautiful new campus complex.
“I really didn’t anticipate how on fire these kids would be,” Fr. Buster said. “It’s been really impressive how faithful everyone is up here.”