Getting involved with the Newman Center was one of, if not the best thing I did in college. Sadly, I did not find it until my junior year. As a freshman and sophomore, I had plenty of friends and a social life but something was missing… a family. In my 3rd year of college I finally found my family on campus. I went to Newman’s open house at the beginning of the year for a barbeque and a game of kickball. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming. I made new friends almost instantly and they have become some of my closest and sure to last beyond my college experience.
Over these past two years, the Newman Center has given so much to me. They have fed me every Tuesday night with a homemade dinner. They have helped me refine and strengthen my faith through several activities like adoration, coffee houses, volunteering, and retreats. Whenever I got annoyed with my roommate or just needed to get out of the dorm, the Newman Center’s townhouse was a great escape. I could always find friends in there having lunch or getting homework done or just hanging out. For those who know me, they know that I am pretty chatty, and Alicia, the campus minister, or Father Peter were always there to listen to my latest rant or discuss anything on my mind.
It is hard to write in words all that the Newman Center has done for me. They have made a profound impact on me which will last for the rest of my life. I sometimes wonder what things would be like if I had never walked over to that open house barbeque two years ago. I would never have felt the warmth and attention that a family provides. I thank God for guiding me to such a great place on campus.
We asked our graduating seniors to submit a few thoughts on their faith experience over the past four years at GW. Some of them are still getting their thoughts together, but here are the first few. Keep checking back for more posts!
It took me a while to figure out the Newman Center. In high school, I went to church and I still went to a big kids’ version of “CCD” at church, but no one ever discussed things like transubstantiation or theology of the body. No one told me what “dogma” or “infallible” meant. My Protestant friends and I did not sit around discussing whether or not Mary was a virgin. Then I came to GW…my mom had pointed out the Newman Center at orientation and I timidly tried out Tuesday night dinners. I tried different stuff…I went to Bible study, adoration, and Theology of the Body talks. I went to Tuesday night dinners and I tried out daily mass. Even then, I still didn’t know quite what I was supposed to be doing there.
Then came my sophomore year. That was when I went on the Alternative Spring Break trip to South Carolina. For the first time, people got to know “me” – they got to know me at 6am when we got up to make our lunches, they got to know me as I danced on the work site, they got to know me as I learned how to use a power saw and repair a house with them. And they accepted me. No, they didn’t just accept me: for some weird reason, they decided to love me. They loved me just as I was, but they also wanted to help me. During the rest of college, when I struggled, there was always someone there to talk me through it. When I needed to cry, there was always someone there to listen and to hold my hand. When I had questions, someone was always there to help me find the answers. College is an absolutely insane time in life…I can’t count how many times I felt utter panic by the situations facing me, and somehow I always managed to ask myself, “where can I go to find the answer?” That place was the Newman Center. I grew closer to God; I learned the beauty of daily mass, I learned new prayers, new songs. I gained a faith that I didn’t know was possible. But I also found people there too, people who changed my life, who are as close to me as any member of my family, people who know my secrets, my failures, my successes, and my goals. I learned that we truly find God in the faces of the people who stand next to us; I have never felt His presence so strongly as when I stand next to these people who have changed my life. And they have done this a lot more than they realize.
I remember walking into the CI fair and bee-lining right for the Newman Center table. I knew that if I couldn’t make a home with the Catholics on campus, there was no hope for my future at GW. I was a recent convert to the faith, and was depending on finding a stable foundation amidst the sirens and busy-ness the city had to offer. I don’t remember the people that I first met at the Newman Center, or what we ate for dinner the first Tuesday night I was there… but I know that I will remember all the people who got me though my four years at GW. From remodeling the townhouse we called our home, to retreats outside the city, the Newman Center is someplace where the light will always be on, and the door will always be open.