Caught Up In Faith

Friends of the Newman Center,

There is a lot of excitement these days around the Newman Center, thanks be to God. Many students have made the same comment to me since the new school year started: “this will be a good year here”. We are offering many exciting and attractive programs and events to which the students are responding in larger numbers. My guess is that we’ve had over 500 different students come through the doors of the Church for students Masses and the Newman Center for different events in September. God is good!

We spent about $10,000 this summer in making necessary improvements to fix up the Newman Center (see my posts, “Fixing up the Newman Center”). All of the comments from students and friends of the Newman Center regarding the changes have been positive. The Center is more attractive and inviting for the students, and we have a steady stream of them visiting their “home away from home” each day.

We also invested around $5,000 in our Opening BBQ and to promote our Masses, programs, and events. The investment has paid off so far. Approximately 300 students enjoyed free Chipotle, Outback, and Coldstone at our Opening BBQ, the largest crowd in years. Many of these students signed up for our fall programs and student groups; almost 50 of them have already participated in our Freshmen Retreat, Bible Study, and RCIA. Most importantly, attendance at our student Masses on Sunday nights has doubled; this past Sunday brought our largest crowds since Opening Masses.

Of course, Tuesday Night Dinners continue to be a very popular draw, with 70 to 80 students coming weekly to enjoy our free, home-cooked meals. As much as we all enjoy these excellent nights to socialize with one another, the best parts of Tuesday Dinners have been the Masses which have preceded the meals. Like the Sunday Masses, attendance at these Masses has been growing; last week, 25 students freely and joyfully participated in Holy Mass. Those of us who know the importance of the Mass and the Eucharist know how huge this is! Finally, we added many new, fresh, and helpful resources to the Newman Library which our students have already been enjoying as they build their theological and moral knowledge.

So, as you can see, we have gotten off to a good start and have some momentum going, thanks be to God. We need to keep the momentum going! But, in order to do so, we need your help. Would you consider making a donation to the Newman Center? Your tax-deductable donation will help us to bring many GW students to Christ and to bring Christ to many GW students. No donation is too small. The generosity of the friends and alumni of the Newman Center and the goodness of God have brought us to this exciting point. Let’s keep it going!

If you would like to make a donation, please make checks out to “Newman Center” and mail to: Fr. Greg Shaffer, GW Newman Center, 2210 F St, NW, Washington, DC 20037. On behalf of the students and our campus minister, Meg Miller, thank you very much for your prayerful consideration of making a generous contribution to the Newman Center.

In Christ,

Fr Greg

I’ve been getting thoughtful emails and notes from former parishioners and friends, asking how things are going here at the Newman Center.  A few of them have made the comment that it’s probably quiet here now, with the students away on summer break.  Sha! I understand their thinking, but there has been much going on here this summer. We’ve undertaken many projects to fix up the Newman Center; most to address structural problems in this 100 year-old home and some to improve things aesthetically.

Here are pics of the Center – these qualify as “before” pics – and some of the projects that we are working on.  I will post their “after” counterparts in the next few weeks.  It’s very exciting!!  Btw, we welcome donations – these are expensive repairs and improvements.

Let’s just say that the Center will get a facelift!

We’ll spruce up the front yard with some flagstone and new landscaping.

We’ll clean up the mess in the backyard and build a brick door at the pit.  Also, the University will be replacing the broken fence.

If you’ve been in the kitchen anytime in the recent past, you’ve seen the mold problem on the wall. The basement has some pretty bad water damage.  We’re waterproofing the foundation as much as possible and then putting up new drywall.  Also, we just got a new stove! Score!

Ewww..dirty kitchen floor.  We’ll clean it and make it shine as much as possible.  Also, we’ll replace broken tiles.

Water has been leaking from the balcony roof into the parlor ceiling…not good!  We’ll fix that, and then maybe even rearrange the parlor a bit.  I want the Center to have a mini-library of cool Catholic materials (brochures, pamphlets, booklets, books, etc.). The parlor is my first choice, but it may disturb the “lounge area” of the parlor, so we would just put the resources elsewhere in the Center.

The deck on the roof will be looking sweet in a few weeks after some repairs, powerwashing, and staining.

One change we did not wish to make has to do with our beloved campus minister, Alecia. Alecia and her husband, John, are moving to North Carolina this month because John recently accepted a position at Wyngate University.  We will miss Alecia very much! She has given her heart, mind, soul, and strength to GW students for the past four years.  We wish her and John well.  We will never replace her, but hope to find someone to fill her position asap.  Please pray that God sends us the right person.

Hello, GW students! I’m Fr. Greg, the new chaplain of the Newman Center. I am psyched to be here to serve you for the next several years, God willing. I served here before as a seminarian from 2004-2005, so it’s great to be back. During my year here, I started a blog site, “GW Catholic Q&A”. I have continued to blog since then, setting up sites in three parishes. My hope is to post there regularly and copy it to the other sites.

Please check out the site (http://gwcatholicforum.blogspot.com).  It is a forum for you to ask any (appropriate) questions about our Catholic faith or to make comments and insights to which others can respond. Thanks be to God, there has been much activity on our sites the past 4+ years with almost 150,000 hits and tons of questions and comments. I hope you can join in the fun by making a post. Although I would prefer you to leave a comment with your first name on it, you can post anonymously. If you’d rather write me your question or comment, please email me at chaplain@gwcatholic.com ; it will be kept confidential.

Here are two posts from bloggers on one of the sites (St. Andrew’s Q&A). The first is a comment made in response to my post, “Wear Your Sunday Best” (7/30/07). You can check out this and other posts by going into the “Archives” section on the home page of the site. Hope to hear from you; remember,”be not afraid” to post… your question or comment could really help someone else!

1)“Jacqueline” wrote:

“I’m a 19 year old college student and I am heavily into wearing my sunday best for church. The way I see it, God blessed you with nice clothes, so shouldn’t you wear them to one of His spectacular events that is the Mass? (I’m a new Catholic so I’m super excited about it all) I also see it this way, church, whether it’s a Catholic Mass or a Baptist service, it is a special occasion. God and Jesus and the angels are there, especially (litterally) in the Mass. Yes you are accepted as you are, but think of it this way: your sister is getting married. She loves you no matter what. But would you really wear shorts or jeans and spagetti straps or a t-shirt to that occasion? Out of the question, besides your sister would end you with her glare alone. God wouldn’t do that, but doesn’t he deserve the respect of your best because He gives you his best? Always? Anyway I think this was a great entry. Sunday best is the only way to go, unless all you have is your cleanest t-shirt and your nicest pair of jeans, the effort is what counts. Wow, that was a lot of words. Thanks for reading this. Have a great day and peace be with you! :0)”

2) “Anonymous” asked:

“Was there salvation before Christ? What happened to all the holy forefathers of our faith who sinned but also did God’s will?”

Thanks for the question, Anon. The Church teaches that “Baptism is necessary for salvation” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1257). This is based on what Christ solemnly proclaimed in Jn 3:5, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit”. We understand our Lord to be referring to Baptism because it is in Baptism that one is “born of water and Spirit”. But, the Church teaches that there are three types of Baptism: water, blood, and desire. Baptism by water is most common. Those who are martyred for their faith in Christ receive baptism by blood. Baptism by desire is the one to which your questions refers. How can they be saved if they lived and died before Christ (i.e., without having the opportunity to be born of water and the Spirit)?

They can be saved if they, as you wrote, “did God’s Will”. The Church teaches that a person who “is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved” (CCC, #1260). This baptism by desire can apply to people who lived before Christ as well anyone who has ever lived in ignorance of Jesus Christ and His Call to be baptized by water. Sadly, there are still people today who fall into that category even though the Church continues her great, world-wide mission of evangelization. God will not fault people for what they don’t know; but, He will judge us on how well we lived with what we know. He gave every one of us minds and hearts to know and choose what is good. May all of us choose what is good and do His Will in our lives.

Feliz Pascua de Resurrección a todos! Lent has never seemed to pass so quickly but I am happy to now be in the Easter season. Most international students traveled during Holy Week, or Semana Santa, here in Buenos Aires but I decided to stay around the city. Palm Sunday (domingo de ramos) I went to the 8pm youth mass as usual, but I was really confused not to find any palms! Instead everyone had little branches (I really should have asked what kind of plant it was, but I am sure some of you can probably tell me). The church wasn’t giving them out; you had to buy them on the street first, so I didn’t end up getting any. Mass is usually crowded but it was even more crowded that night. After some people from the parish put on a dramatization of Jesus’s life on the church steps, complete with professional lighting, music, costumes…and twelve apostles that did a conga line throughout the crowd not once, but twice, during the performance! I wish I had brought my camera!

I am studying at the Catholic University here, and Argentina is constitutionally a Catholic country (the president is required to be Catholic, at least in name) so we had Holy Thursday and Good Friday off from school. On Thursday I attempted to get some studying done but Friday I went to Lujan, a city about two hours outside Buenos Aires by bus. The patron saint of Argentina is the Virgin of Lujan so pretty much the main attraction is the “Basilica Nacional Nuestra Senora de Lujan.” The Basilica is HUGE and beautiful. Beneath it you can visit each of the different Virgin’s from different countries. I traveled with another American and we just wandered around the little town, people watched etc. We shared a little lunch (have to be honest, I know it was Good Friday) and thought it was a little strange how many parillas were open (parilla is a grill, so if you go to a restaurant that says parilla, you are getting a lot of meat). We also went to confession in Spanish! It was a very interesting experience. I told the priest that I spoke English straight off. I had trouble trying to explain everything to him with my Spanish but when I asked him if he could understand me he said it didn’t matter what language I spoke or how well I spoke it because I was talking to God. My friend and I compared notes afterwards because she went to a different priest and she told me that she confessed in English but the priest definitely did not understand a word. She also shared with me her penance and I realized that I had no idea what my penance was! He must have said it and I didn’t understand! Everyday I am reminded how much humility it takes to learn a different language, sometimes I think I understood every word and really I missed the main message.

Holy Saturday I decided to go to the Easter Vigil because I had never been to one before. I went alone, which was a bit sad because I prefer to go to mass with others. The mass was very nice and extremely crowded. After mass I realized how much I missed being home for Easter! I have never been away from my family on a holiday, honestly not in my twenty-one years, but I was trying to remember that a. Easter is a time to share with others, no matter who those others are and b. it’s about Christ, and He will rise on the third day no matter where I am, who I am with, what I eat for dinner. And with God, no one is ever alone, so this weekend was a big challenge in faith for me.

That being said, I had a wonderful Easter. My host mother bought me a chocolate egg Sunday morning and then we drove out to visit her friends in her hometown (about an hour outside the city.) Everyone was so nice and friendly and we spoke in Spanish and English so everyone could practice. We had an asado, which is a big Argentine cook-out with lots and lots of meat. And we passed the day sitting in yard enjoying the sun etc. If I couldn’t be with my family I am glad my host mother is generous enough to share hers with me. We also visited some other friends later on for dessert and then went home later, exhausted and content.

Other important news… I was planning on being part of a mission my university runs every May. I was incredibly excited about it. The way it works is everyone takes off a week from school to go to the Salta region of Argentina, close to the Andes. There we would split up into small groups and spend the week in small villages, just sharing faith with the people there, providing some catechism for the children and playing some futbol. Last night we had the third of four formative meetings for the mission. I had all my pesos to pay for the trip I left class early to make it on time and when I got to the meeting I found out the trip was canceled. They are thinking of holding it in September… The reason for the change of plans is that right now Buenos Aires and some parts of Argentina are experiencing a lot of cases of dengue, a disease spread by mosquitoes. There is no way to prevent dengue, other than not getting bit by a mosquito, and while not all cases are deadly, some of them are. So the university and the mission leaders decided it would be safer not to risk exposure.

Everyone is really disappointed, it is hard to let go of something once you grow attached, especially something like this. However, I am trying to look at it from a perspective of faith. While I did spend a lot of time praying about my decision to “misionar” with UCA and praying that I was forming part of the mission for the right reasons (God) I was very disappointed by the things that I would lose by not going. I was looking forward to spending a week not only challenging myself to share my faith with complete strangers but also to spend a week sharing it with the international and argentine students on the mission. But if I thought I was following God by going on the mission, then I must also continue to follow Him even if I will not have the opportunity to “misionar” in May, otherwise I wasn’t following Him to begin with.

There are just two more things I would like to share with you all and then I am done with this entry I promise! The first is a video on youtube, a cliffnotes version of a movie called Most:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvhbL7zyYKQ

Also, recently I have had the opportunity to hear to chats from one of the priests at UCA, and both times he has offered us an excellent message about adoration. His point was that adoration is an encounter between two. While Jesus is exposed to you, you are also exposed to Him. Many of you probably already know/think about this but it’s always good to reflect. So take advantage of Wednesday night adoration at the Newman Center or wherever you find yourself right now and when you find yourself in front of Christ, just let yourself be exposed to Him, reflected in Him. Truly it’s a beautiful thing, adoration.

Saludos en Jesus y Maria! (greetings in Jesus and Mary, I love when people write that!)

-Meg

Hola! My name is Meg Masciola and I am currently studying abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I have been here for a month and classes just started for me at the Catholic University of Argentina. I am living in an apartment with a single senora who is super nice. I am very happy with my living situation so far.

Being Catholic in a Catholic country, should be a piece of cake, no? And yet it still hasn’t been too that easy for me to adjust. I think it’s mostly because I am still getting to know this city and because I am the only practicing Catholic on the GW trip. As Julie wrote in one of her posts, please take advantage of the Newman Center while you can! It’s such a blessing. Here in Buenos Aires I have had to figure out everything on my own, such as finding Sunday masses, how to observe Lent while adjusting to a different environment and finding an Argentine “Newman Center.”

My fifth day in Buenos Aires was a Sunday and going to mass was my first solo excursion out into the city. Although there are churches everywhere, I didn’t know exactly how to get anywhere, so I had to ask a member of my host mother’s family. She told me of a church three blocks from the apartment, Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe. There are other churches that I would like to visit but so far I have been going to this one every week because they have a youth mass at 8pm on Sundays. I like the mass because a lot of young people participate the church is usually full. They also have some song sheets and an occasional bulletin, which are really helpful so that I feel like I can participate in the mass and know what is going on within the parish. I say the song sheets help me feel like I am participating because it has been very difficult to fully penetrate the language barrier during mass so far. I am trying to learn all the prayers in Spanish but it is taking some time. It is also hard to understand the readings when lectors have thick accents and use microphones that eco a lot in the big churches. I am still saying the prayers that I haven’t learned such as the Nicene Creed quietly to myself in English, but others I say in my head so that I can listen to the people around me. I have also started going to daily mass at school because there is a chapel in every building and they are small enough that I can hear everyone more clearly.

Sometimes the language barrier during mass and the other little differences in how the parish celebrates the mass frustrate me. I have walked out having not understood anything that was said in the homily and without having been able to sing even one song. What I mean by the way the mass is celebrated is what the people around me are doing (I don’t know how exactly to say that) but for example, going up to receive communion is pretty much a free for all. Instead of filing out of the pews in an organized way, everyone gets in line at random. Also sometimes half the church will think it’s time to sit while the other half still thinks everyone should be standing.

Ash Wednesday was full of this sort of confusion for me. I had been in Buenos Aires for exactly a week at that point and I was definitely surprised how fast Lent seemed to come this year. It was one of the days when I missed the Newman community the most. I am sure that I am not the only Catholic international student here but even though I spent most of the day at orientation at the Catholic University and then the rest of the day out in the city, I didn’t see anyone with ashes. I began to wonder if maybe Argentina distributes ashes because after all it’s not required to get them. The only ashes I saw were on the people that were at mass that night. The day was very difficult for me. It is summertime here so fasting was difficult because it was hot and I had to be out and about all day meeting people and learning new information at orientation. I ended up eating meat that Wednesday and that first Friday of Lent (or Cuaresma, in Spanish). One girl offered me some of her sandwich at lunch (although there were a lot of people not eating, so I don’t think I was conspicuous) but even though I declined the offer, she cut off a little piece to share with me. I didn’t know what else to do so I just took it. Then on Friday I ordered the vegetarian lunch at an orientation event, which turned out to be pasta with meat sauce. I didn’t realize this until I tried it. This stressed me out because I still hadn’t been about to find something meaningful to do for Lent and I found myself not even following the simple act of abstaining on these days. Fortunately, even though I was struggling quite a bit that first week, I was able to and still can reach friends online who have been very helpful as I try to figure out how best to live my faith during this Lenten season. I appreciate the support and challenge that I get from my fellow Catholic friends even at a distance.

The distance between me and my Catholic community may soon grow smaller, however, as I found the Catholic student group at school. One day I saw a flyer on a bulletin board at school advertising a mission trip held by UCA Pastoral in May. I decided to look up the website to find out what exactly was “UCA Pastoral.” The website offered a contact for more information so I emailed asking if there was some sort of Catholic student center or group that I could join. I received a few enthusiastic responses and on Thursday I met UCA’s version of the “Newman Center”: a group of about fifteen students (don’t hold onto this number) who meet every Thursday at 13hrs for lunch and a chat and then some time with Jesus through adoration. It seems like they have a good amount of programming as well, such as adoration and mass everyday in the university chapels, a mission trip and retreats. I would like to explain more, however, I really don’t know anything about the group yet. I am just happy to have found something and I am very hopeful! Now I just have to find something to do for Easter and I will be set (this is a big worry right now, as I have never been away from home for a major holiday).

Que la Paz de Cristo sea con ustedes

-Meg

Well hello Lent.  How did you sneak up on me?  Fortunately, I was able to get to Mass on Ash Wednesday to get the all-important mark of faith, even though it was a day of travel from Brussels to Paris.  Last week we had a program excursion to these two cities, which were both wonderful in their own right.  In the train station in Paris, I saw one man with his ashes and it took me a minute to realize what they were – he didn’t have an oil smear on his forehead (uh oh… don’t tell me I’m becoming too secular…).

There are two other Catholic girls in the program but also two Protestant girls that like to attend Catholic Mass.  So my friend Katie, who was raised Lutheran but has since fallen away from it, went to St. Francois-Xavier in Paris with me the night that we arrived.  There was a 7:30 p.m. Mass and it was packed – with young people!  Shocking, I know.  French Christianity is supposed to be declining, especially among the youth, but this Mass seemed to say otherwise.  It was really beautiful – a huge church filled to capacity.

The ashes felt different than those in the U.S…. sorry for how morbid this is, but it felt more like body ashes (ie cremation) than the wet, dark ash we get at home.  Not that I have ever touched body ashes, but they look like sand and this is how these ashes felt on my forehead.  Maybe they use a different type of incinerator?

The next day I visited Notre Dame Cathedral and said a rosary in front of a side shrine.  A daily rosary is my Lenten offering, though I know it’s something I should do every day anyway.  But my prayer life is unfortunately lagging here, so I figured this would be good for my morning commute to school – the right way to start the day.

Sunday morning I went back to St. Francois-Xavier for Mass with a different Protestant friend who was amazed that the readings were the same all around the world (I let her look at my English Word Among Us that I had my mom send me from home).  I probably should have explained here that Catholic translates to Universal, but I’m sure that more teaching opportunities will arise.  Who knows, maybe we’ll get a convert or two out of this trip. (wink wink; proud of me, Alecia?)

Oh, our hotel in Paris was right next to a convent but I didn’t go visit or anything.  It appeared to be cloistered – the only way I knew it was a convent was because a sister took the mail from the mailman at the door one morning.

That Sunday Mass was a family Mass and it was also very crowded.  I think St. Francois-Xavier is real communal parish because it’s in a high-end, residential part of Paris (opposite from St. Stephen which has about 7 families.)  I saw some of the most adorable kids ever.  They had about 12 altar boys between the ages of 8 and 13, and they looked like little angels until they walked down the aisle during the recession hymn and I saw one kick the other.  I giggled profusely.

I wish there was more opportunity for me attend daily Mass here but not only is my schedule difficult to adjust for that, there are few churches that open their doors every day.  It’s sad, and I know I’ve mentioned the declining faith in Europe already, but I think it’s more apparent in Geneva than in Paris.  St. Francois-Xavier has several Masses every day.

My mom is coming to visit this Thursday for my birthday, which is on Saturday.  The big 2-1.  I must say, 20 has treated me incredibly well… I’ve seen the world, experienced tumultuous personal relationships, and learned more than some people do in a lifetime.  And my faith has strengthened 400 percent to the point where my personal motto is:

No storm can shake my inner calm when to this rock I’m clinging.