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Newman reaches out to students
 Media Credit: Matthew Kaster Dave Pearson plays pool with his Catholic Student Community friends as they hang out in the newly refurbished Newman Recreation Center. Students meet in Wil´s Place at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday to break away from the crowd noise of Garvey Commons.
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 Media Credit: Matthew Kaster The Rev. Kevin Anderson preaches the Gospel of the day at a noon Mass in Atwood´s Watab room.
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At Christ Church Newman Center, hundreds of students gather to share a common interest besides Husky hockey - their faith. Though located off-campus, the Newman Center is very much a part of some students' lives.
A unique church
Christ Church Newman Center, named after the 19th century priest John Henry Newman, prides itself on serving the students' needs.
"We really expose students to a more modern view of church," the Rev. Kevin Anderson said. "We look at it from a students' perspective and what's going to appeal to young people."
Pastoral Associate and Campus Minister Kathy Langer said the theological perspective of the Newman Center interests people because it is not as traditional as other Catholic churches.
"I was really excited about the idea that for the last 30 years, a woman has been preaching once a month, which doesn't happen in other parishes where women's voices don't get heard," Langer said.
Anderson said the Newman Center is not as rigid and conservative as the old ways of the church used to be. Wanting to present God's message in a different way, he does not preach about the fear of going to Hell and how bad humans can be.
"We try to present things in a positive way, not the guilt, shame way, but something refreshing," Anderson said.
Kristi Butler is a pastoral associate and also serves as the social concerns coordinator. She enjoys how the Newman Center emphasizes justice and the need to serve others.
"Newman has a big emphasis on justice in general, whether it's for students with the spring break trips or whether it's as a parish in our community," Butler said. "I think we attract people who share that emphasis on the need for justice."
Call him Kevin
Students enjoy the message presented to them at mass, but they also take a liking to the person who delivers it.
"Kevin Anderson is really awesome," SCSU student and peer minister Veronica Gaidelis said. "The church is perfect for a college campus because it's a little more liberal. It's cool the priest comes down to a college student level and gets to know us personally."
Anderson said he tries to keep things interesting while preaching about the scriptures, and he will often put a spin on things to keep the congregation's attention.
"This coming Sunday is obviously the Super Bowl so I'm really going to try to gear the homily around the Super Bowl because that's what a lot of people are thinking about," Anderson said.
Not only are his homilies different than most others, Anderson comes across as a different kind of priest. He said he knows that people often have a negative view of priests as being holier and better than others when that is not the case. He often wants people to address him as Kevin and he hardly ever wears his collar because he knows it "freaks people out."
Serving others
Outside of mass, the Newman Center offers students a wide variety of ways to get involved with the church and community. This year, a number of students chose to spend their spring breaks doing service work around the country.
Groups will be traveling to Denver, Washington D.C. and El Paso, Texas, and the service performed in each area will be different.
"It varies quite a bit from home reconstruction to just a variety of services in Denver," Butler said. "You might work at a soup kitchen one day and a homeless shelter the next."
Students can also volunteer in the local community. "Prints of Peace" provides service opportunities in areas such as healthcare, working with youth, the elderly, environment and spending time at animal shelters.
Students can serve the church by becoming liturgical ministers. They can help with music, hospitality or be lectors or Eucharistic ministers.
Peer ministry
Before joining the Newman Center staff nearly four years ago, Langer worked in youth ministry and saw the importance of giving students an opportunity to connect with their peers when dealing with faith issues.
"I saw how important it was for high school people to have people their own age talk to them about faith stuff," Langer said. "It wasn't like being preached to."
Peer ministers plan retreats and social events for students in college and high school. They also do service projects and run Bible studies. Students struggling with their faith, or life in general, can talk to a peer minister to get a perspective from a fellow student.
Gaidelis wanted to be a peer minister to get other people involved with the church similar to the way she got involved when she was a first-year student. She said she wants everyone to feel welcome since being Christian is not just going to church, but being kind to others and accepting them for who they are. She also believes the Newman Center is a way for students to express their faith on their own.
"They don't have their parents around pushing them to go to church," Gaidelis said. "This gives them an opportunity to do it on their own."
Gaidelis, David Pearson, Travis Ganz and Aaron Theis are the current peer ministers at the Newman Center.
Wil's Place
With the new library opening on campus several years ago, the Newman Center library lost much of its use. Staff members had to weed through old books and decide what to do with the extra space.
"We knew we needed a space here on campus that was exclusively for students, not the rest of the parish," Langer said. "We want to show students that they are our priority."
Wil's Place, named after the Rev. Wil Illies, the priest involved with the church when it was first formed, is a new recreational center for students. Part of the library still exists and there are several couches, which provide a perfect seat for viewing the new large screen television.
For more excitement, students can take advantage of the billiards and foosball tables. Langer said they are trying to get a ping-pong table to fit over the pool table and have student art on the walls.
Though it has not been officially opened, students can hang out at Wil's Place during Newman Center office hours and when it is opened for special activities. Staff members are pleased students are taking advantage of the new space designated for them.
"After mass they had something down there," Butler said. "And as I left I could hear the pool table making noise, which sounded great, and the foosball and a yell, which was nice to hear."
Reaching out
The heart of the Newman Center is alive because of the students and its goal is to provide ongoing interaction between the university and church. By welcoming different faiths and backgrounds to its services, the Newman Center strives to create a safe and comfortable atmosphere for all students.
"I like to think of us as really down to earth," Butler said. "Every student needs a community, whether it's a sport or the Newman Center."
Anderson said he is honored to be a part of students' lives, and he will continue to reach out to those who have not given the Newman Center a chance because of negative experiences at past churches. He believes it is important to let students know that the church is here for them.
"This is your Catholic church," Anderson said. "People say, 'I was bored to death in my hometown, the priest was a goon and the homilies were boring.' A lot of students never think twice about religion or spirituality playing a role in their college years."
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