St. Thomas More Newman Center Winter 2014 Newsletter

St. Thomas More NEWMAN CENTER

comonewman.org | Winter 2014

Celebrating 50 Years More on Page 3

Sister Parish in El Salvador Page 4

Newman Vocations Page 5

Campus Ministry News Page 6

Fr. Kelly’s Letter — We Pray What We Believe

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t the Sunday celebrations of the Eucharist during the 50th anniversary year of St. Thomas More Newman Center, the gathered assembly is praying together the Jubilee Prayer. If you are a visitor or a newcomer to the Newman Center weekend celebrations, you might think that the words of prayer are exclusive for a particular people, in a particular place, at a particular time. Your conclusion would be correct as long as you did not exclude all the persons who have and who are contributing to the FR. KELLY Newman Center since its founding 50 years ago.

Administrator The traditional Latin axiom, “Lex orandi, lex credenda,” (“How the Church prays witnesses to what the Church believes”) briefly describes how the Jubilee prayer embodies the hearts, the souls and the minds of the Newman faith community. What then do the members of the Newman Center believe as they pray these words each weekend?

Almighty God, you have blessed us with a half century of ministry, bringing the Good News to students and families. We give thanks that in our worship, service and fellowship we have brought your presence to Columbia. We celebrate that we have walked with so many on their personal faith journeys during their college years and beyond. As we approach this milestone, we ask your continued blessing upon this ministry, our students, our families and our community. We pray that as we begin another half century we might be blessed with renewed minds to know you, rejuvenated hearts to love you, and revitalized souls to worship you. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

First, there is recognition that the Newman Center has grown. When it opened in 1963, membership to the Center was limited to Catholic students registered for course work at the University of Missouri, Stephens, and Columbia colleges. Families of married students also could belong. Through 50 years of growth, the doors of the Newman Center have opened wider and higher to offer hospitality and ministry to everyone. All are invited and all are welcomed to share, to nurture, and to support our Catholic faith.

Second, there is a remembering that the Newman Center is part of a larger Church with common traditions. In 1964 the Center was dedicated

by Cardinal Joseph Ritter of St. Louis, Bishop Joseph Marling of Jefferson City, Bishop Charles Helmsing of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese, and Bishop Ignatius Strecker of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese. Their presence and their prayers represented the Catholic community throughout Missouri and the larger world who believe that faith and reason are joined together in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition. To seek, to witness, to proclaim the truth of the Gospel in an ever changing and challenging world is the mission of our Church.

Next, there is conviction that our Catholic faith is genuine only when it is carried beyond the spaces of the chapel, classrooms, library, multipurpose room, and offices to the campus, the streets of Columbia, and our own homes.

Our faith is a dynamic force that takes us from our comfortable spaces to the bigger world.

Finally, the Jubilee prayer expresses gratitude for the good work God has brought to completion and hope for the good work yet to be done through the people of the St. Thomas More Newman Center.

May we always pray what we believe!

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On November 9, Newman held a Mass of Remembrance recalling the names of all those listed in the official Register of Deaths during our 50 years as a parish.

Melissa Roberts Patricia Hart Pamela Mertzlufft Benjamin Lindhorst David Marks Anna Maria Giacchi Barbara Atherton Dallas Schafer Edward Brown James Butcher Hillary Anne Leslie Dennis Riordan Margorie McAuliffe Robert Thompson Edward Smith Jr. Ellen Dubinski John Katlise Charles E. Bagley Neal “B.H.” Benjamin Carrie Diane Franche Joseph Parisi Nicolas E. Bagley Carlos Francisco Wilson Zararal Lois Bryant John L Ferguson Ron Fox Maxie Pearl Acuff Eric Olivencia Izabela Joanna Goc Peggy Jayne Smith Machlyn Branch Howard Jose C. Bugayong Audrey Delnes Hoff Norma Jean Waters Dewayne Soucher James Fox Claudia M. Alviso Phyllis De Mass Michael Frazier Thomas Yonke Ramon Christ Zachary John Martin Gary W. Caplinger Delbert Dean Hemphill James Edward Nichals Dylan Joseph Henke Louis Provancha William Bradley Samuel Michael Hennessey Shirley Lenhardt James Atwater Lora Wagner James Devaney Robert Eugene Bray John Mikrut, Jr. Jennie Murray Wanda June Heisler John DeWitt Decker Alvina Kazmierczak Marguerite Koeppel George Lewis Faler, Jr. Jason Butler Jose Rubio Rita Mae Ford James Holleran John Joseph Morris Dennis T. Mayer, Sr.

Vivian “Leigh” Gramlich Joyce Ann Fobes Steve Weithman Catherine Wagner Carol Estelle Devino Earl “Skip” Bromstedt III Holly Ann Dittamore Teresa Park Jonathan Cunningham Kathleen Ramirez Noel Barrett Robert McGowan James Kropp Frank Zemp Vane Weable Margaret Sommers Wolf Paul Riddlemoser Vincent Gurucharri Kenneth Watkins William Rose Mary Nell Porter Clemente “Clem” Garcia, Jr. Lillian Minges Diana Weaver Dr. Joseph Engelman Donald Howard Donald Hoehle Loretta Lowery Aaron Morefield David Eblen William Conboy Loyetta Foster Violet Leon Mary Ragland Charles Fulhage James Leon Raphael Keingatti Albert Malloy Sherman Kelly Patricia Plakorus Joseph Trainor Elaine Parisi Wanda Winter Thomas Burns Norma Conte Evelyn Wuest David Shufeldt James Pringle Thomas McCain Kathleen Watkins Edna Franklin Irene Harris J. Donald Crowley Barbara Clark Joseph DiPietre Sharyn Kropp Barbara Morefield Elaine Hocks Chong Mi “Anna” Sin David Jonassen Rev. Marc Clifford Wendy Murray Louis Wappel Nedra Conboy Mireya Del Castillo William “Bill” Eimer III Jamie K. Murphy

50th Jubilee Weekend

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espite the fact that the Missouri Tigers were playing in the SEC Championship football game on the same night, nearly 200 parishioners, alumni and friends of Newman gathered on December 7 to celebrate 50 years with a Gala held at Kimball Ballroom on the campus of Stephens College.

Attendees were treated to music by the Troy Hall Trio and memories from Frances Kelley and Miriam Hemphill who have both been parishioners at Newman since the early days (videos available on YouTube — see page 8).

Miriam shared a story about when she helped bake Communion bread in order to help the parish save a little money. “That first Saturday that I took the bread was one of the most wonderful days of my life,” Miriam said. “I was just overwhelmed by what was going to happen to my bread.”

At one point, Master of Ceremonies Dick Otto asked everyone to stand up and then sit down based on how long they had been a parishioner at Newman.

It was incredible to see how long many people have been with us!

On Sunday, December 8, Bishop Gaydos presided at Mass, marking the 50th Anniversary of the first Mass held at Newman. Former pastors Fr. Mike Quinn and Fr. Jerry Stockman also helped celebrate the Mass.

A tremendous amount of thanks are owed to the Jubilee Committee who put so much work into making the Jubilee events so special, and to Jay Nies at the Catholic Missourian for taking photos. We hope to see you all on May 9 for the Anniversary of the Dedication of the First Chapel with a Parish potluck dinner to follow.

50 Years ago at St. Thomas More Newman Center...

• In 1962 Francis Gundler surveyed the property at Turner and Maryland Streets as the site for the new student parish, The Newman Center. Much of the early financing for the parish was pledged by the Knights of Columbus and came from the sale of the Knights of Columbus Student Home at College and Bass Avenues, which was built in 1920 for Catholic students.

• In accordance with the local language order handed down by Pope Paul VI, just the week before, certain portions of the first Mass said at The Newman Center were in English.

• Built for 360 members and dedicated on May 9, 1964 as a Catholic Student Center for all three Columbia college campuses, the original membership of The Newman Center was limited to students, faculty and their families.

• The first pastor of St. Thomas More Newman Center was Father Frank Stangl, now deceased. He served as pastor from 1963 to 1969 and in addition taught courses on The New Testament at the University including “The Life & Teachings of Jesus” and “Life & Literature of the New Testament.” The first classes, though accredited by the University, were held at the Newman Center.

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Sister Parish in El Salvador

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fter a visit to El Salvador this summer by a student, two resident parishioners and myself, St. Thomas More Newman Center has taken the next step in becoming a partner with La Inmaculada Concepcion Parish in La Libertad, a port city on the Pacific coast. The parish is staffed by Father Paul Schindler from the Cleveland Diocese who has been pastor for 42 years. The parish has a central church and 24 chapels in the mountains and by the ocean.

The actual size of the parish is bigger than the city of Columbia. He is helped by a Jesuit priest and the people of the parish. The Newman Center has made a five-year commitment to be in solidarity with them.

The implications of this commitment are as follows: Spiritual Solidarity: Members of Newman are invited to enter into a prayer relationship with a family in the parish. There will be an exchange of names, photos if you wish and a commitment to pray for each other. The parish does not want any financial help from us. They pay their own way but would welcome help with a particular project to help the people increase their income to live with greater dignity.

Financial Solidarity: Each year Newman will give $300 to the SHARE Foundation to pay for coordinating services. We need people there to help us with this commitment. The Foundation will find economic development projects in the parish that will be effective and sustaining. We are committed to raise at least $3,000 each year to help with a project. These projects are always cooperatives that produce honey, eggs, fruit, Indigo cloth and clothing, coffee, etc. The annual Lenten project will be the focus of this part of our sisterhood.

Another possible way we can help is to sponsor a student that the pastor in the parish there will select because he or she has been a leader among the youth of the parish. The general costs are about $2,000 per academic year.

Physical Solidarity: Depending on the level of interest and ability of people to participate, groups of residents and students will go to El Salvador to learn from first hand experience how other members of the church live their faith in a very different context than our Newman community. This will include living with a family and sharing their daily journey. The SHARE Foundation will coordinate these visits.

This new commitment for the Newman Center is a sign of a deepening of our spiritual desire to be faithful disciples of Jesus who is our salvation. It is my hope that the common faith we share at Newman and at Inmaculada Concepcion Parish will be an opportunity to become more catholic, that is, be in contact with the universal mission of Jesus.

— Brother Edward van Merrienboer, O.P 4 | COMONEWMAN.ORG

Please keep the following students traveling to El Salvador in March 2014 for Alternative Spring Break in your prayers.

Ryan Bahr Angela Chiappone Laura Cole Claire Custer Maria Di Bianca Anna Elliott Megan Kelly

Kathleen Kowalsky Victoria Mechler Eugenia Nathan Peter O’Keefe Jo Peterson Elizabeth Prenger Tim Ross

Courtney Schier Sydney Stein Christina Turner Emily Van Etten Erin Warden

Day of Service

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he Newman Volunteer Corps (NVC), now in its fourth year of existence, hosted a Fall Day of Service in September. More than 60 parishioners, both students and residents, came out to lend a hand. The morning started off with a prayer service led by Brother Samuel Hakeem, O.P. Participants then divided up into groups to go out to six “Without service, what different service sites. is your faith? It connects This year’s service sites included: St. Francis House, you back to why you go Food Bank for Central and to church in the first Northeast Missouri, Inter- place.” - Tim Ross, faith Day Center, Boone Newman Junior County Council on Aging, Refugee and Immigration Services, Newman Knit for Charity and our very own Newman Center! Service at those sites included yard work, packaging food, deep cleaning, helping immigrants navigate the Farmers Market and more!

One of the goals of NVC is to bring together parishioners of all ages. “I think it’s just fun to do activities with people that you go to church with, to get to know the people you work with, and kind of have a common goal of doing something helpful for someone,” said Newman parishioner Ann Schaeperkoetter.

Newman Vocations

JOHN REGAN Diocese of Cleveland

LIZ DOYLE, ASCJ Apostles of the Sacred Heart

SR. M. CATERINA, FSGM Franciscan Sisters of the Martyr St. George

JOSH DUNCAN Diocese of Jefferson City

GEOFF BROOKE Diocese of Jefferson City

JOSE LOPEZ Diocese of Jefferson City

MICHAEL KILLEEN, nSJ Society of Jesus

DANIEL EVERSON, nSJ Society of Jesus

JOSEPH PAUL ALBIN, OP Southern Dominican Province

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atican II’s universal call to holiness is expressed in the context of a chosen vocation. That’s where we find the place our hearts are most at home and we can best claim and share our gifts with others. We’re blessed that several Newman alums are presently in various stages of formation for religious life or priesthood. They count on the support of our prayers as they learn more about the steps they are taking and continue to discern the authenticity of their response.

Two other groups — one of women and one of men — meet regularly to explore the question of vocation with Sr. Karen or Fr. Bob Barry. These provide a way for busy students to keep the idea alive by listening to God in prayer and sharing in community. That has lasting value no matter what vocation they eventually choose.

Our St. Thomas More Parish community supports all these men and women with prayer.

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Awakenings Retreat

Campus Ministry

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t was a busy but very successful fall for the Catholic Student Association. At the beginning of the semester we had our Ministry Team retreat with the student leaders of CSA and talked about our goals for the upcoming school year. We discussed different ways we can evangelize on campus and make the Newman Center a welcoming place for students. We have seen our numbers grow in our Catholic Learning Communities (CLC’s) this semester, which offer students the chance to share their faith with other students in a weekly small group setting. Ephesians 3 (E3), which meets weekly on Wednesday nights for praise and worship and discussions about our faith, has continued to grow as well this fall. Our student-led Awakenings Retreat, was once a success.

As eventful as this Fall has been, the Spring semester promises to bring even more excitement and opportunity for evangelization on campus and in the Columbia community! The major events in spring will be highlighted by our annual philanthropy, Newman Week, in February. We are also excited to take a contingent of students to El Salvador over spring break for a mission trip.

The success of these and all of our programs is a direct result of the leadership and hard work of the students in CSA. The passion for discipleship and love for Christ that I’ve seen through them and their work has truly inspired me and is impacting the community at Mizzou for the better. It has been a tremendous blessing to serve as President of CSA, and I cannot wait to see what the next semester brings!

— Andrew Dean, CSA President

Newman now has a giant projection screen to use for Mass on the Quad as well as outdoor movie nights!

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was really excited to be the rector for this year’s Awakenings retreat. When I went on the retreat for the first time my freshmen year, it opened up my eyes to God’s love for me and the love in the community at the Newman Center. It was a wonderful opportunity to be the one organizing the retreat for others to experience God’s love in the way I did.

This year’s theme for the retreat was “Live Like That,” talking about living the way Christ did in our everyday lives. We moved locations this year from small Edina, MO, to a retreat center outside of Kansas City called Lake Doniphan. Although we will miss some of the quirks from Edina, the move was very exciting because it gives more opportunities for the retreat to grow. God poured out His love and graces on the Awakeners, making it a truly Spirit-filled weekend. The retreat would not have been possible without the support of many people’s prayers and financial help, and for that I am very grateful! I can’t wait to see what God has planned for this retreat in the future!

— Kayla Essner, Awakenings Rector

Religious Education

Youth Ministry Life Teen

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’m Emily Shull, the new DRE at the Newman Center and I’m happy to announce that in a period of transition, Religious Ed is alive and flourishing. EDGE, our middle school program, is about 20 percent bigger than last year and we’re having a great time looking at the Sacred Scriptures. We started with a night to review the basics and had some fun coming up with “bible tweets.” We’ve taken a @jellybeans “Keep your quick trip through the Old Testament heart open to Jesus, looking at creation, covenants and and he will keep heaven prophets. Our first New Testament night focused on comparing the Gos- open to you.” #Luke11:9 pels and next we’re on to parables and #6thGrdGirls the writings of St. Paul. This semester our social justice night focused on families living in poverty in the U.S. and we had a volunteer night at the local food bank.

Our elementary program, CEP, is using new textbooks this year, the Christ Our Life series from Loyola Press, a change that was in the works under my predecessor Catherine DiPietre. This series is more content rich and has the best web-based content we’ve seen.

Of course our teachers are the ones who truly bring the content to life, like the life-sized rosary from Suzanne Hemman and Jaqueline Rash’s third grade class (pictured below).

In addition to our regular classes, Children’s Liturgy is continuing at 9 a.m. Mass and we have special events every month. In November we had our annual Family Arts Fest featuring everything from cute to yummy to slimy projects to make and take home. December 6th was our annual Christmas Pageant, Santa’s Greatest Adventure, in which Santa takes kids back in time to the birth of Jesus and helps them understand the true meaning of Christmas.

— Emily Shull, Director of Religious Education

Life Teen hosted the Ike Ndolo Band for a free concert at Newman in September. Ike is a Columbia native and former participant in Newman’s Life Teen program.

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he last couple months have been a crazy, but fun-filled time for the Life Teen program. I have had a blast coming in here and leading these awesome teens! This summer was filled with all sorts of activities, from float trips to concerts to playing twister covered in shaving cream to a faith-filled Steubenville youth conference at Missouri State University.

Our topic this semester has been Scripture. We have taken a look at the Bible from the Old Testament and New Testament. It has been packed with all sorts of fun activities. We have started a breakfast club on Tuesday mornings before school where we all have breakfast and grow in fellowship as brothers and sisters in Christ. We have had weekly movie nights based on our semester theme of Disney. Multiple times we made sure to cheer the Cardinals on in an amazing post season. Our fall retreat, “Catching Fire”, even featured “hunger games” where the teens competed in various food-filled games for a candy-filled trophy.

Coming up on January 25th is our annual Trivia Night! Teams of eight will compete in a 10-round competition to be crowned champion. There will also be a silent auction and other games between rounds. If you want more information about this event please email me at lifeteen@comonewman.org.

— Eric Bean, Youth Minister

EDGE activity where the group planned a meal spending only $5.26, the average amount given to a family of four who receives food stamps.

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alling all Alumni, parents and friends of Newman! For the first time ever, online giving is available at Newman. To give, just go to:

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he St. Thomas More Newman Center is collecting accurate and up-to-date email addresses for our e-newsletter. The e-newsletter will allow us to have less of an impact on the environment by saving on printing. Just like this printed newsletter, the e-newsletter will allow us to keep you up-to-date with the many ongoings of the Newman community in the future.

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In the spring, all those who signed up for the e-newsletter will receive an email with the digital version of the newsletter, while those who have yet to provide an email address will receive a printed version.

Our goal is to be 100% digital by 2015!