Working with fertile young minds occupies the working hours of a robust Irish-American priest at Emory University. The job is different from that of the parish priest in that the faithful, he is concerned with, generally think faster, and are more receptive to thought than the average adult parishioner busy at the job of making a living and rearing children.

The priest is the Rev. Theophilus McNulty, O.F.M., archdiocesan director of the Newman Apostolate and in charge of Newman work at Emory University.

“I must always be aware that I am getting older (he’s 52) and that the Catholic students I’m dealing with are young,” he said, “I have to be aware constantly, that their minds are young and fertile and that I am reaching a period in life when it becomes easy to be something less than flexible.”

Father McNulty has had the Newman reins at Emory for about three years and presently has about 170 students, 30 professors and 50 of the Emory staff in the organization.

Newman is the name associated with the Catholic Church on any college or university campus. It recalls John Henry Newman, 19th century English scholar and religious convert who was made a cardinal. Cardinal Newman’s life and teachings set the tone for the Church on campus. He stands for dedication to scholarship in the service of truth, for an intellectualism which is as broad and complete in its embrace as the word university suggests. He stands for the love of learning and the love of the university as one’s alma mater.

The organization got its start in 1893 as a service to students at the University of Pennsylvania. As an approach to the needs of students and service to the campus, it has developed rapidly since World War II. It now attempts to serve students, faculty, staff and alumni on the local scene.

Collectively, under the national title, Newman Apostolate, these groups operate in order to perfect and enlarge these services.

“Newman is the Catholic Church on the college campus. It is the work of the Church,” said Father McNulty.

He explained, “This is a university parish.”

The big priest with a red face and silver white hair is all serious business, and sees his work like any priest does, but realizes that his parishioners require a little more effort to deal with.

“These are crucial years for a young Catholic,” he said, “For many this is the first time they have been cut off from their families and communities. They are hearing ideas and experiencing things they never knew before. It is part of my job to help them satisfactorily integrate themselves into the new community.”

He said, “I try to let them know that the church is still here and that they are still a part of it.” Through Newman at Emory there is the opportunity to attend daily Mass. The Mass, incidentally, is held in the same place as the Little Chapel, a Methodist site.

The organization on campus makes it possible also to present lecturers. Last Fall the unit brought Father George Flannagan, a clinical psychologist, from St. Bonaventure University in Olean, N.Y., to participate in a program with a well-known Protestant minister and a rabbi. The three headed up a three-day symposium on “The Threat of Loneliness.” Whereas the parish priest is grounded in working out the spiritual problems of adults engaged in the business of making a living and rearing children, in the greater glory of God, Father McNulty deals with young, fertile minds in a world of academics.

He, more so than the parish priest, is in a position to know the particular problems of Catholic students and offer them solutions based on this specialized knowledge gained from actual work with young persons.

The priest explained though that the same old problems of everyday living arise on a university campus as they do on Main Street U.S.A.

“The students have problems and they aren’t at all unlike those of the layman,” he said, “They have problems with love, and with money.” Father McNulty explained that getting along with others is the main difficulty and once it is solved, the other problems seem small.

Father McNulty isn’t afraid to talk about the touchier aspects of campus life. He realizes full well that there are subjects and ideas taught on any campus that go against the principles espoused by Christian philosophy.

“Of course these things are taught,” he said, “But, in actuality, the students are coming under no more powerful attack on their faith and morals than they would encounter in their hometown communities.”

One of the highlights of the Newman program is a weekly seminar it offers the students. The seminar takes in a wide variety of subjects and has included at one time or another, birth control, marriage, the Vatican Council, capital punishment and civil rights.

Father McNulty said, “I would like to point out that my work is closely associated with the other chaplains on the Emory Campus. We hold regular meetings together.”

“When possible, we cooperate in holding campus-wide programs. We like to think of ourselves as a team-ministry. We have cooperated in matters such as the symposium held this past fall.” On how the priest has seen the young man or woman involved in the academic life, the priest said, “Today’s student is much more open to people who don’t represent his own background whether it be in the area of race, religion and politics, -- This is true much more than it was 30 years ago.”

He said, “I find today’s student more interested in events in the world than they were in former years. They are more ecumenical minded than they were. Pope Paul will further this.”