By Paula Day

Catholic students at University of Georgia in Athens can get more than a secular education while attending college.

Under the direction of Dr. Billie Poon and assisted by senior Charlie Murphy, they can prepare for active participation in the life of their parishes as adult lay Catholics. The Catholic Center at the University offers students a peer ministry program developed by Dr. Poon. In its third year, the program gives students training and “hands-on” experience in such special ministries as social justice outreach, Bible study, RCIA, retreats and ecumenical activities. They can also grow spiritual through the spiritual direction available from the Catholic Center staff.

Dr. Poon, a 42-year-old mother of two sons, has been acting director of the Center since July, 1988. Her husband, Dr. Leonard Poon, is head of the Gerontology Center at the university. Father Tony Gigliello, O.F.M. and Father Steven Pavignano, O.F.M., complete the Catholic Center’s staff which serves a core group of 400 Athens residents, university faculty and staff. Between 600 and 800 of the 2,600 Catholic students attending the university regularly join them for Sunday Masses during the school term.

In her temporary position, Dr. Poon divides her time among administrative duties, spiritual direction and supervising the peer ministry program.

“I do a lot of spiritual direction and counseling,” she commented, “particularly with graduate students and faculty.”

She has found a progression in the spiritual life of college-age persons. As undergraduates, they are concerned about ethical and moral decision-making and are dealing with questions of Catholic identity such as “What do I really believe?” and “What does it mean to be a Catholic rather than a Baptist or Methodist or Presbyterian?”

Gradually young people progress from talking to themselves and their friends about these issues to talking to God - praying about them, Dr. Poon said. “It’s an unfolding process. God is no longer a person holding the world together. They begin to want to engage God in what’s going on in their lives.”

According to Dr. Poon, campus ministry, in part, requires real healing and reconciliation. “People, in general, don’t realize how hurt others are. I suspect from what I’ve read and heard, that one in 10 is a victim of some kind of violence - rape, abortion, incest, for example. They are sitting there at Mass, thinking they’re the only one this has happened to. I do a lot of counseling of women who are victims.”

Dr. Poon spends an hour-and-a-half a week with the group of nine students who are in the peer ministry program, and approximately an hour with each individually. She feels a responsibility to help them become leaders in the Church.

“I believe all of us are called by our baptism to minister to one another,” she said. “The Church of the future will reflect this involvement and so we’re trying to find ways to prepare young people to take up these responsibilities. It’s exciting, challenging. It’s a corollary to the rest of their education.”

Senior Charlie Murphy coordinates the efforts of the peer ministry groups, eight of which are in operation this school year.

Murphy, a native of Fairhaven, Mass., is a food service management major. He says he encountered an expectation that “everyone from the North is a devout Catholic.” In fact, he said, his experience at UGA “enhanced my faith, and in particular, my getting in which the Franciscans really helped.”

The social justice outreach ministry is one of the peer ministries Murphy coordinates. Nancy Halutick of Macon heads the group which works with such established programs in the Athens area as the food bank and shelters for the homeless. Its members have recorded readings for the blind, participated in a sleep-over in downtown Athens so students and others could experience what it is like to sleep in the open, and conducted food drives. One aim of the group is to raise awareness in the Athens area of the plight of the homeless.

The ecumenical peer ministry group, new this academic year, is led by Mary Ellen Morris of LaGrange. Its goal is to bring together students from different religious denominations for conversation and to foster growth in mutual understanding and respect for one another’s beliefs.

Kelly Arnal of Snellville and Erin Boudweyns of Augusta, in the student support peer ministry, hold weekly meetings in a quiet setting, usually the chapel. There students can talk about and reflect on daily problems and minister to one another. The hospitality peer ministry group, headed by Fonda Mitchell of Augusta, works to create a comfortable atmosphere at the Catholic Center as well as to welcome those who come to Mass there.

Several retreats are held during the school year for students. The task of Denise Schlitt of Atlanta is to plan, coordinate and execute them. As well as making a presentation herself, she chooses other students to give retreat talks. The Franciscan priests are available for liturgy and the sacrament of reconciliation.

Louise D’Angelo of Atlanta meets weekly with a Bible study group to discuss the Scripture reading for the upcoming Sunday Mass. They use the publication, “Share the Word,” as a resource for their study.

For those in the university community wishing to become Catholic, Father Pavignano directs an RCIA program, assisted this year by David Fluech of Marietta as peer minister.

The active Catholic student fellowship peer ministry plans social events for the center. In addition to Halloween and Christmas parties, Jim Neaverth’s group held an aluminum can drive this past fall.

Charlie Murphy not only coordinates these peer ministry groups, but also acts as liaison between the Catholic Center and the university and is associate member of the Campus Ministry Association. In this role he hopes to make the Catholic Center better known on campus by working on a university committee that plans events to inform students about specific topics. The committee has sponsored presentations on date rape and black awareness on white college campuses. Murphy wants to be part of a panel which will discuss reproductive values.

After graduation Charlie Murphy plans to get a job in his field of study but also to continue his active involvement in the Church as a youth minister. He credits his experiences in ministry at the Catholic Center for helping him become a Catholic adult who wants to fulfill his baptismal responsibility to minister.