By Thea Jarvis

College and university campuses are set to receive their annual fall influx of students and Catholic campus ministers are no less prepared. Outgoing, energetic, and imbued with a sincere affection for the students they serve, the staff of Catholic campus centers throughout the archdiocese are looking forward to a year in which the Catholic presence is concretely experienced.

University of Georgia

It’s a long way from the University of California campus to UGA, but Brother Hank Gruber, OP has made a smooth transition in the short time he’s been in Athens. The outgoing Dominican, who spent four years at Berkeley doing graduate study in theology, assists director Father Steve Pavignano, OFM at the Athens Catholic Center.

Brother Hank reports that daily Masses are offered Tuesday and Thursdays at 5 p.m., with communion service Wednesdays at 5 p.m. Weekend Masses are Saturday at 5 p.m. and Sunday at 10 a.m., 5 and 7 p.m. The sacrament of reconciliation is available on Saturdays from 4-4:45 p.m. and by appointment.

The chapel, located in the center on South Lumpkin Street, is open 24 hours every day. Center hours are 7 a.m. until midnight but since the campus ministers live there, “You can always get in touch with us,” said Brother Hank.

UGA’s Catholic Center serves a population of some 3,000 Catholic students and 250 resident families. For many, it becomes a home away from home and a haven from the fast pace of campus life.

“It’s a safe place in a real busy, somewhat foreign, somewhat frightening environment where people come to study, make friends,” said Brother Hank, a Savannah native. “This place becomes study central for exams,” he said, when coffee and munchies are a draw for tired, stressed-out students.

The center provides ample opportunities for students and area residents alike to participate in outreach opportunities like night shelters, soup kitchens, and AIDS visitation. Retreats are planned for all and spring, and an alternate spring break opportunity will be offered.

Although the center doesn’t officially open until September 15, the community’s RCIA program already has four people signed up for the fall, Brother Hank said, a sign of a lively, life-giving community. Many students who stop at the center are non-Catholics, and the center’s meeting rooms are used by various non-denominational support and 12-step groups.

“We’re pretty much open to any group,” Brother Hank said.

(UGA Catholic Center, 1344 So. Lumpkin St., Athens 30605, phone 404-543-2293.)

Georgia Tech

At Georgia Tech, where Father Mario DiLella has been campus minister for 21 years, students organize and coordinate the Catholic presence.

“I’m the only priest, but not the only minister,” said Father Mario of his collegiate community of 2,000 Catholic students. The Catholic Center at Tech is run with the help of an advisory council of 12 committees that involves students in everything from finance and liturgy to buildings and grounds.

“These are very serious-minded students,” said Father Mario. “They’re the greatest, and I tell them that.”

Father Mario celebrates Mass at Tech’s Catholic Center, 172 Fourth Street, NW, at 5:30 p.m. each weekday except Wednesday, when the scriptural rosary is led by one of the students. Weekend Masses are on Saturday at 5:30 p.m., Sunday at 10 and 11:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Confessions are before each Mass and by appointment.

“We minister to everyone, regardless of their religious affiliation or lack thereof,” Father Mario said. His theology study class, which he holds Monday evenings for 8 to 9 p.m., is attended by Catholics and non-Catholic students, as is the Thursday evening Bible study, held from 8 to 9 p.m. and facilitated by a Tech graduate student.

At Tech, one-day Catholic retreats are scheduled each quarter at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, regularly, with a major event planned for fall, winter and spring sessions.

The Catholic Center is open from 9 a.m. until 10 p.m. and Father Mario emphasized that because of student support, the facility is never closed, except for quarterly breaks.

(Georgia Tech Catholic Center, 172 Fourth St. NW, Atlanta 30313, phone 404-892-6759.)

Georgia State University

Cathedral parishioner Patrick Warner, who served as president of Georgia State’s Catholic student organization for five years, admits that campus ministry at the commuter school is difficult, but no more so than at other city colleges and universities.

Some have judged the job impossible, he said, but feels, “We’ve proven that wrong.”

Warner, a 1990 GSU graduate, was in on the ground floor of Catholic campus ministry when it became re-established in 1985. Now he occasionally helps full-time campus minister David Dye in his outreach to Catholics who Warner estimates to number 2000 to 4000 students. David Dye was out of town when The Georgia Bulletin was preparing this story.

Since last fall, a new Catholic center has been operating in the old Fulton Federal Building at 1 Park Place, space taken over by GSU departments and organizations. A monthly student newsletter originates at the center.

Warner expects Masses to continue on schedule at the center at noon Wednesdays and Thursdays, followed by lunch.

Monday morning student meetings are held at 10 a.m. and one social and religious activity is planned each month. In the past, these have included parties, outings to Stone Mountain, retreats and ball games.

The Catholic Student Organization fields teams for GSU’s intramural sports program, participation that enable the group to draw students who might otherwise remain uninvolved.

“People come to class, then hurry up and go to work,” said Warner, but “they make an effort” to participate as time permits.

(GSU Catholic Center, 1 Park Place, Atlanta 30303, phone 404-361-3612.)

Emory University

The Catholic Center serving Emory University and Agnes Scott College sits across the road from the Emory Law School on North Decatur Road in Atlanta. Sister Terri Bolotin, OP, who has been full-time campus minister for the past year, said that while center activities run all year long, the start of freshman orientation August 24 is their annual benchmark.

“Life really begins then,” said Sister Terri, who will be joined in ministry this year by Father Chris Eggleton, OP.

The team will attempt to deepen the Catholic presence at Agnes Scott with a weekly lunch visit to the college cafeteria.

“We’re going to carve out a table,” and tell students the Catholic chaplains are in, Sister Terri laughed. The Wednesday visits are an indication of “the growing population of Catholics at Agnes Scott,” she said.

While most campus ministry activity will take place nearer the Emory campus, a van will be available to transport Scotties to Mass and a variety of programs that have been planned for the year. A Saturday evening Mass is also being considered for the Agnes Scott campus in Decatur.

Mass is now celebrated in the Cannon Chapel on Emory’s campus each Sunday at 9:15 a.m. and 6 p.m. Vespers are held there on Tuesdays at 5:15 p.m. An eucharistic liturgy followed before the Sunday morning and after the Sunday evening Masses and by appointment.

Each Wednesday, a student supper and program featuring guest speakers and discussion is held at the Catholic Center, an activity that is organized and led by students. Other events will include parties, outings and cookouts. Retreats are scheduled at least once each semester, and a special white water rafting retreat is set for September.

Emory has approximately 900 Catholic students registered and Agnes Scott’s Catholic population totals about 200. The Catholic community of both campuses is coordinated by an advisory council of graduates, undergraduates and faculty who oversee committees such as peace and justice, finance and student life.

(Emory-Agnes Scott Catholic Center, 1753 No. Decatur Rd., NE, Atlanta, phone 404-636-7237.)

Atlanta University

Hammers and nails were flying at the Catholic Center of the Atlanta University Center this month. Gearing up for the start of freshmen orientation, Father Ed Branch has been cheerleading workers on the renovation project, which is expected to be completed by September 1.

The yellow house in the heart of the AU complex in West End is a two-story treasure on James P. Brawley Drive that boasts six fireplaces and is estimated to be over 100 years old. When finished, it will include a chapel, living space for four students, peer ministers, a library-reading room, kitchen and recreation area.

Part of an archdiocesan plan to increase the Catholic presence at AU, it is located in the middle of a campus that is home to Morehouse, Spelman and Morris Brown Colleges, Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse Medical School and the Interdenominational Theological Center.

“It’s the largest concentration of black scholars in the world,” said Father Branch, who will work full time in his campus ministry.

One of those scholars, James Reed, is a parishioner at St. Anthony’s Church in West End. He has been teaching chemistry at Clark Atlanta University for 18 years.

“Most of the Catholics are in the closet,” at AU, he laughed. “A lot of students stopped going to church simply because they don’t feel the Catholic presence there.”

Reed is pleased that change is underway and Father Branch is happy to be part of it.

“It’s a great opportunity” to counter misconceptions about Roman Catholics, he said.

This year, campus ministry means training four peer ministers who will be involved in the work of outreach and hospitality to the estimated 600 to 800 Catholic students at AU.

While details of the ministry are still to be worked out with his new peer ministers, Father Branch expects most Catholic students to gather at nearby St. Anthony’s Church for the 8:30 or 11:30 a.m. Sunday liturgies. A bus will circulate on the AU campus to help students attend, he said.

Two retreats per semester are planned and Father Branch hopes to sponsor campus participation in the National Teleconference on Racism to be aired in October.

AU has a “history of campus ministry that is long and varied,” said Father Branch, proud to continue the tradition.

(AU Catholic Center, 165 James P. Brawley Drive, Atlanta 30314, phone 404-873-5197.)