Parishes located near non-Catholic colleges in the diocese have made outreach to students a priority.
Several area colleges are located near diocesan parishes, including Ohio Wesleyan University across from Delaware St. Mary Church, Otterbein University less than a mile from Westerville St. Paul the Apostle Church and Denison University located near Granville St. Edward the Confessor Church.
The parishes have made efforts to provide community for Catholics on campus and incorporate them into parish life.
At Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, a Catholic group previously existed on campus but ceased to exist after the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, St. Mary Church helped restart a Catholic campus community.
“We kind of put together this idea of just connecting with students on campus and also connecting them with our young adults in the parish, so we kind of combined both of those things so that they could get to know each other,” said Kristin Story, development and communications director at St. Mary.
Outreach began with a Bible study for students in the university’s community center. It became a weekly meeting using the Fellowship of Catholic University Students apostolate’s Bible study materials.
“They really do appreciate, I think, the discussion-based (studies), where they can ask questions,” Story said of students. “I thought for sure, like, they’ve all been Catholic for years, most of them, that they would know a lot of this basic stuff, and that’s not always the case. It’s good to be able to have that touch point and to answer those questions.”
To have an official Catholic group on campus, at least 10 student signatures were required. St. Mary Church helped support students in creating a group.
The church has also welcomed students to parish events.
A junior at Ohio Wesleyan is currently helping with St. Mary’s youth group. Another student has been participating in the parish’s men’s group at 7 a.m. on Saturday mornings.
“That’s been one of the coolest things is just seeing them integrated into the parish community,” Story noted. “They feel welcome enough to be there, but it was really just because we were connecting with them and then inviting them.
“We’ve also been noticing that a lot of the students that we’ve been doing the Bible study with, when they’ve graduated, or if they’ve gotten older, they’ve actually been participating in the parish itself.”
A former Ohio Wesleyan student is now the St. Mary School music teacher and church music director.
The Catholic presence appears to be evolving.
At the beginning of the school year, the university had a welcome event for local churches to attend and meet the students.
“We’re one of the few churches that was there that could say, ‘Hey, you can walk to our church, and it’s literally right next to your campus,’” Story explained. “It’s across from where their stadium is.”
Having clergy present and available to students can be beneficial. Several students are fearful of openly professing their faith.
“We were noticing Ohio Wesleyan is just very, very secular on campus, like aggressively so,” Story said. “A lot of the students have been kind of afraid to even show that they’re Christian on campus.”
Father Daniel Colby, parochial vicar at Marion St. Mary and Cardington Sacred Hearts churches, was assigned to St. Mary Church as a seminarian.
“We had him coming with us to the Bible study at Ohio Wesleyan, and then, when he became a deacon, he kept coming, too,” Story recalled. “It was a huge impact to have some sort of clergy present as well.”
St. Paul the Apostle Church has also been making efforts to engage students at Otterbein University in Westerville.
Nathan Forsthoefel, coordinator of youth and young adult ministry at St. Paul, said the church typically meets monthly with student leadership at Otterbein to offer mentorship and guidance in the university’s outreach to its Catholic student organization.
Otterbein Catholic Student Ministry (OCSM) is present on campus.
St. Paul provided the group with resources for weekly Bible study meetings on campus. It continues to provide guidance and mentorship for student leaders.
“Our mission at St. Paul the Apostle is to call, form and send missionary disciples of Jesus Christ, and it’s crucial that we involve the youth,” Forsthoefel said.
“We’re in an interesting situation working with a campus that is obviously of a different faith tradition than we are, so it’s a great opportunity for ecumenicism and for collaboration and building bridges with our Christian brothers and sisters in Westerville.”
St. Paul seeks to integrate college students into parish life. Forsthoefel said the church extends an invitation for students to join in the parish young adult group, parish Bible studies and small groups, and social events.
Male students are invited to participate in the parish’s Men’s Ministry.
This year, an Otterbein student is going through the Order of Christian Initiation for Adults (OCIA) at St. Paul to enter the Catholic Church.
A Mass is celebrated on campus typically a couple of times during the school year, especially for Holy Days of Obligation. Father Michael Haemmerle, the diocesan vocations director and former parochial vicar at St. Paul, previously celebrated Mass at Otterbein for students.
Several students in OCSM walk to St. Paul for the 10 a.m. Mass.
“Really we’re trying to integrate them – because we’re only three quarters of a mile away – into liturgies here,” Forsthoefel said. “It’s a balance with ministry with them, of going to where they are but also bringing them into what we’re doing here at St. Paul’s in the whole life of the parish.”
Maria Tarbell, an Otterbein professor and parishioner at Sunbury St. John Neumann Church, serves as a co-advisor to OCSM. She has witnessed students desire greater spirituality.
“I have noticed that there has been a strong interest, especially with young men, concerning their faith, not just with Catholicism,” she said. “It appears to me, from my vantage point as a part-time professor, there is a willingness to embrace something more solid, more traditional than what the current secular culture is providing to young adults.”
Tarbell also serves as a leader for the Columbus Catholic Young Adult Conference. She said sharing her faith with students in the classroom, when appropriate, usually sparks questions.
“I will share my faith with anyone on campus if there is an opportunity to do so,” she explained.
“Many already know I’m Catholic because of my involvement with OCSM over the years. In the classroom, I will share that I’m a co-advisor to OCSM, which generally will give one or more students a reason to chat with me.”
St. Edward the Confessor Church has maintained a relationship with Denison University in Granville.
A 4:30 p.m. Sunday Mass is held on campus. A weekly gathering for students in the Newman Club, a Catholic student organization, is also offered.
Steven Arias-Mosquera, youth minister at St. Edward, and Paul Radkowski, the church’s music director, serve as co-campus ministers to the group.
“There’s been a really strong connection between St. Edward’s and Denison’s Spiritual Life Office,” Radkowski said. “The Spiritual Life Office has been very supportive of our ministry and providing the chapel space for the Mass, providing resources to help with the food and all those kind of things.”
Radkowski, Arias-Mosquera and St. Edward’s pastor have worked together for nearly 10 years to be present on and off campus to students.
As a co-campus minister, Radkowski noted that current pastor Father Tim Hayes’ presence is important.
“There are some things that he can provide that we just can’t, and so, it’s been really great to have him there, being willing to be so present,” Radkowski explained.
“With Msgr. Paul Enke, prior to Father Tim, he was very, very involved as well and was on campus frequently with the Mass. We used to go up for lunch once a week just to sit and have kind of an office hours in the student union.”
The co-campus ministers meet with the university’s Newman Club co-presidents on Thursday afternoons to discuss the Sunday gospel or another selected reading. While the campus ministers are present, the student co-presidents lead the gathering for the larger group of students.
“It’s a good form of peer-to-peer ministry because so much relates to, how do we live the Gospel on campus? How do we deal with the challenges of being Catholic and remaining faithful on campus in college?” Radkowski explained. “The peers leading it is really a good model, and it also helps to form them, too.”
Several students, throughout the years, have participated in St. Edward’s parish life.
“We’ve had a number of students who have gone through OCIA or have been confirmed if they hadn’t been confirmed. So they’ve received sacraments while they’ve been here, too,” Radkowski added.
This year, a couple of Denison University students are interested in becoming Catholic or finishing receiving the sacraments of initiation (baptism, Eucharist and Confirmation).
Students serve as musicians, lectors and altar servers for Mass at St. Edward. Others have served in the church’s youth groups or parish school of religion.
The on-campus Mass can be beneficial in ministering to students “who might be less inclined to come all the way down to St. Edward’s for Mass, but to have a Mass just conveniently on campus is a big plus,” Radkowski noted. “It makes it kind of harder not to go.
“I think a lot of students want to grow in their faith, and they want to have that opportunity.”
Other non-Catholic colleges in the diocese include Kenyon University in Gambier, near Mount Vernon, and Capital University in Bexley, on the east side of Columbus.
Catholic ministry at Kenyon University is currently in a time of transition. Capital University does not have an active Catholic campus ministry at this time.
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