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STM The Magazine of The Catholic Chapel & Center at Yale University Spring 2022STM MAGAZINE CONTRIBUTORS Design: Cadwell Art Direction Primary Photography: Robert A. Lisak Mission Statement Saint Thomas More Chapel & Center serves the Catholic community at Yale by: · Creating a vibrant and welcoming community through worship and service · Cultivating informed faith and spirituality · Engaging in reflective discourse on faith and culture · Advancing the Church’s mission of promoting social justice · Participating in the global Church’s life and witness About the Cover Students participating in the Alternative Spring Break trip to El Paso, Texas, went on a walking tour of the city's vibrant murals. These murals depict the rich culture, history, losses and joys of life at the United States-Mexico border. On the cover, they pose with local muralist, Victor Casas, in front of one of his many murals in the city. STAY IN TOUCH WITH STM Download the STM Yale App. Editors: Robin McShane is the Director of Communications at STM. Sarah Woodford '10 M.Div. is a graduate of Yale Divinity School and STM’s Library Director. Writers: Elizabeth Ekman GRD '22 graduated this spring with an M.A.R. with a concentration in ethics at Yale Divinity School and a member of the Graduate Council. Wenbin Gao GRD '26 is a Ph.D. student in Italian and a member of STM’s Alternative Spring Break trip to El Paso, TX. Annie Killian '11 '16 M.A. '19 Ph.D. currently works for Notre Dame University. She will make her first profession to the Dominican Sisters of Peace this summer. Agnes Kumi '22 graduated this spring with a B.S. in computer science and economics and was one of the chairs for STM’s African American Ministry. Katie Painter '23 is a junior in Timothy Dwight College and is a member of STM’s Undergraduate Council. April Pruitt GRD '26 is a Ph.D. student in neuroscience and a member of STM’s African American ministry and a member of the Graduate Council. Chinenye Okafor GRD '22 graduated this spring with an M.P.H. with a concentration in Chronic Epidemiology at Yale’s School of Public Health and is a member of STM’s Graduate Council. Kristen St Louis '25 is a sophomore in Grace Hopper College and a member of STM’s Alternative Spring Break trip to California. Charlie Tang '22 graduated this spring with a B.A. in economics and anthropology and was a member of STM’s Asian Ministry. Trucy Truong-Phan '25 is a sophomore in Trumbull College and a member of STM’s Asian Ministry. Photograph courtesy of students from the ASB California trip.STM MAGAZINE SPRING 2022 In This Issue 268 Park Street, New Haven, CT 06511-4714 Phone: 203-777-5537 Fax: 203-777-0144 stmchapel@yale.edu Follow us online: stm.yale.edu STM Magazine is published twice a year for our alums, parents and friends. Opinions expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect those of the entire STM community. 1 FROM THE CHAPLAIN 3 A MOMENT OF HOPE AND UNITY 6 A RESTING PLACE FOR OUR GOD 7 SITTING WITH DISTURBANCES IN CALIFORNIA 9 LEARNING TO ASK QUESTIONS 10 THE THEOLOGY OF ACCOMPANIMENT 13 BEING A GOOD NEIGHBOR 15 GRADUATES 17 THE THOMAS E. GOLDEN, JR. FELLOWSHIP IN FAITH & SCIENCE 19 FINDING BELONGING THROUGH CAMPUS MINISTRY 23 A YEAR WITH ESTEEM Features 11 FAITH IN THE REAL WORLD 21 POP! CULTURE 22 THREE QUESTIONS 25 OPEN BOOK As the trees on Yale's campus fill their branches with leaves, this issue of STM Magazine has filled with pages. We bring you a thirty-two-page issue! Campus was bustling with activity this spring, reminding us of what we lost in spring 2020 when we cancelled our Alternative Spring Break trips at the last minute. Those cancellations signaled the beginning of our ministry’s “pandemic era.” What a joy it was to bring them back this spring! This year, our Assistant Chaplains led two ASB trips—one to the San Francisco Bay Area of California and one to El Paso, Texas. Our students were so eager to go out into the world and learn about how their faith connects to service, that we have dedicated a large portion of this issue to their reflections and experiences. Our spring issue would not be complete without a tribute to our graduates whose college experience was like no other. Our Class of 2022 was resilient and patient with the ever-changing COVID-19 protocols that marked their years at Yale. This issue honors them by including their photos in a special spread. And while we are thinking about the future of the Church, we want to also reflect upon our past. Next fall marks our 100th Anniversary of Catholic campus ministry at Yale. Sarah's article about Yale's burgeoning Catholic campus ministry will get you excited about the special events planned for next academic year. Happy Reading, Robin & Sarah from the editors Letter Photograph by Robin J. McShane1. Dear Friends, I am filled with gratitude for what has been a great semester of campus ministry here at Yale. Throughout this academic year, and particularly throughout the Spring semester, we saw a marked increase in student engagement and the buzz of new life throughout the Easter Season—even as we dealt with the many challenges of changing COVID-19 restrictions and policies. I would like to share with you two highlights from this semester, which I believe encapsulate the uniqueness and vitality of what we do here at STM. In October of 2021, our Holy Father, Pope Francis opened the worldwide Synod on Synodality. The Pope expressed his desire for a “listening Church,” and hoped that the synodal process would be an opportunity to authentically dialogue with Catholics from all over the world, and from every stage of their faith journey. On the First Sunday of Lent, our students gathered for a series of synod listening sessions. I was struck by the depth and breadth of their theological, ecclesiological and ideological diversity. I was also humbled by their concerns and hopes as we sought to live into our version of a “listening Church.” Alum Annie Killian '11 '16 M.A. '19 Ph.D. writes about her own experience of facilitating some of these synod listening sessions in this issue’s “Faith in the Real World.” We are all familiar with reports of young adults leaving the Church and never coming back—but here at STM, our ministry is thriving. For me, this was most evident in our joyful celebration of the Sacred Paschal Triduum and Easter liturgies. Nearly 500 students, representing the breadth and depth of the Yale/STM experience and the diversity of the global Church, filled the liturgical ministries and proclaimed the Word of God throughout those beautiful liturgies. Five students came into the Church through the RCIA, and three Catholics completed their initiation in the Sacrament of Confirmation. What a powerful sign of new life in this local manifestation of the Body of Christ! Soohyun Nam, Associate Professor of Nursing, who is interviewed in “Three Questions” by Trucy Truong-Phan '25, is one of our recent confirmandi. Reflecting on how her faith sustains her and intersects with her work, Soohyun says that “faith is the foundation of everything for me and I always try to incorporate it into every aspect of my life. Whenever I face challenges or difficult decisions, I pray and continually talk to God.” As I read about Soohyun’s experience of her faith, and reflect back on some of the great experiences this spring, I am reminded that STM is a place where students from all walks of life, and on different points in their faith journey, can feel at home and feel heard. And with each day at Yale, they together encounter Christ, deepen their faith and grow into the kind of servants and leaders that will be a blessing for our Church. FROM THE Chaplain’s Desk “...I am reminded that STM is a place where students from all walks of life, and on different points in their faith journey, can feel at home and feel heard.” Fr. Ryan M. Lerner Chaplain Photograph by Robin J. McShane2. #MyCatholicYale Students and volunteers from the STM community assemble take-out meals for Wednesday Soup Kitchen guests. STM’s Wednesday Soup Kitchen welcomed 120-200 guests every week and served 9,414 meals over the course of the school year.A Moment of Hope and Unity: A Musical Vigil for Peace STM Editors After an hour of singing with her heart and soul, STM’s Interim Music Director and mezzo-soprano, Karolina Wojteczko '20 Mus. M. descended from the choir loft and made her way to the front of STM’s Chapel for the second time in a week. She introduced the last song of the Sunday evening program, “Moja matko, ja wiem.” The song, entitled in English “Dear Mother, I Know,” is a traditional Ukrainian-Russian-Polish folk song. Karolina’s performance of this song was a moment of hope and unity that ended a time of somber prayer in a sanctuary darkened and dotted with candles and sunflowers. “Besides sending packages of clothing or food, I thought to myself, what else can I actually do [for Ukraine]...” 3.On Wednesday March 16th and Sunday March 20th, STM hosted a musical vigil for Ukrainian refugees. Due to Yale’s then COVID-19 policies, there was one concert for students and the Yale community on Wednesday and one concert for the wider New Haven community on Sunday. Led by Karolina, she and musicians on piano, violin and cello performed from the choir loft in the back of the Chapel while at the front of the space, the crucifix was backlit in the Ukrainian colors of blue and yellow. With the musicians out of sight, the music was the focal point of the evening. Karolina Wojteczko grew up on the far northeastern border of Poland, in the small village of Bagny near the Belarus border, which is home to various cross-cultural communities — including Polish, Ukrainian and Russian populations. She has many family members living in Poland, including her parents and sister. She was inspired to organize the two concerts at STM by the distress she has noticed among both Eastern European and American friends. That included Russians, who she said are being shunned from the communities right now. Karolina has also organized concerts with similar repertoire throughout the states of Connecticut and New York. The program ranged from songs telling of the Crucifixion of Jesus to traditional Ukrainian songs. The concerts were free, but attendees were asked to donate if they were able. The concerts raised $20,000 for Polish organizations providing support to Ukraine, especially supporting the housing of many Ukrainians displaced from their homes and now living in Poland. “The situation with Ukrainian refugees is heartbreaking and horrible,” Wojteczko said. “Children have no homes and in most cases are separated from their fathers and/or grandfathers who were left behind to fight. Besides sending packages of clothing or food, I thought to myself, what else can I actually do [for Ukraine],” she continued. “Then, I thought the only thing that I’ve been doing my whole life is singing.” The concert received a substantial amount of coverage in the press as well as on television, including an article through the Associated Press on helping college students cope with the stress of the pandemic and now the war in Ukraine. Both concerts have helped people unite, cope and heal. KYRIE A Musical Vigil for Peace to Benefit Ukraine 4. 4. If you’d like to listen to the concert visit https://subspla.sh/kww84nt Karolina warms up with her accompanists prior to the concert.Along with the pandemic, migration and immigration have regularly been in the headlines over the past few years. The situations in Afghanistan, Ukraine and at the U.S./Mexico border have been on the forefront of the Catholic call to care for the most vulnerable. STM has always found ways to respond to crisis situations and the Alternative Spring Break trips provided an opportunity for students and Assistant Chaplains to go to the margins, experience the challenges of migrants and reflect on the situations and stories they heard. Our ASB participants found ways to put their faith into action. Stories from immigrants, those who may challenge them and those who are providing direct service or advocacy, drew the students into experiences very different from their daily life. In the next five pages, a few of our students will invite you into their reflections through words and images. May their experience of Christ on the margins be an inspiration for your own contemplation. Sr. Jenn Schaaf, O.P., D.Min. Assistant Chaplain 5.SAN FRANSISCO BAY AREA, CA March 19 - March 27, 2022 We knelt down to pray, leaning into the quiet. The silence, precious and fragile, lasted just a few breaths before it suddenly splintered in two. In a moment, sirens blared from outside. Muffled shouts filled the air. Loud music, car horns, and the rush of traffic followed close at hand. Then, underneath it all, one more sound joined the rest: a faint snore rumbling up from the pews behind us. That single snore—the holiest sound of all— met our ears here, in the heart of San Francisco’s Tenderloin District, where St. Boniface parish carries out a beautiful ministry. Just outside their walls, thousands of unhoused people in the Bay Area endure long and wakeful nights, often forgoing sleep to protect themselves on the streets. Many have tried crowding into local church vestibules, seeking refuge for themselves and their loved ones. One neighboring cathedral responded to the influx by turning on their sprinklers. St. Boniface, by contrast, opened its doors: the parish now offers its pews as a place for unhoused guests to sleep during the day, with shower and laundry services also available upon request. The [Fransiscan] friars celebrate Mass here and welcome all visitors, including our group from STM. Mass attendees are encouraged to spend time in prayer and solidarity with those who have come to find shelter. Our Alternative Spring Break trip to California focused on serving immigrants, refugees, migrant workers—people on the move. Here, though, we found something a little different. Here, at last, we found people at rest. We witnessed our brothers and sisters laying down their loads, drinking in deep breaths, beneath the outstretched arms of Christ crucified. And once again, as had happened so many times already during this week of service, we found the mystery of the Trinity revealed. Father, Son and Holy Spirit: the parish, the people they serve and the spirit of love that flows between them. We found Christ in the Blessed Sacrament; Christ in the faces of the poor and vulnerable; Christ in the abundant, self-giving care that cherishes the dignity of every human person and sets the world on fire with cleansing flames that promise to renew the face of the Earth. A Resting Place for Our God Katie Painter '23 A longer version of this reflection appeared on The Yale Logos site, for the Yale Logos-Harvard Ichthas Lenten Series, on April 13, 2022. You can find it at: https://www.yalelogos.com/home/6fw77ajm9bsxx6wpmjx78cxhig7lw4 Photograph by Sr. Jenn SchaffNext >