Growing up in a Midwestern city and successfully surviving Catholic parochial education, moving to Salt Lake City was definitely a thrill ride never to be anticipated. What exactly was the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter day Saints and Mormonism?
The first weekend I was in Salt Lake City alone, an unexpected friend dragged me to attend the yearly Mass on the Grass at St. Catherine of Siena Newman Center, the Catholics-on-Campus at the U. We went to meet the new priest. At that time, my friend and I signed up for intramural sports, the awesome student retreat we could not hear enough great things about, adopt-a-student program and the Campus Ministry Leadership Team. There was a grand feast held after the 7 p.m. student mass and everyone was so welcoming and friendly. Several years later, I now call the Newman Center my home and have become part of the family through deep ties with others who share in my daunting experiences of Utah. Living at the dorms for one year was enough to open my eyes to the fact that I was Catholic and I was different.
There exists a strong rift on campus if one does not belong to the LDS Church because little conversation goes on between the Catholic and LDS Churches. At the same time, I do not think that the Newman Center aims to stand above the prevalence of Mormon influence. We are of one community, different in beliefs, but we all hold something in common: faith. We both even wear faith-based jewelry-“What Would Jesus Do?” bracelets and “Choose the Right” rings. Sure St. Catherine’s Newman Center is not just slightly envious over the construction of the new LDS Institute of Religion building and parking garage, but we still have something to offer to the campus community with the beginnings of our own construction of a new chapel. So again, we are not so different.
Both churches are growing and expanding in order to better serve the greater community. Even more importantly, LDSSA and the Newman Center struggle equally at trying to be an embodiment of faith as a standard for the university community. In trying to reach others, both communities have found that not everybody listens all the time and our message often falls upon deaf ears. Both student groups have their triumphs along with their defeats in their attempts to reach the community.
Up until this year, the students at the Newman Center have not worked with the LDSSA on any project or activity and this obvious avoidance has then been diffused throughout campus. This avoidance really signifies and represents what every individual encounters in Utah. But, this coming school year, a new student organization, the Student Interfaith Council, has high prospects of bringing the various faith groups together that are found on campus.
The Student Interfaith Council at the U seeks to provide students of various faith traditions opportunities to come together to participate in activities that will strengthen positive relationships between faith traditions on campus through regular dialogue, special programs and community service. Through dialogue and campus programs to raise awareness and community service projects, the cold barriers of separation between the different faith groups will, in hope, begin to be torn down. At this point there are six faith groups represented on the Student Interfaith Council: Baha’i, Catholic, Hindu, Islamic, Jewish, and LDS. There are no Protestant faiths represented yet on the Student Interfaith Council.
A national program of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation gives grant money to small interfaith coalitions that are dedicated to working with a particular service population with their communities. As the Student Interfaith Council community outreach project, they have chosen an elderly population consisting of 414 elderly citizens (65 or older) of Salt Lake County who live alone. The citizens are in threat of losing their houses because they are unable to keep them up. The council will provide volunteers within this community to help with small, important tasks. The focused community suffers from loneliness, the inability to execute important tasks and the inability to care for their households. The council volunteers will make weekly phone calls and visits, provide transportation, assist in household chores (e.g., paying bills, doing laundry, grocery shopping, etc.) and helping out with seasonal yard work and house maintenance.
In Utah and on the U campus, religion and faith create an inescapable reality, but it comes down to an individual choice on how one decides to deal with the prominent religious separations found on campus and all throughout Utah. Ignoring the problem will do nothing but exacerbate the issue. We are all still college students going through that grueling transitory period in our lives. Perhaps by maintaining focus on our similarities along with a little humility and open-mindedness, communication and involvement with each other will transpire. The separation on campus is nothing that cannot be overcome by putting in effort to raise awareness on campus and working together.
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