Spring Break Mission Trips

My freshman year here at Purdue, I decided to go on a Spring Break Mission Trip at St. Tom’s. Little did I know it was going to be one of the best decisions I have made since coming to Purdue.  I was called on mission trip because I felt the need to get involved with the church and I have always loved service work. It was something that sounded like a lot of fun to me. Once I figured out I was going to New Orleans, I soon realized I did not know any of the 20 people going. However, this ended up being a blessing. While on the trip, I was able to fully immerse myself and get to know every person I was with. I gained 20 new friends and through these friends, gained even more. I am still close with these people and a few have become my best friends. This Spring Break Mission Trip was the gateway to my future at St. Tom’s. It led me to get involved further with the church, including going on Boiler Awakening and hosting a Coffee House Fundraiser. It truly jump started my college faith life.

After going elsewhere for Spring Break last year, I have decided to come back and go on mission trip with St. Tom’s again this Spring Break. I realized that I had more fun on Spring Break Mission Trip than I did elsewhere. I am going back to reconnect with God, grow in my faith, and serve our Lord through service and love. I believe that everyone should go no matter where you are in your faith journey. Mission trips are great ways to physically serve God. When you serve others, you are serving our Lord.

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” -Matthew 25:40

St. Thomas Aquinas – Home Away From Home

As a new graduate student at Purdue University and the greater West Lafayette area, transitioning from a familiar area with friends and family to a completely new one can be a daunting task. An unavoidable hole is created when leaving people that you love behind for a new adventure…or so I’m told.

By the grace of God, that hole has been filled.

After first coming to the town, I began to investigate some of the religious groups on campus, focusing on St. Thomas Aquinas (St. Tom’s). As a baptized Catholic and a former practicing non-denominational Christian, I felt a bit of emptiness regarding my faith and worship. I never really felt “at home” in the churches I attended in the past and knew a big change was necessary in my faith. I approached people at St. Tom’s (Eileen, Emma, and Kristin) and was greeted with very open arms. After having discussions about my faith and my reason for becoming a confirmed Catholic, St Tom’s immediately took me in and introduced me to the RCIA process. Shortly after, my new faith journey began.

I am extremely blessed to have become part of the St. Tom’s family. I never imagined having this strong of a connection with a church community and it truly feels as if my faith has grown an incredible amount in the few weeks I have been involved with the St. Tom’s parish. The family-like atmosphere shared between the priests, student and non-student Catholics has been very inspirational and heart-warming. I am very much looking forward to developing my faith at St. Tom’s and sharing in this wonderful faith journey with others at the church. I now understand that a major reason I am attending Purdue is to worship our Lord and Savior in this blessed community at St. Tom’s.

Andrew Kustas

Boiler Awakening #5 : Sanctified through Sacrifice

Boiler Awakening is a life-changing experience.  It is because of BA that I found my faith.  I attended

BA 2 as a non-Catholic, to basically just find out more about Catholicism.  I found everything I was

looking for and much more; I found my faith home.  Since then, I staffed two BA retreats, joined the

Church and took on the position of Coordinator for BA 5.  Though nothing can top my first

awakening, I still enjoy every BA experience that I have.

 

So you all know what this means right?!  It means that Boiler Awakening is completely awesome and

very, very impactful.  So what should you do about it?  GO ON BOILER AWAKENING 5.   Yeah,

that’s right….I want to see YOU on BA 5 so that you can grow in your faith, meet new people and

find your faith home.  Just go ahead and block off November 9-11 in your calendars, you know you

want to.

 

Sign up for Boiler Awakening #5 here until October 14th.

  Nick Lancaster – Coordinator of Boiler Awakening #5. 

Welcome to the Antioch House!

Have you heard the term “Antioch House” being flung around St. Tom’s lately and you have no idea what or where it is?  Lucky for you, this mystery is about to be SOLVED.  Antioch House (234 West Wood Street, there is a sign on the front!) is this super legit house full of really awesome Catholic students from St. Tom’s.  We have a men’s community living upstairs and a women’s community living downstairs.  Basically the whole point of this house is for St. Tom’s to have a presence away from the actual church building itself.  Sometimes you have a day that you really just need to hang out with Catholic buds.  Solution?  Antioch members have been spotted chillin’ on our rather spacious front porch—stop by!  Or knock and pray that we have baked goods somewhere in the house to share with you!  Really, this community is about getting you all to have a Catholic place you are comfortable stopping by to be with some really fantastic Jesus lovers.  It’s pretty nice for us too, because we get community prayer several times a week and meals together, along with hosting some events throughout the year—more to come on that later!  Our mission is really just to be a Catholic presence to the rest of Purdue, and we need your help to get the word out and help this grow!  If you want to know more or stop by, just talk to one of our members: Rob Wallace, John Seifert, Andy Markle, Anna Lauer, Sam Baus, Mary Beth Hall, or Mandy Meiner.  Epic win for Christ.

Meet Your Officers!

Boiler Catholics, whaddup? It’s your PCS officers, dropping some knowledge on you about our excitement for this year. We’ve had some awesome events thus far that have kicked off the year and instilled an enthusiasm for the year to come. BGR, Blockbuster Weekend, Freshman Retreat: looking at the turnout of all these events gives us the ability to gauge the awesomeness of this year, and it’s off the charts!

Being an officer takes a lot of commitment; it’s a time commitment, spiritual commitment, and physical commitment (Dee makes us run laps if we misbehave). We’re all students (obviously), so we have homework to complete and lectures to sleep through as well. We’re busy, you’re busy, everybody’s busy!
Here are some ways we’re balancing school and faith:
1) Tim Brown holds his team meetings in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament.
2) Mary Beth Hall prays the Liturgy of the Hours in her 8:30 class (and her prof gets uncomfortable every time she chants the Canticle of Zachariah).
3) Liz Schwartz is still waiting on divine intervention for her chemE homework.

But seriously, we make time for some spiritual recharge, so that classes don’t completely consume us. Mary Beth likes daily mass, Liz likes Adoration, and Tim Brown leads CROSS Bible Study. We set aside time each week for PCS administrative stuff, PCS social stuff, and PCS spiritual stuff. We wish to welcome you to yet another great year and to remind you that faith, community, and academics all need to be pursued for the greater glory of God.

Thanks, and God bless.

Your PCS Officers

SUMMER!

This will be our last blog for the semester. Thank you to everyone for reading the guest blogs and for helping us to advertise it this year! We would like to say welcome to Kate Dohney and Emma Ferrell, the new Communication Interns who will be handling this site next year.

It has been our pleasure to edit this blog & cater it to you!

Have a great summer,

Nicole & Kristina 🙂

Through The Years

Our second senior reflection this week comes from Joel Lugo. Here’s what he had to say about his time at Purdue University and with St. Tom’s!

“It’s hard to believe I am at the end of my fourth year here at Purdue. Where did the time go? I have been so busy with end of the year projects and finals I haven’t had time to just sit and reflect on my experiences here. It’s strange to look back at freshman year. That time so long ago feels almost dream like. Each year at Purdue offered its ups and downs but at the end of them I was always coming back for classes the next year. Now, after I graduate, there are no more classes next year. It’s a frightening thought.

One thing that has been constant my four years here was the presence of St. Tom’s. Ever since I first asked Father Patrick if I could partake in the spring break mission trip freshman year my connection with St. Tom’s has only grown. This first mission trip led to four others and involvement with St. Tom’s in many of the activities it puts on. The friends I have gained and the strengthening of my faith have helped me through rough times. I know the friendships are true and will stay with me as the years go on. Through the work performed on the mission trips I have seen the love and generosity of others and the love for God others have. These experiences have made me want to continue to help and serve those in need after college.

When I look back at college in the years to come I hope to have the same fond memories I have today. I hope to still be in contact with the friends I have spent many a Sunday Night Dinners with. Mainly, I hope I will continue my faith that has developed so much over these past four years. I thank Purdue and especially those I have met through St. Tom’s for a wonderful four years. I am surely going to miss it.”

– Joel Lugo, senior

Blessings From God

As the semester draws to a close, we have a few final blog reflections we will be sharing with you from graduating seniors who will be moving on to the next phases of their lives. We hope you enjoy reading what they have to say about Purdue University, St. Thomas Aquinas & PCS. Our first senior reflection this week comes from Jacob Niemeier.

“So as I sit here as a graduating senior, it just does not seem real that in less than 2 weeks I will be graduating from Purdue University.  I mean what has happened to the last four years of my life.  They seem to have gone by in the blink of an eye; I guess that is why they say time flies when you are having fun. I, certainly, have had fun.  These last four years of my life have been the best years of my life. I have learned, grown, and experienced so much that if I were to write about every single thing I could write a novel. However, as I look back on my college career there are three things that I feel defined my experiences and who I am today.

One of these things that define my time a Purdue University is my participation and involvement as a fan in attending many of the Purdue basketball and football games.  Memories from these events abound, but one of the strongest ones is when we rushed the field after we beat Ohio State who at the time was ranked number seven in the nation.  It is really cool to say that I was there at the game when we upset Ohio State and especially to rush the field was one of the coolest experiences of my life.

Another thing that I feel has assuredly defined my college career is being a student in the ABE department. Not only do I feel like my education and learning have prepared me for a career; I, also, feel that because of the ABE department I have been blessed with the opportunity to experience many incredible things especially this past summer my trip to Togo, Africa which was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. I owe a great deal to the ABE department and will forever be thankful.

However, of all the great things that I have experienced and been a part of at Purdue the thing that has defined my time at Purdue the most and ultimately has shaped me into I am today is St. Toms. St. Toms has in a sense been my home away from home ever since I began getting involved the second semester of my freshman year. The people I have met and the friends I have made because of St. Toms are people that I will never forget and are people that have had a profound impact on my life.  Having the St. Toms community to fall back on is truly something that has helped me get through rough patches in my college career and ultimately made the good times twenty times better.  From Campus Renew, to PCS events, to PCE, to Boiler Awakening, to mission trips (especially the Haiti mission trip), to being a Church Mouse, my faith and relationship with Jesus has experienced incredible growth.  I can honestly say that I my faith have never been stronger than it is today, and I owe much of this to the incredible community, love, passion, and fire of the Holy Spirit present in the work, atmosphere, and people of St. Toms.  Everything happens for a reason and it is clear to me now that St. Toms was meant to happen in my life.

‘All these people, all these things came into my life, and they’re all blessings from God. And now that I look back, I realize that these are His fingerprints all over my story.'”

“Its been real, its been fun; hell, its been real fun!”

Peace Out,
Jacob Niemeier

An Experience of A Lifetime

This week we asked one of our PCS Communication Interns, senior Kristina Bender, to write a reflection on her time as an intern with us. Here’s what she had to say!

                                                 (Kristina, being her usual self)

“I remember my first mass ever at St. Tom’s. I was a freshman and it was the Sunday before BGR started. I had just gotten everything unpacked in my new “really awesome” dorm room. I had googled “catholic churches” near Purdue University, found St. Tom’s and quickly darted off (in what I hoped was the right direction) to 11am mass! I remember sitting in the back of the church thinking to myself, “How am I going to leave my mark at Purdue University?”

Last spring PCS decided to offer intern positions, specifically 2 in Communication for students interested in helping to advertise and bring new fresh advertising ideas to PCS. I was hesitant to apply at first; I can only do so many things at one time. Something inside of my reminded me of my first mass at St. Tom’s and I began to think, “This is how I am going to leave my mark at Purdue University,” and so I applied.

I have had the honor of working with awesome advisors and phenomenal leaders over my past year and a half of being an intern. I have had the opportunity to work with all different kinds of people at St. Tom’s from students, staff and resident parishioners. I’ve also had the opportunity to show campus just who and what PCS is.

Working with PCS as a communications intern was very rewarding for me because it was my chance to give back. To give back to St. Tom’s which helped me grow so much in my faith life when I needed it most, a way to give back to the Purdue community which has been my home for the past 4 years and a way to give back to all the people who do wonderful things at St. Tom’s.

I highly encourage anyone who is interested in interning with PCS either as a Communications Intern or as a Social Concerns intern to do it. Apply for the position, take a chance to change your life, to give back to a church that is your home and to realize the potential opportunities that lie ahead of you.

As for what the future holds after my internship with PCS is over, I have no idea but I will take with me all that I have learned from my peers and the professionals at St. Thomas Aquinas. The relationships I have formed and the opportunities I have had are once in a lifetime.”

Thank you St. Tom’s & Purdue Catholic Students!

Kristina 🙂

Seek the Kingdom

Having recently been confirmed into the Catholic Church, we asked Nick Lancaster to share with us some of his experience from Easter Vigil and deciding to go through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, (RCIA).  

Nick Getting a Hug from Father Patrick, with His Sponsor Alex Kosiak  

 

After about 8 months, I was able to become Catholic… officially that is.  Easter Vigil was an exciting night, that’s for sure!  For one, my parents actually came, that was a tad bit of a shock because the previous weekend they said that they weren’t coming.  Before everything started that evening, someone on the RCIA team, (I don’t know who he was, I had never seen him before), started yelling my name. Then he came to me and said, “Father Patrick would like to do your anointing.”  I found this to be pretty awesome.  Father Patrick has helped me get through a few things and I consider him a really good friend.  I was super happy that he wanted to do my anointing. 

When the time came to go up for confirmation, I walked up to Fr. Patrick with my sponsor Alex by my side.  With a huge smile on his face we were greeted by Fr. Patrick’s saying, “Its about time.”  I was overwhelmed with happiness and so excited, that I didn’t know what to say.  All I really could do was smile.  Then it came time for communion, to be perfectly honest, at the time the best part of that was not having to sit in the pew while everyone else went up, or just go up for a blessing.  I felt connected with everyone in the church in a special way being able to take the Eucharist as a member of the Catholic Church.  

 

 

As these past couple of days have gone by, I have noticed something has changed in me.  I’ve noticed that I am happier, deal with stress much better, and I can actually pay attention in classes again.  As I was writing, I came to the realization that all of the previously mentioned are because of the Eucharist.  Just having the physical reminder that Jesus is always with us can make all the difference in the world.  I am truly happy that I decided to enter the church and even though RCIA was a long process, it has led me here with no regrets.  

-Nick, Brother in Christ