New School Year at Stonehill

I can’t believe that we are already a month into the school year here at Stonehill College. There’s been a lot packed into that month. Move in day with its parental tears and new student fears, seems like eons ago. The first year students are already stressing about their new classes, making new friends and exploring new activities, while returning students have re-established old friendships and settled into a comfortable routine. Meanwhile, all of us at Campus Ministry are in the midst of recruiting and training new liturgical ministers, rehearsing the choir, encouraging students to volunteer for service opportunities in the local community and thinking about going on one of our service immersion trips over the breaks.

It’s always an exciting time of the year to be a priest on campus. Getting to meet new students and working with them as they explore their faith and how they fit into college and the Stonehill Community. Being with seniors as they begin to think about what the future holds for them. I love being a chaplain on the sidelines of football games, blessing the team in the locker room before the game and praying with them after the game. There are also serious, but powerful events that have occurred, such as our annual 9/11 Memorial Prayer Service and a candlelight prayer memorial for a student who died over the summer.

This year in particular has been fun, because of the presence of our new deacon, Rev. Mr. Tim Mouton, CSC. His energy and zeal has added so much energy to the campus. He is able to relate so well to the students in so many ways, doing everything from serving as a part-time coach for the varsity baseball team, to forming a men’s spirituality group, to hosting the weekly Tuesday night Mass in his residence dorm. Yesterday, Tim served as deacon and preached at all of the Campus Ministry Sunday Masses for the first time. It was amazing to see how poised and confident he was. At the reception after the Masses, Tim was mobbed with students, faculty and staff, touched by his message and his presence.

It’s going to be a great year!

Fr. Tony Szakaly, C.S.C., is the local superior of the Holy Cross community atStonehill College, Director ofCampus Ministry, and Alumni Minister at Stonehill College. A South Bend native, he received a Holy Cross education at every level of his schooling, from the C.S.C. sisters in grade school, the C.S.C. brothers in high school, and C.S.C. priests at the University of Notre Dame. He took final vows in 1991 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1992.