I'm excited to announce that we will be returning this December to New York City for our campus ministry winter mission trip!  We will be hosted at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle, the motherhouse church for the Paulist Fathers.  The Paulists are the priests who minister here on staff at the Newman Center, and their founder, Fr. Isaac Hecker, who is named a Servant of God by the Church, is buried there.   Located in the heart of New York City by Columbus Circle and Central Park, it will be an amazing place to call home the week of Dec. 11-18, 2010.

When I was at home cooking dinner this week, I found myself becoming inpatient when a pot filled with water just wouldn't reach boiling temperature.  Becoming mindful of my impatience, I decided to turn this waiting period into an experience to theologically reflect upon.  After all, as St. Ignatius says, find God in all things.  So, here are my thoughts.

The Newman Center has been selected for a prestigious national student leadership pilot program.  ESTEEM - Engaging Students to Enliven the Ecclesial Mission - is coming to the Newman Center this fall!  I am confident that this program will make great contributions to our Buckeye Catholic leaders as well as the Catholic Church in the United States.

As Buckeye Awakening #2 is on the horizon, I wanted to offer my prayer of blessing upon our student leaders who have given so much of themselves the last several months to prepare for this upcoming retreat weekend. May the Spirit enliven each and all of you as you bring the light of Christ to all of our retreaters.

On March 20-27, two dozen Buckeye Catholics participated in the Newman Center's spring break mission trip to Memphis, Tennessee.  In addition to amazing service and justice projects, students were able to explore civil rights and put their faith into action by directly serving in some of the poorest zip codes in the U.S. 

For the past several weeks, we have been making some fun enhancements to the Student Lounge on the third floor of the Newman Center so that it better welcomes and serves our student community at The Ohio State University.  We invite you to come and check it out!

On Saturday, March 6, I attended the 13th Annual Catholic Men's Conference here in the Diocese of Columbus.  One of the speakers, Robert Rogers, shared a powerful witness talk about living a life with no regrets.

This past Saturday at the Newman Center, we offered a Young Adult Discernment Workshop.  Facilitated by the Dominican Sisters of Peace in collaboration with the Newman Center staff, participants in the day retreat were able to pray together and work through a 7-step discernment process to help them with making important life decisions, such as picking a major, choosing a grad school, selecting a meaningful career, considering a year of service, or exploring a life vocation to marriage or religious life.  

For my first blog entry on our new BuckeyeCatholic.com, I wanted to write about baptism.  Of all topics, why blog on baptism?