Here are alumni stories through the decades. Consider dropping us a line and sharing your memories of The Catholic Center with us. We love to hear from alumni! Click here to share a story!
Peter and Wally Perkins |
ALUMNI
1960s |
"In 1953 when Peter enrolled at UVM, there was no Newman Center. He and other Catholic students attended Mass at the chapel on the first floor of what was then the DeGoesbriand Chapel. It was a very convenient location to stop in for visits, prayer and reflection. Wally, who had returned to UVM for graduate school in 1956, was in the process of becoming Catholic after being raised in a Quaker and Methodist background. She met Peter at the fall Newman Club dance and were later married. After a busy life of teaching and raising a family of five children, three of whom are adopted, they returned to Vermont for retirement and became active in volunteer work. Both of them are amazed at how the Newman club of the 50’s has evolved into the Catholic Center of today. “It’s physical presence is so beautiful and the availability of so much spiritual and personal support for the students is such an improvement over our day.”
ALUMNI
1970s As a student at the University of Vermont from 1976 to 1980, The Catholic Center, then known as the Newman Center, was tremendously important to me; even now, more than 35 years later, it continues to bear fruit in my life. As a live-in student staff member from the winter of 1977 through graduation, I had a closer relationship to the Center than most students: I lived in a wonderful, family-like community of five to six people, with whom I grew very close and who provided a lot of support through the challenges of being a student and young adult. In addition, the Center itself profoundly shaped, through the Catholic vision it imparted to the University Community, my understanding of the world. The weekend Masses were very popular, and the homilies by the chaplains, including Fr. Dan Daley and Fr. Norm Nadeau, were challenging, relevant to students, and faith-inspiring. In addition, there were numerous and varied programs, to include ongoing faith formation, spirituality, social justice awareness and action, and social activities. We had a vibrant Catholic Student Association that also included representation from nearby Trinity College. Finally, the Center offered students a quiet welcoming place to study- no small gift at that. The Holy Spirit was clearly at work in the people of the Newman Center. So many years later, as I study to become a deacon in the Archdiocese of Washington, I often reflect with joy and gratitude, and a sense of great indebtedness for what the Center provided me and my fellow students.
~Mark '80 ALUMNI
1990s |
I first started attending Mass at the old brick Newman Center on North Williams Street in 1965. My friend from Rutland High School, Larry Minogue, was friends with Fr. Phil Branon and told him I was a former altar boy and I was hooked! I would serve afternoon Masses when needed. The new Newman Center had been under construction and Frs. Branon and Beary kept all filled in on its progress. When it came time for the dedication of The Catholic Center, I was chosen to meet Cardinal Richard Cushing who said the first Mass. When the cardinal was putting on his garments, he was being assisted by Rev. Louis Gelineau, Bishop Joyce's right-hand man. He was the sixth Bishop of Providence. In hooking a vestment, the Cardinal cut his finger pretty good. I though Rev. Gelineau was going to pass out. Blood started dripping on the new carpet in that dressing room. After some tissues had been applied, the Cardinal said in his great Irish voice, "This carpet is now consecrated with sacred blood." The "new" Newman Center became a great place to study and meet friends. Sadly, I met Fr. Branon for the last time in 1984 at Larry's funeral in Rutland. I was a bearer for my old friend and Fr. Branon said the Mass and did the committal.
ALUMNI
1980s 1984/1985
Two members of the UVM Catholic Center, Sally Falkerhen and Jim Ziegler, died of cancer while still students at UVM. Jim was also a student at The Catholic Center. Their deaths inspired the creation of CancerTrek, a cross country bicycle Trek to benefit Burlington's Hope Lodge. 1984 Bed races with Fr. Baffa the less-than-fully walking rider. Someone stole stereo equipment from the lobby while several of us were studying in the library upstairs. Fr. Baffa ran in, threw me his car keys and asked me to use it to chase after them. So, there I went in his car down the green, over the grass... Never did see (the burlgers) but is was quite an experience anyway. Fr. Baffa's parrot. Wish I could remember what he always said. 1985 Godspell at The Catholic Center! ALUMNI
2000s |
|
Thank you for welcoming me and my family since UVM Orientation 1986. The UVM Catholic Center has always been a place to call home for me on campus. I've got fond memories of Sunday Mass followed by brunch @ Marsh, Godspell featuring my roommate Erin '90, my daughter's christening on Mother's Day 2009. So great to be with you on Mother's Day today with my mother & daughter (& dad) to celebrate 50 years. It's an honor and privilege to be part of this community.
~Ruth '90 In September of 1996 I walked into The Catholic Center for the first time. A student meal was being prepared by the CSA, and talbes were set up in the lounge. A first year student approached, introduced himself as Andy and asked me to help him set the tables. My immediate impression was of the goodness of the people I had encountered. I felt immediately at home, simply by the invitation to lend a hand. I entered RCIA that year; and received the Sacraments of Initiation. Over the years I've wondered how many students' lives were changed by a simple invitation to lend a hand. ~David '98 |
I first came to UVM and therefore The Catholic Center in August of 2001. I was a brand new Catholic, having received 3 sacraments during the Easter Vigil Mass just a little over a year earlier. My 3 years at UVM were a time of great change in my personal life. The Catholic Center was a bastion of stability during that time when I was coming of age. Given that my time here was so early in my faith journey, these 3 years were also very formative years in my faith, during which I learned a lot of what I know now. The Catholic Center played a big part in making me who I am today as a Catholic man. There isn't any one thing that stands out individually as a memory but the entire experience, collectively, was memorable in more ways than anyone can imagine. I still keep in touch with the priests from my time period as well as some of the laypeople and alumni. The ideas of being friends with anyone for 15 years would have been unfathomable to me even just a few years ago and beyond comprehension back in the early 2000s. As I mentioned before, I associate this place with stability and I am ever grateful for that. I am forever...
Yours in Christ, Bryan '05 |
Emily
|
ALUMNI
2010s |
"The Catholic Center was a second home to me. It was a place I could go on campus and just be myself and not worry about what other people thought. It gave me some of the best friends ever and was able to teach me many lessons about how to live my life and be the best I can be. The Catholic Center helped me to know that I am not alone in my Catholic faith and that my faith can get me through anything. It was also a great place for quiet studying and just having fun with friends. It was not just a place for Sundays it was a place for everyday!
I am now an Oncology Nurse and give people chemotherapy every day and my time at the Catholic Center definitely gave me many of the interpersonal tools that I need to deal with situations in life and at work. I still keep in touch with many of the people from my days at the Catholic Center and know that we are always there for each other. I am so grateful to the Catholic Center for helping shape the person I am today!" DAN
|
If it were not for The Catholic Center at UVM, I don't know if I would be Catholic today. It has been my home away from home for 6 years now and I am so grateful for the Center and all the friends I have made. I'm lucky to still be in school today and still able to call it home. I have too many memories to count, but I will be forever grateful for all of them. My favorite moment from my time at The Catholic Center was becoming a full member of the Catholic Church in April, 2011. I've only formed more memories since then and can't wait to see what more are to come.
~Kelsey '13 The Catholic Center at UVM has been a wonderful and open place filled with wonderful people and love from above throughout my four years as a student at Champlain coming here. I've had the chance to participate in my faith more than ever since coming here. I've had the chance to go on a service trip where we were able to help many people and even got the chance to see the pope! Father Jon and his wonderful inspired homilies and outlook on life have really changed the way I look at my life and my Catholic faith. I will really miss seeing him every Sunday, and wish him the best of God's Graces in his new position. ~Peter '16 |
"The Catholic Center is that rock that students can hold fast to while trying to navigate the insanity that often characterizes UVM, as it was for me. If one does not see the need to entrust one’s life to God through Holy Mother Church while a student, it is unlikely that such an individual will see the need for the Church as a young professional, married person, or retiree. Students, clergy, and staff of the Catholic Center alike know this and do everything in their power to help students not eschew their faith at such a critical time in their lives. The formula is simple and time tested; students at the Catholic Center are entreated to form a habit of frequenting the sacraments, of cultivating a steady prayer life and devotion to our Blessed Mother and the Saints, and developing in discipline to avoid those near, and very real occasions of sin, especially those prevalent on University campuses. In this way students are better prepared to re-enter a world where the Church is at best treated with indifference and more often hostilely opposed. In all this I have been an unworthy recipient. It is thanks to God’s work at the Catholic Center that I emerged from University as joyful Catholic. I would have been another soul lost at the hands of the academy without them! I am currently a graduate student studying plant systematics at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in the greater Los Angeles area and I know that, thanks to the Catholic Center, I have entered the world with the proper tools to grow in holiness as I move on to the next phase of my life."
|
DAN
|
