COLLEGE COMPASS

Remember the good old college days? Remember how moving those Sunday morning Masses could be — just you and eight other sleepy kids singing “Kumbaya” with a couple of young guitarists? And I mean really singing it the way it should be sung — from the heart. Remember graduating from college pointed in the right direction, and prepared to be Catholic in the marketplace? Yeah . . . neither do I.

I talked to a founder of the fledgling COLLEGE COMPASS apostolate for just five minutes today, and already I crave the chance to go back and give campus ministry a shot. Two years ago, COMPASS cofounder Dr. Paul Voss speculated on the fact that he worked at a campus of twenty-five thousand students (Georgia State University in Atlanta), and yet there was no visible sign of Catholicism there. After attending a three-day think tank in New York, he resolved to go back to Georgia State and start something that would tap into the two-thousand-year intellectual history of Catholicism and renew the sacramental bonds that inspire true believers. COMPASS was born.

Most typical Catholic campus programs provide students with a weekly place to talk about their faith. They come to Christ in the Mass and through fellowship; many ministries also promote Bible studies to increase students’ understanding of Christ and His Church. COMPASS operates hand in hand with these existing ministries on campuses throughout the United States. But they take typical campus ministry a step further by creating a network of Catholics on campuses all over the U.S. In this way the ministry hopes to propel students out into the world to be real apostles for their faith.

It’s a sort of a Fellowship of Christian Athletes for Catholics, if you will. Working from a National Resource Center in Rhode Island, COMPASS looks to provide alternative spring breaks, internships with major national companies, March for Life trips, and even COMPASS reunions. The resource center also provides COMPASS groups with guidelines, a framework, free curriculum material, and guest lecturers. (How does the topic of “Shakespeare’s Radical Catholicism” grab you?)

The idea here is to tap into the nationwide resources of Catholics and to strengthen that common bond of sacrament and virtue. With this kind of encouragement, Catholic students can graduate as rich, deep, intellectual Catholics going out into the marketplace.

“This is the main goal,” says Voss: “Pluck the weeds of vice; plant the flowers of virtue.”

Voss, an assistant professor in the English department at Georgia State who specializes in Renaissance Literature, believes that we can give college students real alternatives if we are ready to give them examples of authentic virtue being practiced everywhere around them. “We need to revive the living intellectual tradition of Christ’s Church here on earth,” he insists. “Students have a real yearning for the transcendent, a yearning that isn’t fulfilled by pop culture. The beauty, prayers, and consciousness of the Catholic Faith appeal to all the senses. . . . COMPASS will help [the Church] fill that void. “

Most meetings of the COMPASS group at Georgia State begin with a Gospel reflection. This is followed by what they call a “case study.” Together, the students study an instance of virtue that was seen on campus, on TV, or in the newspaper. These are then analyzed in light of the seven cardinal virtues: faith, hope, love, wisdom (or prudence), justice, and temperance.

Students ask themselves: How can I develop this virtue? What real means of sanctity does God provide through His Church to help me in this matter? They have also studied a variety of interesting topics in the past year: the Creed, martyrdom, the communion of saints, papal encyclicals. Speakers, books and other media are used to fortify the growing zeal and discernment of these young people.

Soon, COMPASS hopes to provide graduates with an opportunity to be Catholic missionaries. Substantial corporate funding will enable COMPASS to provide volunteers with food and lodging for a year while they labor for the Church. When this program is in place, these workers will venture to campuses all over the country to establish, encourage, and become part of similar COMPASS groups.

I just hope they still sing a moving rendition of “Kumbaya.”

Contact COLLEGE COMPASS Executive Director, Earne Bentley, through their website: www.collegecompass.org.

 

Catholic Online

In 1994, it was a small Catholic presence on the Net, an outgrowth of a CompuServe forum. Now, six years later, this layman’s brainstorm has become the largest, most comprehensive, full-service Catholic web portal. And it’s getting bigger all the time. Welcome to Catholic Online! This burgeoning apostolate boasts three thousand registered members, millions of hits, and even a write-up in Newsweek.

There’s nothing Catholic that can’t be located through this site: Catholic news and media, Vatican links, shopping, a bookstore, Catholic organizations, schools, dioceses, vocations, saints and prayers, daily readings, and, oh yes, the infamous Catholic Online Interactive Forum. To put it bluntly, if it ain’t here, it probably ain’t Catholic. And if it is here, you can be sure that it’s good, solid, lovin’-the-Pope, obedient-to-the-Magisterium Catholic.

The priest on staff, Father John T. Zuhlsdorf, is the virtual wizard behind the curtain of this life-changing apostolate. In addition to his parish duties, he personally screens every application for membership that comes through COL. This includes businesses and organizations who utilize COL’s web-hosting services.
And what is it he is looking for? Simple faithfulness to the Magisterium. In his words, “We’re not liberal or orthodox — we’re just Catholic.”

The Catholic Online Interactive Forum is the most popular feature of the entire site. This one-of-a-kind creation with 2,500 active participants is where the real stuff happens. There are a dozen or so forums, or topics, in this section of the site. Here, people are free to post questions, ideas, or even just musings on topics ranging from doctrine, canon law, and liturgy to the single life, book reviews, online Bible study, and (my personal favorite) “The Yankees and the Tridentine Mass.”

Becoming a member isn’t easy. In making new members jump through a few hoops, the administrators of this site have eliminated many that would sign up just to make trouble. Even the screen names are reviewed. Father Z admits, “Yes, I’ve even thrown out ‘Satan’ a number of times.” But once your application is approved, it’s an easy click.

The staff and board of this wonderful apostolate do not practice censorship, although they’ve been accused of it occasionally. These people are intent on finding a way to create a safe place on the Web: safe for children, safe for Catholics, and especially safe for honest seekers. They seem to receive about as much hate mail as Envoy — which may well be an indicator of success!

Even so, the high standard of charity in this forum enables everyone to find truth. Not to say that there aren’t a few who take off the gloves every now and again. Then, you’ll witness Father Z swooping in and effectively excommunicating members from the forum.

Occasionally, however, you’ll also find those who can hold a bare-knuckle debate without getting personal. These are allowed to hold their slugfests in the “Lion’s Den” section. With staff members watching every sentence, people are able to reach (and learn from) some very sophisticated levels of conversation. I can’t tell you how much I learned by reading the debate about altar girls and their effect on vocations to the priesthood. A seminarian, a priest, a doctor, and a deacon were holding this particular debate.

The beauty of it is that you needn’t be a member to watch. There’s some stunning apologetic material here — and you get to see it in use! The principal at work: Good information drives out bad information.
Not everyone in the forum is Catholic, so they certainly aren’t preaching to the choir. Real conversions have taken place through the efforts of the staff who keep this site up and running. Truly, it’s a labor of love.

Unfortunately, there simply isn’t enough room in this column to speak in depth about everything available through Catholic Online. You simply have to experience the entire scope of it for yourself.

Contact Catholic Online at www.catholic.org. For the Catholic Online internet service, go to www.catholiconline.com.

 

Nucleus of Christian Life

If you’re looking for the means to study Christian truth through a small group format, take a look at Nucleus of Christian Life (NCL). It may well become one of the most popular and effective forms of
Christ-centered team spiritual formation in the American Christian community.

The concept is simple; the application is, too. The results could be limitless. You only have to open your ears and eyes to discover the thirsty people around you. The idea for this apostolate is to slake their thirst in a simple and practical way by making them aware of their spiritual need and deepening their faith in small group settings. Then they can carry the living water to others. Once this goal is clear, two challenges appear: how to provide the laity with the right answers and usable materials that reflect the integrity of Catholic teaching, and how to provide a simple way to use these people to reach others. NCL has met these challenges by selecting orthodox materials and providing support through a group of coordinators. The coordinators take on the personal responsibility to prepare and guide team leaders and sponsor local retreats, days of recollection, and other soul-building events for NCL team members.

Nucleus of Christian Life isn’t just another “program”; it’s about promoting and developing a way of life. The people at NCL have gone beyond publishing your basic Bible study course. NCL teams are small groups in which you experience spiritual renewal in three distinct areas: group prayer, doctrinal formation, and apostolic action.

Most groups begin their formation using the eight-unit manual Gospel Reflections. Through this study they enter the meaning of Christ-centered prayer, which is the basis for all other spiritual growth. These efforts at group prayer help prepare the small groups for good doctrinal formation. There are currently nine selections from which to choose for this kind of study, and team leaders with the NCL Coordinators work hard to find just the right fit for the needs of each group. NCL has written some of its own courses and will provide more, but they also have study guides and programs based on published works of great names in Catholic apologetics. Soon some of the courses will be available to download directly from the Internet — no more waiting around for the book to arrive by snail mail.

The format is flexible, but NCL does recommend that the group meet once a week, and that they have a crucifix on hand to help maintain the focus of the meetings.

The purpose of this renewal effort, according to their mission statement, is “to achieve a deeper and more fulfilling relationship with Christ and a further commitment to spread His kingdom” — in other words, apostolic action. NCL participants truly work on answering the call of the New Evangelization. Door-to-door missions and chastity task forces are two activities through which NCL leaders commit themselves to helping the local church. As director Mary Flood puts it, “At NCL, we aren’t just selling a great selection of books. We focus on forming, supplying and sustaining our teams for Christ-centered spiritual renewal.”

Getting teams going is definitely a grass-roots effort. Requests to establish new groups have come in from forty-two states and five Canadian territories. While NCL will gladly bring together interested people, their main focus is to help those who are willing to become NCL team leaders and pull together their own group or team.

Just who are these leaders? Teens, college kids, moms, dads, singles, older folks, catechists . . . you name it, they’ve responded. One business executive meets with his team at his company, one lunch hour a week. Another group leader is a mom of eight children. She leads her team in weekly prayer and study at her parish center, while another mom runs a Catholic children’s program in the next room.
Nucleus of Christian Life: Christ-centered, laity-run, practical, enriching, challenging. Is He calling you to take part?

Contact Nucleus of Christian Life at nucleususa@neworkshops.org or Mary Flood, P.O. Box 569, Cheshire, CT 06410-0569; phone: 203-271-0185. Website: www.nucleususa.org.