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“I am looking for something where I can practice my faith and spread goodness,” says Hoertz. “I’m making sure that’s my focus, not making money.”
To further deepen her faith, Hoertz has participated in a Kairos retreat through University Ministry and will be participating in an upcoming immersion trip to Belize.
“It’s about making it a part of your life instead of something you do on Sundays,” says Hoertz.
While Hoertz’ experience is typical—a Catholic student seeking out the office’s assistance in religious matters—the reality is that University Ministry serves as a resource and home base for all students, regardless of faith.
As part of that, the office has ministers in the residence halls to act as a direct link with students in matters of faith and spirituality. The ministers, who represent a variety of faith backgrounds themselves, are the ones who are around when such topics come up—often well into the night when students have a chance to relax and talk about larger issues.
Some of what they talk about may include discussions of the role of social justice in religion. Whether that means volunteering at a free dining room or participating in a service-learning project or traveling to South America on one of University Ministry’s immersion trips, social justice is a vital part of the university.
This emphasis resonates with today’s students, says Donal Godfrey, S.J., University Ministry’s executive director. He points to increased interest in University Ministry’s immersion trips as an example of students wanting to put their spirituality into action: “People want to be hands-on,” he says.
Tzedek tzedek tirdof
These words from the Torah—Justice, justice you shall pursue—regularly circle through senior Johanna Gruen’s mind. They found their way in as she participated in a University Ministry immersion trip to Peru her sophomore year and also during a spring break trip this year to help rebuild New Orleans with a San Francisco Jewish group.
She also finds that the saying reinforces her decision to work toward becoming a clinical psychologist. A psychology major, Gruen, 21, believes that USF’s commitment to social justice has fit well with her Jewish faith, which she shares with about 2 percent of USF undergraduates.
“It’s not about, was Jesus the Messiah or was Jesus not the Messiah,” says Gruen, who is from Sacramento. “It doesn’t matter right now. What matters is what’s happening in the world right now and what you can do to make it better.”
Her commitment to Judaism extends beyond social justice. Gruen works hard not only to promote a sense of community among Jewish students, but also to follow her faith and explain it to others.
“I tend to be the friend people come to with Jewish questions,” she says.
Before USF, all of Gruen’s schooling was in Jewish schools, including at a Jewish boarding school for high school. She speaks Hebrew and has continued her language studies while at USF by taking an advanced independent study course with a professor. She also teaches Sunday Hebrew school at San Francisco’s Temple Emanu-El, where she attends services on the High Holy Days.
On campus, Gruen has tried for the past two years to get a formal Jewish student group off the ground. While she hasn’t yet succeeded, that hasn’t deterred her from enhancing her connection to her faith in other ways.
In October, for example, she organized a Shabbat dinner with friends. She also keeps kosher, which has meant that she doesn’t eat much while on campus since she finds it difficult to find cafeteria foods that meet kosher requirements.
Gruen has also turned her interest in Judaism and religion in general into a theology minor.
As a Jewish student with a theology minor, Gruen fits a trend Daniel Kendall, S.J. has noticed in recent years. Fr. Kendall, a theology and religious studies professor who has been at USF since 1979, says the students in his classes now come from “a more diverse range of faiths than I’ve ever seen.”
“I can’t presuppose any type of background,” says Fr. Kendall, adding that the number of students minoring in theology has slowly increased to 10 this academic year. The number of students majoring in it has remained the same at about 15.
He attributes the interest to a number of factors, including Vatican II’s historical, rather than dogmatic, approach, which has encouraged discussion about the Church. Also, he says, religion in general has become a central part of current events, whether they involve the Middle East, American politics, or even the moral responsibility to deal with climate change.
“Directly or indirectly, religion is on the front page of the paper every day,” says Fr. Kendall.
That prevalence has also spurred renewed interest in USF’s graduate-level theology program. While the number of students seeking a master’s degree in theology has remained steady over the years at slightly more than two dozen, the mix of students has shifted dramatically, says Fr. Kendall. In years past, the vast majority of students enrolled in the program were clergy. Today, all of the students are lay people.
Some of today’s students, says Fr. Kendall, do plan to use their degrees in some direct service capacity with a church. Others, however, have no plans to use their degrees professionally and instead are simply seeking a way to know more about their faiths. They are working professionals who view theological enrichment as a way to enhance their spiritual lives.
John Ensign fits that description exactly.
A psychologist in Davis, Ensign gets up at 5:30 a.m. during the week to do class readings and other assignments before heading to work. His afternoons and evenings are filled with family commitments, but come Saturday morning, he’s up at his usual hour—this time to make sure he arrives at USF in time for his 9 a.m. theology class. If he returns home by 6:30 or 7 p.m., “that’s really great.”
Despite the long hours and time away from his family (he often misses his kids’ Saturday sports events), Ensign says the program has been well worth the sacrifice. He doesn’t anticipate using the degree in his practice, but says the program has enriched his understanding of Catholicism and deepened his faith.
“It’s giving me a much better understanding of how those beliefs arose, what their meaning is,” says Ensign, 53. “For me, that’s certainly much more helpful than just, ‘Do you believe it or not?’”
Evan Pack also makes faith part of his daily routine. Pack’s alarm goes off well before his first class, and even well before the hour the graduate student needs to get ready, eat breakfast, and walk to class. This quiet morning time—before his roommate awakens, before the hustle of campus life begins—is his time to reflect on his relationship with God. He sees it as an opportunity to deepen that connection through prayer and reading the Bible.
“Keeping prayer and the word as the central part of my life is really important,” says Pack, who is from Visalia and considers himself a non-denominational Protestant. “It’s so important because it just helps out with the day, the stress, the emotions, things I’m dealing with.”
Just as the Bible passages vary, so do the subjects of his prayers. Sometimes they’re obvious, such as praying for the safety of his brother, who was recently deployed to Iraq. Pack, 25, also finds himself looking to God as he confronts various issues, taking comfort in the guidance he receives. About 5 percent of all USF students consider themselves Protestant.
Photos by Michael Collopy
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