By Aleksandra Sidorova
The Newman Association, a club where students can grow their Catholic faith or learn about it, was on the verge of shutting down during the thick of COVID-19. Two years later, it is thriving with around 30 members.
A new adviser, different outreach strategy and open-minded community all came together, allowing the Newman Association to increase its membership sixfold and fill the Newman Center with activity.
“First, I want to credit God,” treasurer Matthew Edwards said. “I think that was totally divine intervention, just bringing the right people in front of us.”
OUTREACH
Riley McQuade joined the Newman Association in 2020, when there were seven members.
As a sophomore in 2021, McQuade found herself the president of a club barely in standing with SUNY Plattsburgh: It had four officers and a non-board member. The club had to grow because neither the college nor Holy Cross Parish — representing the Catholic church in Plattsburgh — would financially support it otherwise.
Growing the club had already been McQuade’s goal.
“The club had become something super important in my life,” McQuade said. “It strengthened my faith in a way I didn’t think it could strengthen it before, and that was before we had the on-fire people in the club that we have now.”
Without financial support for the club’s outreach, the Newman Association took to grassroots recruitment efforts.
“Word of mouth was very powerful for us,” McQuade said. “Once the five of us started talking to people more, getting to know more people, we got more people involved — people we never thought in our lives would come.”
The efforts were tailored to each member’s strengths: The club made posters, tabled, relaunched its Instagram account and mastered Cardinal Link.
The club became so skilled at using the online platform SUNY Plattsburgh introduced for campus clubs that McQuade helped train other clubs.
The Newman Association also made efforts to be visible and get to know church-goers in the greater Plattsburgh community.
“I remember in the last year or so, all of a sudden, we were getting a ton of people in the church who were like, ‘Can we cook for you?’” said Erica VanValkenburg, the current president of the Newman Association. “At least one person said, ‘I can’t cook, but can I buy you a pizza?’”
Desiree Kirk, campus minister, director of religious education at Holy Cross Parish and adviser to the Newman Association, said this support comes from the community seeing the Newman Association be active outside of their immediate college environment.
McQuade and Kirk also spent hours meeting with college and parish staff, making a case for the Newman Association to operate. The club used to identify itself as strictly Catholic, which didn’t help the existing preconceptions of churches being exclusionary.
“To be a religious club at this school is a challenge — it wasn’t always met with the acceptance that I feel like they’ve achieved now,” Kirk said. “We are lucky that we have our church and the college supporting us to grow. We’re very blessed in that sense.”
The club is now a social club first and a faith group second, VanValkenburg said.
Kirk stepped into her role at about the same time as McQuade took leadership. Newman Association members said Kirk’s attitude was part of what helped the club grow and invite more students to join.
“Bless her heart, because I don’t have the same talent. She doesn’t judge a soul,” Edwards said. “I think one of the things on people’s minds is judgment — ‘Am I going to be judged because I’m different than these people?’ — and she is the most open-minded, welcoming person that I know.”
COMMUNITY
One Easter, none of the Newman Association members went home. Instead, they stayed to watch two of their members undergo the rite of Christian initiation and take their first Communion, joining them in the faith.
“We wanted to see that because we saw their growth,” McQuade said.
The club primarily meets for Sunday dinners at 6 p.m., after evening Mass at the Newman Center. The Newman Center, across the street from Kehoe Administration Building, is technically part of the SUNY Plattsburgh campus, and non-religious clubs and organizations may use the space. Some sororities and fraternities have been holding meetings at the Newman Center.
In the past couple of years, though, the Newman Association has diversified its events, most recently hosting a cooking competition, a hike, a camping retreat and a trip to an apple orchard. The Newman Association is also planning for its Friendsgiving and Christmas celebrations.
The wide range of events allows the club to appeal to more people, VanValkenburg said — such as her boyfriend, who is an atheist.
Incorporating faith into daily activities can help believers strengthen it, but doing so also allows more opportunities for newcomers to learn about the church. Edwards didn’t grow up Catholic, but the Newman Association was an opportunity for him to learn about the faith and eventually join it as a college student.
Many of the conversations at the club’s Sunday dinners revolve simply around the members’ daily lives. Students have stayed as late as 11 p.m., Kirk recalled.
Members also note the variety of majors the club represents, from theater to nursing. Edwards is a senior criminal justice major, VanValkenburg is a junior majoring in environmental science with an English minor and McQuade graduated from the combined childhood education and special education teaching program.
YOUTH AND RELIGION
The Newman Association is one of the only resources aimed at college students Holy Cross Parish has. Club members identify themselves as “baby adults,” McQuade said — still learning to navigate life. The physical space and relaxed social environment the Newman Association creates help them grow in their faith.
For one, they have space to make mistakes during occasions as serious as Mass. The clergy take on more easy-going attitudes as well.
“We can joke and make light of our mistakes and have fun, which, in a typical Mass, that’s not what happens,” McQuade said.
They get “goofy,” in McQuade’s words, but take sacraments such as the Eucharist, or Communion, seriously.
Generation Z is the least religious generation yet, with about a third not identifying with any religion at all, according to a survey published by the Survey Center on American Life in 2021. The survey found that 8% of Gen Z respondents identified as Catholic, compared to 12% of millennials and 18% of baby boomers.
About 20 Newman Association members regularly go to Mass.
“It’s a choice, and I think that that is something that’s really beautiful,” McQuade said. “Any time I see a young adult either come back to church or enter into the church, it just reminds me of the gift that I was given growing up Catholic. I was allowed to have that choice.”
Attending Mass every week helped VanValkenburg navigate her transition to college life. McQuade still attends Newman Association meetings, even though she graduated in May. Kirk’s top priority is supporting students in whichever way they need, whether it’s advice or saying a prayer for them.
Kirk said, “My vision of what campus ministry is is to help them feel safe and secure in whatever path they want to take in their faith.”
