Can tasty food, good conversation and worship coexist on a Catholic campus — all under one roof? In fact, yes. They can and do.

What’s more, the concept is not new. As recorded in Scripture, Jesus’ disciples dedicated themselves to Church teaching, the communal life, and to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

“Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together,” St. Luke’s narrative reads, “and to the breaking of bread in their homes. They ate their meals together and were exceedingly glad in their hearts, praising God” (Acts 2:42).  

That same spirit is alive on the campus of St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa., 035 miles east of Pittsburgh. Founded by a Bavarian Benedictine monk in 1846, the school is run by the Order of St. Benedict. About 1,600 students, two-thirds of whom are Catholic, attend this coeducational liberal-arts college.

On campus, the Mary, Mother of Wisdom Chapel and the student eatery, known as “the Shack,” are one — by design. College officials and the campus-ministry group wanted to offer students a unique place to gather, eat and worship. So in 2003 they renovated the Robert S. Carey Student Center into a “Benedictine place,” one in which students can get a taste of the Rule of St. Benedict — community, prayer, sacraments, adoration and study — in one building.

Both the chapel and the Shack are part of the student center, jutting out “into the heart of campus,” as Benedictine Father Brian Boosel, the school’s director of campus ministry, puts it.

“It’s a natural and unique combination that you don’t find at other schools,” adds the priest. “Every student at some point during the day will be walking past the chapel. In the Shack you have people eating, and through the window they can see where people are praying. Everything needed for our community is in our student center. It’s become a Benedictine place.”

Mass Appeal

Father Boosel has called St. Vincent home for a long time. He attended school there in the ’90s, then joined the monastery. He has lived there for 10 years. He was ordained in 2003. 

The impact of having the chapel in the student center near an area where coeds eat is self-evident, St. Vincent public relations director Don Orlando explains. He says the chapel’s closeness to the Carey Center and the Shack has boosted Mass attendance — for Catholics and non-Catholics alike — and participation in prayer gatherings and liturgical events. The chapel is open seven days a week, 24 hours a day. It’s monitored by security guards, who often peer inside and see students praying before the Blessed Sacrament night and day. The doors are always open.

Students are responsible for the upkeep of the building and the chapel; they clean the sanctuary, plant flowers, and prepare the altar for Mass. The new set-up has had “an amazing, positive impact on Mass attendance, informal prayer and adoration,” Orlando says.

According to the Rule of St. Benedict, the measure of food taken by monks and sisters should be commensurate with the amount of work performed. In short, the more you work, the more you may eat. However, St. Benedict counsels: “Above all things, overindulgence must be avoided” (Chapter 39).

The father of Western monasticism was echoing the words of Christ himself, who in Luke’s Gospel (21:34) warns that overindulgence leads to heaviness of heart. Of course, he wasn’t speaking about indigestion but about the effects that gluttony can have on a Christian’s soul.

Paul the Apostle knew something about temperance himself. In his pastoral letters he exhorts the Thessalonians that a person who does not work should not eat (2 Thessalonians 3:10). That’s no problem for St. Vincent students. Most carry a rigorous academic workload. And all can visit the Mary, Mother of Wisdom Chapel and the Shack — getting physically fed at the snack counter and spiritually fed at the altar.

Any time is a good time for them to visit the center, Father Boosel says, for physical and spiritual refreshment.

“Your body receives nourishment at the Shack and our spirit receives nourishment in the chapel,” he says. The chapel, he points out, is a “sacred space for students, a beacon visible from the majority of the residence halls that serves as a guide to followers.”

Historic Happening

Other Catholic colleges around the United States also make chapels a centerpiece of their campuses. The Catholic Center at the University of Vermont bears a sign reading “Our doors are open to all.” It’s situated between residence halls and the main campus with a view of the Green Mountains.

Students stop by the center on their way to and from their dormitories and classes. The alpine-style hall contains a common area with a fireplace, and shelves lined with magazines and books, creating the warm, earthy atmosphere for which Vermont is famous.

At St. Vincent, the Mary, Mother of Wisdom Chapel features a new pipe organ and contemporary and traditional designs crafted from brick, wood and marble. Large windows allow in an abundance of light. 

Earlier this year, of course, the school made headlines when President George W. Bush spoke at its commencement. It was only his second engagement at a Catholic college and his first in the state of Pennsylvania. St. Vincent has a connection with President Bush: College president H. James Towey served as director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives from 2002 to 2006.

There was plenty of debate and discussion about the speech. Students, faculty members and administrators all seemed to have an opinion. Where did they go to talk politics and social justice?

The Shack is indeed a fitting place to follow the lead of the apostles who, in the Gospels, espoused community — and, when not praying, healing the sick or preaching, spent time dining with friends. In fact, Jesus spent more time supping with friends than he spent at any other leisure activity. Always before meals he said grace and gave thanks to his Father before the breaking of bread. There was always plenty of food to go around. And more conversation than any writer, no matter how inspired, could have recorded.

Sounds like the scene at St. Vincent’s.

Tucker Cordani

writes from Orlando, Florida.