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During Jennevieve Amborski's two semesters at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, she prayed with other Christian students Wednesdays at lunchtime and befriended a Muslim girl who was in the process of converting to Christianity.

"We had a blast getting to know the nuances of each other's religions," said Ms. Amborski, who took education courses at HVCC and is now earning a Master's degree at The College of Saint Rose in Albany.

Her experiences wouldn't have happened without the interfaith office at HVCC, located in the campus center. There, all faiths converge under the guidance of a Catholic nun and campus minister, Sister Nancy Langhart, OSF.

Next door is a 20-seat prayer room where Muslims gather to worship five times a day and other groups congregate periodically. The Muslim students formerly prayed in the college's library.

Ms. Amborski, 25, said her Catholic faith is important to her, but she doesn't regularly attend Mass. Like many young people, she questions aspects of the faith.

She approached Sister Nancy to discuss the Franciscan lifestyle, vows of poverty and celibacy, the role of women in the Church and the changing ways that students find Jesus.

In the Wednesday prayer group, members discussed the role of John the Baptist in Scripture, the way Jesus encountered women and St. Paul's conversion.

Sister Nancy referred Ms. Amborski to the Benedictine Monks of Weston Priory in Weston, Vt., where Ms. Ambor-ski attended services.

"I think she's amazing," the student said of the campus minister. "She was such a good role model for me because she has genuine faith. I was terribly excited, because I was at a place in my own spiritual development where I was really thankful [the office] was available."

Susan Smith, a part-time student in bereavement studies at HVCC and a eucharistic minister at an Episcopal church, agreed.

"I doubt myself, so I ask her certain things," Ms. Smith explained. Sister Nancy "gives me the tools to help guide me - to know how to ask God certain questions and how to interpret the answers."

Ms. Smith, a program assistant in the student activities office, even sits down with the campus minister to get family problems off her chest.

Other students and staff members also go to Sister Nancy, a state-certified mental health counselor, with personal problems. Regardless of their religious background, she always prays with them at the end of a session.

"I'm really here for everyone," Sister Nancy said. "I don't ask people when they stop in what their religion is."

A tau, the wooden Franciscan cross, dangles from her neck on a cord. However, she pointed out that her office walls hold no crucifix.

"It's not that I'm trying to deny Christ in any way. Everybody knows who I am. Everybody says 'Sister,'" she noted - though that's far from the endearing nickname of "Nun" given to her by students during a previous stint at Bloomsburg University in Bloomsburg, Pa.

Sister Nancy has been a campus minister for more than 30 years.

"I'm trying to bring a different face on this campus so that people will see the Catholic Church as welcoming," she told The Evangelist. "College students are very welcoming and very open, especially if you let them know right away that it's okay to be gay, it's okay to be fallen away from the Church."

In Sister Nancy's three years at HVCC, she hasn't yet been able to recruit enough Catholic students to form a Newman club. She said that advertising is difficult at the commuter school, where classes accommodate the schedules of students in their 20s as well as married or second-career adults.

Sister Nancy calls hers a ministry of presence. She contributes messages to the college's website, and the student activities office posts fliers and laminates signs for her.

That office also collaborates with her on campus events; for example, Sister Nancy showed the film "An Inconvenient Truth" and led a discussion about responsibility to the earth as a gift from God.

Taking part in student activities "certainly makes you feel really useful and welcome," Sister Nancy remarked.

In return, she writes and intones the prayers at most events, like graduations and memorial services.

The campus minister noted that, sometimes, students struggling with faith ask why she remains Catholic.

"The Church is my home," she tells them. "You don't walk out on your family; you try to make it better."

(05/13/10) [[In-content Ad]]

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