The Catholic Student Association at the College of Wooster hosted a delicious meal of non-campus food to help students get to know members of our community of faith on campus. The spaghetti sauce was a specially prepared recipe from Josh Clark’s (’09) Italian family, and was a huge hit with the dinner attendees. Many new faces were there, as well as many students already involved in campus ministry. The dinner provided a great way for students “young and old” to mix with games, prayer, good food, and good conversation.

Plans for the Spaghetting-to-Know- You Dinner were developed by a team of four Wooster students and myself at the Campus Ministry Leadership Institute (CMLI) this past June at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, as part of our larger project to reach out to and welcome students into our faith community at the College. Our CMLI team, Josh Clark (’09), Eden Kovacik (’10), and Zachery Matesich (’11), were excited to see the plans come to fruition. A grant from the Newman Foundation supported travel to CMLI and part of the dinner cost.

The U.S. bishops identify “forming the faith community” as one of the primary aspects of campus ministry, and the Spaghetting-to-Know-You Dinner certainly helped to accomplish this. Jesus probably never shared a plate of pasta with the people He ministered to, but His words in the Gospel reading for September 7, “where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt 18:20), assure us that He was at our dinner as well.

Karen Hahn, Campus Minister
College of Wooster