The following is an adapted story from three articles published in The Catholic Advance on July 17 and Aug. 14, 2024.
From prison ministry and Spanish immersion to a camp for individuals with special needs, several Newman University seminarians, students and alumni spent their 2024 summer serving the Lord.
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- Seminarian Koby Nguyen shares the love of God to prisoners hungry for the Lord
- No siesta for seminarians studying Spanish at Newman University
- Totus Tuus camp for persons with special needs had special helpers this year
Seminarian shares the love of God to prisoners hungry for the Lord
Before this summer the only experience with prison ministry seminarian Koby Nguyen had was a scene from the movie “Father Stu.” The scene depicted seminarian Stuart Long and a fellow seminarian in front of a group of stony-faced prisoners, several of whom are initially abusive of Stu’s companion.
“I thought that is what prison ministry must be like — you’re going to walk into this lion’s den of hardened hearts,” Nguyen said.
For the most part, however, Nguyen found the opposite to be true.
“That’s not at all what I encountered,” he said. “I found that these men were so hungry and so thirsty. They don’t have the luxuries of life, everything is stripped from them. I only encountered — in a lot of ways — soft hearts, hearts hungry for the Lord.”
Nguyen, a third-year theology student at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis said he was humbled at how the prisoners prayed and celebrated the sacraments with fervor and devotion.
“I remember watching a couple of the men at the Winfield (Correctional Facility) unit. As they were praying, I was thinking, ‘Man, these guys love Jesus.’ They love the Eucharist. Holiness can be found anywhere and I found it at the prisons more than I thought I would.”
In addition to taking part in the Masses celebrated in the prisons, Nguyen said he conducted communion services, prayed the rosary with inmates and led discussions and Bible studies.
“It was unbelievably beautiful,” he said. “It was eye-opening and broadened my perspective.”
With his prison ministry now behind him, he said, he understands how it will serve him if — God- and bishop-willing — he is ordained a priest in a couple of years. He will be able to hear habitual sins in confession and remember that he has experienced the effects of God and his mercy in the darkest places and be encouraging to the penitents.
God can forgive all sins, Nguyen said, “but I don’t think we always believe that. I think this changes my view, it brings new hope. We can think that God can forgive this or that, but nothing glorious comes after that. What I saw this summer — not only were these men forgiven of their sins through the sacrament of reconciliation and being fed in the Eucharist, but their lives were renewed. They were actually helping to glorify God in these dark places of prisons where it’s evident the evil one is present.”
Nguyen also urged those interested in prison ministry to explore the idea.
No siesta for seminarians studying Spanish at Newman University
Given the demographics of many parishes in the Catholic Diocese of Wichita, a priest who speaks Spanish is almost a necessity.
That is why the Most Rev. Bishop Carl A. Kemme and the priests who oversee seminarian formation make sure the newly ordained priests for the diocese “entienden y hablan español” — understand and speak Spanish.
The Spanish immersion program at Newman University teaches nearly a semester’s worth of Spanish in two months — depending on the initial level of understanding the seminarian has.
Seven seminarians from the Diocese of Wichita, the Diocese of Salina and a Newman University graduate studying at Sacred Heart Seminary in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, began their immersion on June 3.
“It’s a one-room schoolhouse kind of multi-level experience,” said Sonja Bontrager, assistant professor of Spanish. “They’re not divided up according to their proficiencies. They have different backgrounds. For example, one of the lowest levels has an extensive background in French and so he has a framework to build on.”
Bontrager and Professor Cinthia López taught the men from 8 a.m. to noon Monday through Thursday in an Eck Hall classroom at Newman. Lopez, a native of Honduras, also teaches Spanish at St. Jude School and has taught at Wichita State University. Sister Dani Brought instructed the students in Catholic Social Teaching for an hour every Wednesday. Jennifer Sissell, a middle school Spanish teacher, taught reading for an hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The men read and studied a story of a young, fictional Guatemalan man and the reasons he chose to emigrate.
The Adorers of the Blood of Christ hosted the seminarians for their Zoom classes with Brought at the motherhouse south of Newman and got to know them at a post-class lunch in their dining room. The seminarians continued their studies off-campus with families who hosted them on Monday evenings and Sundays.
Thomas Elliott, a first-year theology student at Mount St. Mary’s in Emmitsburg, Maryland, said the class has helped him grow in confidence to converse in Spanish outside of the class.
“Encountering people who — this is a part of their lives, this is part of who they are — and realizing I can enter into that with them through this language.”
Dominic Jirak, a second-year theology student at Mundelein, said his ability to speak has grown tremendously.
“But the greatest lesson I’ve learned this summer is to have a heart for the people, especially the Hispanic people,” he said. “Being able to sit down with them and talk with them in their own language, you see the joy and the appreciation in their eyes. And that’s been beautiful.”
Totus Tuus camp for persons with special needs had special helpers this year
This year’s Totus Tuus camp for children with special needs had two extra-special participants: Newman sophomore Steven Brown and first-year seminarian Anthony Jackson.
Baylee Holmes, the program coordinator for the Ministry with Persons with Disabilities, said the camp was grateful for its two peer role models in addition to the seven participants.
“The peer role models, Steven and Anthony, came back to help campers learn the structure of the camp and how to participate,” Holmes said. “They are individuals with disabilities themselves and have been to Totus Tuus before and came back to help.”
They helped with tasks such as passing out items, ensuring that activities were ready to go and cleaning up.
Totus Tuus parish teams also took part in the camp, helping with craft activities, leading singing and assisting the campers on the playground during the week.
“I think we had five different Totus Tuus teams and they were all fantastic,” Holmes said.
The teams worked with the campers one-on-one or several-on-one depending on how profound the intellectual or developmental needs were.
In addition to taking part in Mass and discussions about the Mass, the campers visited a Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Atrium where they had an opportunity for hands-on activities related to their faith.
Explore Campus Ministry at Newman University
Students will find the support through Campus Ministry both to develop their spiritual life and to put that spirituality in practice at the service of others in the broader Wichita community and beyond.
