You Are Not Poor!

Forgive me if I get a bit preachy in this post, but sometimes it happens. Nix that, you don't have to forgive me, but just listen for a minute.

Most College students are horrible with money. I frequently hear the claim they are "poor" or the one about "not having any money". Both really bother me.  It isn't the high-life of western civilization for most college students, but it definitely isn't living in a shack, the likes of which can be found a few miles down the road in Bryan. Even less is the "poverty" the likes of what is in the picture - found in the Philippines.

But, I digress. Do college students make some sacrifices. I would say yes. Yet, it is more the lack of sacrifice that most Americans have had to endure, rather than the true lack of money that is what causes the attitude of "poverty".

I work for the Catholic Church. I don't make a lot of money compared to the average person in a similar position in the secular world. But, I do not call myself poor, because I am not. I am able to comfortably provide for my family and myself. We live in a nice house, we eat well and we have good clothes. Money is tight sometimes, but I am ashamed when I say things like "I am broke". Because I haven't missed a meal because of a lack of food once in my life.

So, I thought I would count up some of my blessing and I invite everyone else to do the same.

• I have the fullness of the grace of Christ offered to me through the Catholic Church.
• I have the fullness of truth offered to me through the Church.
• I have a wonderful family.
• I have my health.
• I have a great job.
• I have life.
• I am part of fewer than 1% of the world population that has a Master's degree.
• I have great friends.
• I can read, walk, see, hear, etc.
• I can worship how I like.
• I can post my opinion on the internet unlike others who are restricted by their government.
• I can vote.
• I am very RICH. I am BLESSED.

You are rich as well.

But, ton understand that you are "rich" might take an attitude adjustment and/ or a few changes in lifestyle.

If you are a college student who doesn't have a lot of money - please don't complain about eating Ramen noodles. Don't complain about not being
able to by the newest tech toy.

Learn to live without. Learn to be satisfied and content with what you need, not what you desire. Peace can be found in such an attitude. It is the attitude of abundance vs. the attitude of poverty.

If you want to develop this kind of attitude, then do a few things.

• Ask God to give you this grace.
• Stop complaining about what you don't have.
• Start appreciating more what you do have.
• Live off of a tight budget.
• Tithe.
• Tithe 10%!
• Take the advice in this article.

When I talk to college students about budgeting I challeng them to track their expenses and see where they could make one sacrifice to then offer the money to a charity or give to their parish. A few years ago, one student found she was spending a ton of money on coffee at Starbucks. She cut back and started a regular donation to her parish.

It is as easy as that. That is, if you want to be rich.

Video of Life On The Rock

Here is the video of us on Life on the Rock (EWTN TV) from last week.

Trip to EWTN

John Thorkelson (one of our students) and I had a great time on our trip to EWTN, to appear on the show - Life on the Rock. I thought I might write up a quick synopsis of how the trip went.

Thursday morning I got up much earlier than I normally do, remember, I work with college students. We caught a flight out of College Station to Houston and then another flight into Birmingham. I actually had a nice nap on the second flight, which is very rare for me on an airplane. An EWTN driver picked us up at the airport and took us to one of the guest houses. We then went to the EWTN cafeteria, which has great food cooked by a wonderful cook who knows great Southern cooking (while in Alabama I got to have some of my favorites - pork chops, grits, meatloaf, etc - yum).

Now, before I left, I tried contacting Fr. Mitch Pacwa (a former professor and a friend of mine) to see if he was in town. But Fr. Mitch is terrible with email, so I didn't expect a response. Lucky me, we ran into Fr. Mitch in the cafeteria. We got to eat lunch and then he invited us back to his house, which is next to our guest house, and we had some fun talking about hunting, theology, and cats. I like the first two a lot more than cats. The pic below is of Fr. Mitch teaching the son of one of his friends how to shoot his compound bow.

Around 3pm we left Fr. Mitch's house and I showed John around the grounds. We prayed a Chaplet of Divine Mercy in the chapel and then went back to our house to get ready. We then went to the studio to prep for the show. The studio isn't very big, so they stay very busy shooting shows.

While waiting for Fr. Mark and Doug Barry, the hosts of Life on the Rock, we got makeup put on. As you can imagine, I am not much of a makeup guy. John had a lot less shine to get rid of so he went first and was a good sport when I wanted take a pic.

Random fact - the makeup kit was entitled "St. Clare's Makeup Kit", I still haven't figured out why.

We then prepped for the show with Fr. Mark and Doug, shot the show, and then went back to Mother Angelica's old office for dinner. Jason and Crystalina Evert came in while we were eating, because they shot another show that evening.

We then went back to our guest house. Some other friends of Fr. Mitch's were also in town so Fr. Mitch came over and the five of us watched the show and visited.

This morning, we had breakfast and went to the airport, along with Doug, Jason, and Crystalina. Jason and Crystalina had the same flight to Houston, so we got to visit even more until they left to catch a flight back to California. This was Crystalina's first time, in many years, to not have a baby with her on a trip. So, she was in a good mood after a nice night of sleep.

To cap it all off, we were able to catch an earlier flight back to College Station. So, it ended up being a great trip from start to finish. Thanks for everyone who watched and for all your prayers. Please continue to pray for St. Mary's and other campus ministries, as well as the students we serve and the benefactors who make it all possible.

Peace,
Marcel

Crisis Magazine on St. Mary's Catholic Center at Texas A&M

Crisis Magazine mentioned us in an article about how to choose the right college. Here is a snip.

Texas A&M. This sprawling, secular, state university is known for its agricultural, business, and engineering programs, but its liberal arts offerings aren’t bad — and they’re largely consonant with the sane social conservatism of A&M’s students, a quarter of whom are the first in their family to go to college. As one of them told our reporter: “This is not a crowd that worships academia like the East and West coasts. These are people that place relationships with God, country, and family out in front.” The political science, history, and English departments are much more solid and traditional than those at comparable schools — even in Texas — with required classes in fundamentals of each discipline and fewer trendy, toxic electives.

Big things on campus include a wide range of top-notch sports teams, beer-drinking in honky-tonks like the Chicken Oil Company, and Christian activism of every sort. St. Mary’s Catholic Center on campus seems vibrant and orthodox, featuring traditional devotions, pro-life activities, and significant intellectual support; it’s refreshing to be able to say that about such a campus ministry. There has been an explosion of Catholic devotion on campus, resulting in a wave of priestly and religious vocations from A&M, meriting national media attention. A 2011 A&M football game against rival UT-Austin featured dozens of alumni nuns and priests in the stands on the A&M side, leading TV commentators to remark that UT didn’t stand a chance. (It didn’t.)
Continue reading.

A few details aren't quite accurate, but it is pretty good publicity.

An Interview With Aggie Catholic, Matt Warner, Founder of flockNote.com and Blogger

Matt is one cool cat. He is a Catholic blogger, speaker and founder of flockNote.com, TweetCatholic.com and QuoteCatholic.com. He was named one of the Top Ten Most Fascinating Catholics of 2009 and also blogs at Fallible Blogma and for the National Catholic Register.

He also happens to be a contributor, along with myself and a number of notable Catholics, in a new book - The Church and New Media: Blogging Converts, Online Activists, and Bishops Who Tweet. It will be released at the end of the summer.

Here is my interview with Matt:

MARCEL - Matt, how did you get involved in the different initiatives you have undertaken in the past few years, including flockNote, Catholic blogging, etc.?

MATT WARNER - It was kind of a gradual process that all started with just kind of putting myself out there and trying a few things. I've always been fairly entrepreneurially minded, I just needed to find the thing I was really passionate about. My Electrical Engineering degree from Texas A&M had me working for a big engineering company after graduation where I expanded my skills to include a lot of software programming and some user-interface design. While working, I got my MBA in entrepreneurship. That was right around the same time I was also becoming very actively passionate about my Catholic faith. So it all just kind of came together.

I was volunteering a lot at my parish and was seeing some genuine deficiencies in how the Church communicates...on both a large scale and the parish level. So, I figured I'd see if I could help. It started with a kind of basic group networking/communication website for Catholics (keep in mind this was before Facebook, etc. had exploded), TweetCatholic.com, QuoteCatholic.com and other projects and then I eventually came up with something very different and that really worked - flockNote.com. And it's continuing to grow every day. God is really doing some big things.

And blogging was always just an outlet for the steam I didn't work off elsewhere. It's been really healthy for my own personal, spiritual development. I love it.

MARCEL - What is it that drives you to work in this area of Catholic evangelization?

MATT WARNER - I love my Church. And I want to help. That's really it. I think each of us have some unique talents that God has given us specifically to build up His Church. I don't want to make the mistake of wasting them or burying them somewhere.

MARCEL - Tell us about your experiences at St. Mary’s Catholic Center at Texas A&M. How did St. Mary’s help prepare you to go out into the “real world”?

MATT WARNER - My experience at St. Mary's is partially one of regret. I regret not getting involved more than I did. I was very busy with full loads of tough classes (and the REC Center) back then - which is a really bad excuse. I did make it to Mass every Sunday. But I hadn't matured enough yet to appreciate everything else that St. Mary's offered.

But most of all, and most importantly, St. Mary's kept me grounded in my faith. It was constantly calling me back every Sunday no matter how late I had been up the night before and no matter what everyone else was doing. It was a sanctuary of peace amidst the volatility of college life. I remember feeling so many moments at Mass there of love and contentment. A genuine peace that even immature, searching, insecure, mixed-up college students can latch on to no matter what other confusion or uncertainty they are experiencing in their life. The Mass just rings true. And I'm so thankful that my parents instilled that in me and that St. Mary's was there to sustain me during an important time of my life. The certainty in that foundation is ultimately what drove me deeper and deeper into the treasures of the Church as I matured and "grew up."

MARCEL - What does the future hold for you?

MATT WARNER - It seems like just yesterday I was making the not so short - but not so unusual - walk from Aston Hall all the way down to St. Mary's, dressed up in the heat of the day to catch the late morning Mass. Now I I'm a decade older, on a second career, with a little less hair (and a lot less muscle), I've been blessed with a beautiful wife and two kids and somehow the Ags still haven't won a national football championship. In the blink of an eye, life just happens.

I used to spend a lot of time planning and working toward the future and not enough time being present in the present. So, in the future, I plan on spending more time in the present.

MARCEL - You still support St. Mary’s Catholic Center. Why?

MATT WARNER - I still support St. Mary's because it's the best campus ministry program in the country. And the Aggies there need it more than ever. More of the world needs to hear about and learn from what is going on there. Aggieland is a special place. St. Mary's is one of the big reasons why.
Gig'em!

Thanks to Matt for granting the interview. Please keep him, and all of our Aggie Catholics, in your prayers.

Join Me on Catholic Answers Live Tonight!

Tonight I will be on Catholic Answers Live, which is the most popular radio program in the country. I will be talking about "Evangelizing the College Campus" from 6-7pm (CST). We will be taking calls, so if you have a question you want me to address, then give us a call.

More about the program:

"Catholic Answers LIVE" is a daily, call-in radio program that airs live Monday through Friday from 6 P.M. to 8 P.M. Eastern Time (3 P.M. to 5 P.M. Pacific), on over 100 AM and FM stations across America, on Sirius satellite radio, as well as around the world on EWTN Global Catholic Radio (shortwave) and on the Internet. According to listener surveys, it has become a runaway favorite program on the stations that carry it.

If you are local you can listen on KEDC 88.5 FM.

National TV and Radio Programs to Feature Aggie Catholics

Fr. David Konderla and myself (Marcel LeJeune) will have four different appearances on Radio / TV in the next two weeks. I hope you can join us for as many as possible. Here is the schedule (all times are CST).

1. Fr. David will be on Catholicism Live!, Wednesday, June 15th from 8-9pm, to discuss "Surviving College as a Catholic". Click here to find out local listings (San Antonio area) or to listen online. Hosting the show is Aggie Catholic, Arland Nichols '03! This is both a local radio and TV show.
   
2. I will be on Catholic Connection with Teresa Tomeo (EWTN and Ave Maria Radio) on Thursday, June 16th from 8:15-8:45am. The Show will be on "Evangelizing College Students". You can listen locally on RED-C Radio, on another radio station that carries Ave Maria or EWTN, or online here.
   
3. I will be on Catholic Answers Live (EWTN and Sirius Satellite Radio) on Friday, June 17 from 6-7pm. The topic is "Evangelizing the College Campus". Catholic Answers is the most listened-to Catholic radio program in the country. You can listen locally on RED-C Radio, on another radio station that carries EWTN, shortwave radio, Sirius Satellite radio or online here.
   
4. I will be on Life on The Rock, with John Thorkelson (one of our students), on EWTN TV and radio on Thursday, June 23 at 9-10pm. We will be talking about St. Mary's and campus ministry. You can listen locally on RED-C Radio, or you can watch / listen here or on any EWTN station.

I hope you can join us for as many of these programs as possible. Please pray for St. Mary's and for other campus ministries!

St. Mary's Catholic Center at Texas A&M Featured in The National Catholic Register

A very flattering article.
Here is a snip:

Saying 'Howdy' to the Faith
At Texas A&M, Mass and the Sacraments Draw Students
by Anthony Flott, Register correspondent Friday, May 27, 2011 12:11 PM

Even with 46,000 students on campus, Texas A&M has always had a small-town feel.

“It’s a very open and friendly campus,” said Father David Konderla, who grew up in nearby Bryan, Texas, and whose ties to the university date to a part-time job there in high school.

Yet a long-standing and official Aggie tradition — greeting everyone with a “Howdy!” — seems to be dying a slow death.

Students “all have iPod buds in their ears and they’re all texting away as they walk across campus,” Father Konderla said. “People don’t see each other.”

But while one tradition fades, another is thriving down in College Station: Catholicism. That’s mostly due to the efforts of A&M’s St. Mary’s Catholic Center, which Father Konderla directs. Well known in Catholic campus-ministry circles, it’s now drawing attention outside Texas and among laypeople. Most recently, George Weigel sang its praises in his nationally syndicated column.

“Texas A&M is a special place, culturally; in many respects, it seems to have skipped the ’60s, such that its 21st-century life is in palpable continuity with its past,” Weigel wrote in February. “That’s a deeply Catholic cultural instinct, which St. Mary’s has seized to build a program that is a model for the entire country.”

The program ministers to about 15,000 students. Father Konderla oversees a staff of 30, a $2.1 million budget and a 30,000-square-foot campus center that opened in 1998 and includes a 5,000-volume library and 850-seat church.

Big numbers, but they all start with the One.

“The most important aspect of the center, of the whole thing, is bringing these students face-to-face, if you will, with Jesus,” Father Konderla said. “Putting them into a real, integrated, intimate and personal relationship with Jesus, the very center of everything that is: the center of history; the center of every subject they study on campus.”

No wonder how he identifies the center’s most important programs.

“Mass and the sacraments,” Father Konderla said. “Apart from that, everything else we do coming out of the Mass is getting ready to go back into it.”

There are 14 Masses offered weekly at A&M. Weekend Masses attract 4,000 to 5,000 students. Confession is offered six days a week and also draws lines of penitents.

“The students have a hunger for and a love of the teachings of the Church,” said Douglas Jeffers, a 2010 graduate from Sugar Land, Texas. “All of the various activities — educational programs, service programs, evangelization, etc. — are thus able to be sustained by the grace flowing from the sacraments and are able to refer the students back to the worship of God in the Holy Sacrifice.”
Continue Reading.