Helen Wolf Director of Campus Ministry The College of New Rochelle

"The College of New Rochelle has continued to uphold the vision of Mother Irene Gill: higher education for women. But today, CNR has taken that vision to a higher plane in its mission to educate women and men who may not have otherwise had an opportunity for a college education. I think about the greatest minds of our time who may not have achieved their goals if they couldn’t get into a college because there were no scholarships or financial aid, or because of their gender or race."

Helen, as Director of Campus Ministry for The College of New Rochelle how does your office function on a campus with students from many faith traditions?

Campus Ministry is committed to the faith development of the CNR family as the foundation for service to others and the establishment of peace through justice. Rooted in our Catholic intellectual traditions, liturgical celebrations, and social justice teachings, we branch out to embrace the richness of our culturally diverse and multifaith college community. Seekers and servers are welcomed by a Campus Ministry team consisting of the director, chaplain, campus minister, and student peer ministers. All students in the four schools of the College are encouraged to participate in our worship, spiritual development programs, community service outreach, and peace and justice offerings.

Recently we have been reading a great deal about how students who are spiritual are inclined to be happier students. Being religious or spiritual seems to contribute to one’s sense of psychological well-being. Students who are involved in reading the Bible or other sacred texts, who attend religious services and join religious organizations on campus are saying that their lives are much more fulfilled. What is your experience here at CNR?

My experience here at The College of New Rochelle coincides with these recent studies. I’ve worked with students who are extremely grounded. They tend to be very involved in their faith life and are leaders among their peers. I remember a Muslim student last year who used our prayer room in the Campus Ministry office for her daily prayers, and I remember how difficult it was for her to get through the month of Ramadan. But she stuck to it and prevailed in all her classes, to which I credit her religious practices and belief. The fasting wasn’t a detriment but a means to a fulfilled, well-rounded life.

Campus Ministry is not only involved with the religious life of the community, but you are also active in charitable works on campus and off campus. Among the many projects undertaken by Campus Ministry, what are some of your major activities?

We have students and staff who, every week, are completing volunteer hours at one agency or another, much more so than I think the CNR community is aware. Every Thursday students deliver meals to the homebound with The Lord’s Pantry. On Fridays students serve meals at HOPE Soup Kitchen. Once a month we send about 15 students and staff members to deliver food and clothing to the homeless in Manhattan on a Midnight Run. There are so many other service organizations with which we are involved on a regular basis.

I’m also proud to be part of our Plunges, where students and staff spend either their Spring Break or a week during Winter intersession completing service for people in need. This year, the Plunge experiences will take place in January. The Urban Plunge will take volunteers to Hale House in Harlem. Students will take care of about a dozen children, newborn to four years old, and assist in the administrative work of this fine institution. Dr. Marya Howell-Carter of CCD&P will accompany the students daily, and Nicole Totans from Alumnae/i Relations will facilitate a daily reflection with the volunteers upon their return to campus.

The International Plunge will once again take place at the Ursuline border missions in Brownsville, Texas and Matamoros, Mexico. Nursing students, facilitated by Health Services Director Marie Serina, will host a week-long Health Fair for the women of Brownsville, and other students will travel to Mexico each day and help build a new home with the family who will occupy the house.

These are major projects that require a great deal of fundraising, and I am awed that students, staff, and friends are so willing to help us in funding these service trips.

The College of New Rochelle began the “Plunge” nearly 10 years ago to give students the opportunity to perform community service. We now have, as you said, an “international” component to the “Plunge” with students going to Mexico as well as Texas, two impoverished communities located on the U.S.-Mexico border. Tell us a little of the history of this community service effort done by students.

The College of New Rochelle students have a rich history in offering their vacation time during Spring Break to help others in need. The first Alternative Plunge experience was organized in 1997. The students worked at an Ursuline service site in Wilmington, Delaware. In 1998, a group went to inner-city Cincinnati, where Sister Monica McGloin hosted our students in a variety of projects: rebuilding houses, working in a clinic, a day care center, and a local Catholic school.

 The Plunge continued in 1999 as one group of CNR students traveled back to Cincinnati and another to Big Laurel Learning Center in Naugatuck, West Virginia, where they split wood, built a porch, and tutored children. The following year, two groups returned to the West Virginian Appalachians to Naugatuck and another team traveled on to the Glenmary Farm. The Glenmary Missionaries are priests, brothers, sisters, and lay volunteers who work with the poor in rural America, especially in Appalachia.

In 2001 Plungers went further west into Kentucky where a group worked with the Glenmary Missionaries once again. The work on this Plunge ranged from services of presence to hard, physical labor. Visits to the elderly in a nursing home and spending a day with the mentally and physically challenged were alternatives to laboring at construction sites with a local organization building low-cost housing. Plungers stayed local in 2002 as they spent a week at Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice in the Bronx tutoring students in their after-school programming.

In 2003 a return to Appalachia was called for, and students once again visited Big Laurel Learning Center in West Virginia. Activities ranged from working at a food pantry and tutoring children, to repairing mountain roads and splitting fallen logs for firewood.

As part of the Centennial year celebration, a call for an international experience was organized in two Ursuline missions at the Tex-Mex border in spring 2004 that continues this year.

This January, students from CNR will participate in the first January “Plunge” during the intersession. Tell us who is involved in this special “Plunge.”

Spring Break in March is the same week as Holy Week, and Campus Ministry is unable to be off-campus that week due to religious obligations. Therefore, we will mirror the two plunges of 2004 during January intersession – an International Plunge to the same mission sites in Texas and Mexico; and an Urban Plunge to Hale House in NYC. I will supervise the Plunges. Suzette Walker, Campus Minister, will organize the administrative ends of both Plunges. Marie Serina, once again, is coordinating the nursing students and the health workshops in Brownsville. Silvana Bajana of Purchasing here at the College joins the Tex-Mex team this year. Marya Howell-Carter from CCD&P will accompany the Hale House troupe, and Nicole Totans of Alumnae/i Relations will facilitate a daily reflection with the Urban Plungers each night upon their return to campus.

Campus Ministry is responsible for a series of special events here at CNR during the Christmas Season. What is your Office planning for the College Community?

We begin our Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA), on November 28 after the 11 am Sunday liturgy. RCIA is the process by which individuals are welcomed into the Catholic Church, or baptized Catholics complete their initiation into the Church by receiving the sacraments.

On December 2, we have our Roses in December celebration where we remember the lives of four American women who were martyred in 1980 while working with the poor in El Salvador. This is a community soup and salad supper at 5:30 pm followed by a prayer service in the Chapel.

December 7, we invite everyone to visit us in the Campus Ministry Office in Brescia Hall for our annual Christmas cookies Open House. We bake Christmas cookies that day from 11 am to 2 pm.

On December 8  our Immaculate Conception Mass begins at 12:30 pm in the Chapel. Advent is observed at CNR with the Creche blessing and tree lighting outside the Castle on Chidwick Walk at 4:45 pm on December 9.

On December 17 and 18, we join CNR Drama in its Christmas production of Gian-Carlo Menotti's opera Amahl and the Night Visitors that is staged in Holy Family Chapel.  

On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day there are two services. On December 24th carols  begin at 9:30 pm in the Chapel, followed by mass at 10 pm. Christmas Day Mass is celebrated at 11 am in Holy Family Chapel.

Helen, in what positive ways do you believe that the College today is fulfilling the heritage of our Ursuline foundresses?

The College of New Rochelle has continued to uphold the vision of Mother Irene Gill: higher education for women. But today, CNR has taken that vision to a higher plane in its mission to educate women and men who may not have otherwise had an opportunity for a college education. I think about the greatest minds of our time who may not have achieved their goals if they couldn’t get into a college because there were no scholarships or financial aid, or because of their gender or race. I’ve met so many brilliant minds in my four years at CNR. I know they will contribute so much to society because they had the opportunity to expand those brilliant minds in the classroom. I believe our Ursuline foundresses are smiling down on The College of New Rochelle because their vision has expanded in such a positive way, and one with which I wholeheartedly support.