Sophomore Catherine Loweree seems like any other college student, walking around campus clad in a trendy, green-striped sweater on a Tuesday afternoon.
Loweree, an art education and English education major, spends plenty of time studying, goes bowling with her friends and draws and paints in her spare time.
Nothing about her outward appearance suggests that she’s a youth minister for the Newman Center, a parish of the Roman Catholic faith.
“The main thing you have to do is not let your religion limit you,” she said.
Loweree’s youth minister job begins after the academic part of her day. She spends 15 scheduled hours a week working for the church, but she said it usually comes to about 20 hours to do a good job. Lately, her work load has increased because the Newman Center is organizing a religious retreat for college youth.
“It’s a lot of planning, a lot of time that you have to do, that is not recorded,” Loweree said. “You don’t clock in and clock out. It’s stuff I do on my own time.
Instead of homework, I have to make sure I have time to plan things.” In an average day, Loweree will arrange for guest speakers to speak at the Newman Center or prepare Bible study sessions for other college students. She also spends a fair amount of time hanging out at the Newman Center to answer questions.
“Youth ministers are also counselors,” she said. “So if a student needs to talk about something — or even really serious matters — like an actual counselor we are available for that, too.”
On Mondays, Loweree arranges a conversation group to discuss controversial issues from a Catholic standpoint, such as homosexuality, contraception and chastity.
“It’s a discussion group that I started where we talk about issues that we might be confused about, or that we don’t agree with,” she said. “We discuss the church teachings … and then we just talk about our opinions — do we agree with it, do we disagree with it (and) why do we disagree.”
Loweree said her job doesn’t end when she leaves the church. She’s been striving since August, when she first started the job, to take the caring nature associated with her ministry and expand it into her social world.
“My faith is really important to me,” Loweree said. “I carry it through my everyday life. I’ve found I’m compassionate. I pray more. I outreach more, so if see someone is sitting alone at lunch or something, I’ll try to go and talk to them. If I see someone who is crying, I’ll go up to them and ask if they need help. I find what I do as a minister at the Newman Center, I do in my everyday life with people I encounter.”
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Her days aren’t only filled with religion. Like any college student she has friends of different faiths whom she hangs out with on her own time.
“I’ve made most of my friends at the Newman Center,” she said. “It’s important to know that we don’t hide away and read the Bible all the time. We go out and have fun. People who meet at church will go out, go bowling, see movies and not talk about religion at all. We’re friends on all levels — on a spiritual and social level.”
That’s not to say she doesn’t forget about her religion when she is away from church. Loweree said she prays about three to four times throughout the day.
“Prayer can be anything you want it to be,” she said. “For me personally, I have a conversation with God. I don’t recite specific prayers. I just talk as if I’m talking to a friend. I say, ‘I’m having a really bad day today, just help me get through this day.’”
Still, being a college student and maintaining the faith can be difficult at times, Loweree said.
“You do meet people who look down on you, or stereotype you into those crazy, you know, really uber-conservative people,” Loweree said.
Despite the personal sacrifice associated with the position, Loweree said she is glad to be a youth minister.
“I really feel like I know myself a lot better,” she said. “Being in this job, I can’t just say I am Catholic. I need to know why I believe what I believe. I had the chance to explore other faiths, and really decide that this is what I wanted to do.
That’s kind of the approach I’ve taken with the rest of my life, too. With my major, with my friends, I really explore the situation. I’m not afraid to question, to learn and to discover.”
