With more than 11,000 students attending Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) in New Britain, Father Michael Casey, pastor of St. Francis of Assisi, estimates there are some 2,000 self-identified Catholics right in his back yard.
He wants to reach out to them.
Since becoming both pastor of St. Francis and chaplain of Catholic campus ministry at CCSU’s nearby campus, “Everything we’ve done for the parish has been for the university,” Father Casey says. “We are, in an intentional way, reaching out to be available to our students.”
The energetic priest, who at 31 may be the youngest pastor in the Archdiocese of Hartford, points out the window of his rectory at a building that until 2006 was St. Francis of Assisi School. He says, “If we can get some financial support to change that school building — it’s a closed school — it would be a wonderful spot [for] a campus ministry center, to have that whole space available to our students.”
Father Casey, who arrived at St. Francis on Feb. 6, 2018, knows that converting the school building will be an ambitious project, costing perhaps $1.5 million. But Father Casey, who also happens to be the vocations director for the archdiocese, has a vision.
“All the parish offices would be over there,” he says. “There’s a cafeteria and a full-sized gym on the second floor.”
Clearly, he envisions it peopled with college-aged Catholics.
Rethinking Mass times
Meanwhile, Father Casey and his team have been focusing on other projects, all supporting a parish transformation geared toward attracting — and keeping —Catholic college students and other young adults.
The tiny parish of 700 individuals and 349 households is experimenting, trying new things, to draw nearby young people to the Catholic Church and to the practice of the faith. The small size of the parish is proving to be an advantage.
“It allows for focus on university students,” he says.
It also makes for a nimble parish. Father Casey’s team has already made many changes at the church.
“We eliminated our Saturday vigil Mass,” he says, “and we instituted a Sunday evening Mass, so that it could be more accommodating to a university schedule.”
The Sunday evening Mass is at 5 p.m. and is followed by an all-new “St. Francis Café” coffee hour that has proven so popular that it is being extended to other Mass times and events.
Though small in attendance by some standards, the unique Sunday evening Mass went from zero to nearly 100 attendees, which Father Casey believes is remarkable for a completely new Mass time.
Weekday Mass time has also changed, from 7 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Attendance has increased, he reports, from just 10 people in the early morning to between 20 and 40 at noon. The noon Mass is drawing parishioners, students and young adults who work nearby.
“We’re exploring,” the priest explains, about tinkering with the schedules. “We are really attempting to try whatever works for Mass times and parish ministries. If one thing doesn’t work, we’ll try another. The creativity and flexibility of doing whatever is needed to preach the Gospel effectively are hallmarks of our mission here.”
The parish also offers confessions from 11:30 a.m. to 12:05 p.m. Monday through Thursday, right before daily Masses. “So we have daily opportunities for confessions,” he adds.
The parish has restructured its office hours, too. “We’re now open on Sunday when people are in the building,” Father Casey says, making it more convenient for parishioners and students.
Making beautiful music
Sarah Rodeo, music director, joins the conversation. A Vassar graduate with a bachelor’s degree in music, she has been at St. Francis Parish since July 2018.
“We’ve revamped the liturgy and the music in a way that we really believe is reaching young adult Catholics right now,” she says. “We get to draw from a variety of sacred music genres: Gregorian chant, polyphony, four-part hymnody and tons of chant in English.”
Father Casey interjects, “We have music at all of our Masses, not just Sunday. Sarah plays [the organ] and sings for all our daily Masses and for our Sunday Masses.”
Sunday Mass times are 8 a.m., 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.
To facilitate greater participation in singing, Sarah offers music education every Tuesday night 7-8 p.m. for anyone who wants to learn more. “Numerous CCSU young adults come to Mass and sing from the pews,” she says.
Asked what she thinks is the most exciting change in the parish’s music liturgy, she says, “I think it is being able to have congregational singing, and to have music that is accessible but high quality and beautiful, theologically rich and doctrinally correct, and full of texts that really feed us.”
Offering inviting upgrades
The parish has focused on making the church building more warm and welcoming.
In the church next door, originally dedicated in 1957, Father Casey shows off a statue of St. Joseph that he recently had restored. Other statues, he says, will be restored also. Next to the statues, all of the votive candles are new.
In the rear of the brightly lit church is a new confessional. “This used to be an empty box. It was a frame, and it was all empty inside. So now we have a nice working confessional. We have green lights above that are welcoming. And then when someone goes in and kneels down, it changes from green to red,” he explains.
The confessional was built by Sullivan Brothers LLC of Wolcott.
The wood floor in the sanctuary is a new addition, he says. Other new touches include the original tabernacle that had been stored in a closet, new candlesticks, a new cross for the altar and adjusted kneelers that allow more space in the pews.
Creating a bridge to adulthood
Father Casey leads the way on foot to the Newman House on the edge of the sprawling CCSU campus, where he introduces Emily Newgard, coordinator of university outreach.
Her role is to bridge the gap between the priest and the parish and all of the college students at the university. Emily also coordinates the new website, stfranciscatholic.org, an umbrella organization that encompasses St. Francis Parish, campus ministry and other young adult ministries.
“This generation [of students] is the future of our Church,” she stresses.
However, when young people enter college, she explains, they often lose their Catholic identities. “And, really, this is where someone’s identity should be found, in college. I think we as a Church really need to invest in creating an opportunity [whereby] students can really flourish in their identities as Catholics.”
Since his arrival, Father Casey has reopened the worship space at the Newman House at CCSU to provide the students who visit with a quiet place to pray. Of course, they are welcome at St. Francis of Assisi, too.
This January, he launched “#Adulting: A series on how to adult” — life skill workshops at the center for students on topics such as study habits, time management and managing stress.
Weekly dinners at the Newman House are also a draw, bringing in at least 20 students each week. Previously held on Thursdays, the dinners were switched in January to Tuesdays at 7 p.m., offering an opportunity for Catholic conversation and fellowship. (See sidebar below.)
“Gradually, we’ll build it up,” Father Casey says, “and they can invite their friends. It’s just meant to be a drop-in dinner, comfortable, relatively casual.”
Parishioners join in
Many at St. Francis of Assisi have embraced the changes.
Parishioner Donna Domizio says when she learned that Father Casey was transforming the parish, she wanted to get involved. Among other activities, she helps prepare the weekly dinners.
“I’m just so excited,” she says. “The music is what [parishioners and students] all love. And I think the one thing that is so positive is that Father consecrated the church to the Blessed Virgin Mother.”
Ivo Jáquez, of Hartford, is plant operation manager for the parish, maintaining and repairing church structures, including the Newman House. “It’s not work,” he says, because transforming the parish is an integrated effort by many people. “As a team, we might make possible that everything runs smoothly,” he says.
Father Casey adds, “The vision, the master plan, is to win people for Jesus Christ. And so whatever is going to help that, we do.”
Father Casey says he has great hopes for the Catholic Church because the young people have hope.
“Our young adults have hope, even in the midst of everything happening in the Church,” he says, referring to the clergy sex abuse crisis. “They say they’re not going to let that deter them. It doesn’t change that Jesus is God and he offers salvation.”