CBU Chaplaincy Report 2015-2016

I am just completing ten years as chaplain at CBU and each year has its own challenges. Students come and go. You meet new faces and others you bid farewell to as they move on with their lives. My position as chaplain at CBU is part-time because of my duties as parish priest at Holy Family Parish in Eskasoni. I try to be in my office at least three to four times a week for a few hours during the academic year to meet the needs of the students and CBU staff and once or twice a week during the summer months. From July 1st to November 20th, I was on sabbatical. Sr. Catherine filled in for me at chaplaincy by coming in three days a week.

Sister Catherine MacFarlane is our associate chaplain. She has lots of energy and brings enthusiasm to the ministry. She enjoys meeting with the students and staff who pass through the doors of the chaplaincy office and Oasis room. Along with Sister Catherine, I have four other staff members. Timika is the student representative for the Atlantic Region of the Canadian Catholic Students Association. Frances and Taylor Burton help out Sr. Catherine with days for discussions on one’s faith journey with some students who drop by. Moses Song, from China, takes care of the food bank which is used from time to time.

A Remembrance Day service was held in November where we remembered our war dead and veterans and also, we remembered those from the university community who died in 2015. I attended the Honors Banquet in late November. Ash Wednesday mass was celebrated on that day with some students and faculty in attendance. There were no requests by the students to have mass this year at chaplaincy. Most of the students who drop in at the Oasis Room are from Europe, the Middle East and Asia looking for a quiet place to rest or study.

Our Baccalaureate prayer service in May saw the biggest crowd ever. I gave the blessing for this years’ President’s Dinner and also for the Spring Convocation. Sister Catherine had the opening prayer at the Fall Convocation.

Overall, a good year. Respectfully submitted, Fr. Martin MacDougall May 16th,2016