The growth of the CSS of the University of Nothingham

Apr 29, 2015

By Josephine Dionisappu
The Catholic Student Society at The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus started in 2010, with a group of students under the spiritual guidance of Sr Margaret Pereira and Fr George Harrison.

Recently, the UNMC SCC as it is called, organised Eastermazing, a walking hunt activity around its campus. A week later, Mass was celebrated by Fr George Harrison ahead of the exams. What better way to celebrate the Easter season and to enter the exam mode than with a Eucharistic celebration within the premises of the lecture rooms where most of the students spend their time.

I work at the University, and personally, I am sold for the importance of a community, where peers get to journey together. I used to attend BEC gatherings as a child in my home parish at the Church of Visitation — we have one Catholic Church, we all know each other. As a working adult, I realised the importance of community after journeying with 13 others to Rio de Janeiro for World Youth Day and subsequently, being part of Assumption Youth Network.

This CSS provides a platform for Catholic students to not only participate in events and activities organised by the society, but also to develop friendships with fellow Catholics and to truly be part of a community life.

In their Facebook page, I have seen various announcements, including one that announces Mass and confession times, as well as offering others a ride for Mass to the Holy Family Church Kajang, as it is the closest Church to the University. Some members also post teachings of Catholic Church tradition and Catholic blogs. ASAYO and Choice KL also post their announcements on the page.

Eastermazing Race 3.0
The Eastermazing event was held on April 26 in the campus. It started with a praise and worship session, followed by ice breakers before we were divided into groups to dive straight into the Amazing Race at our picturesque campus. Students from the nearby universities and from the German Malaysian Institute also participated. One of them mentioned that he was impressed with our campus but I am sure he was even more impressed with the generosity of the group of students who went over to the Kajang komuter station to pick him up. It was a simple act, but simple acts do go a long way.

My group did not win, but we definitely had loads of fun. We managed to spread our knowledge of the Catholic faith. We also had a member who is not a Catholic. He is a student at the university. He has the talent of making ‘paper stars’ from strips of coloured paper to form a rosary. At one of the stations, called Bethlehem indicating The Star of Bethlemen, we needed to fold enough stars to make a rosary. Like me, some others were folding stars for the first time. We sat in a circle and learnt the art of folding stars the best way we could.

We really had a great workout, walking around the campus to the seven stations of the race. We also had nice conversations and laughed a lot. It was such a brilliant way to celebrate the joy of the risen Lord.

The committee members said the prizes were bought from money raised by the T-shirt sales, with an overwhelming response from parishioners at the Holy Family Church. I love the T-shirt. It has the words, “Born, Raised, Stay, Die C-A-T-H-O-L-I-C” on the front and a bible verse at the back, ‘In Him was life, and the life was the light of all men,’ John 1:4.

As the event suggested, it is the third consecutive year the society is organising this event. My personal and sincere thanks to all the organisers and participants.

Mass for Those Sitting for Examinations
Mass on campus is an annual affair, something I look forward to all the time. I studied in the Convent Seremban, a school which had the Young Catholic Society annual Masses and active participation of Catholic parents in the school board. To have a Mass in my working place is a heaven-sent blessing. I am thankful to all those who made it possible for us to celebrate the Holy Eucharist with colleagues and our beloved students, in the place where we work and study. My special thanks to Fr George who came to the University to celebrate Mass with us.

When I visited the Nottingham campus in the UK, I got acquainted with the University of Nottingham Catholic Community. It was good to see their chapel and to find out that Sunday Mass is celebrated on campus.

We have a very international community at the university with students from out of town on the same journey of education, faith and a bright future.

Workplace Ministry
Recently, some friends were talking about work place ministry, where Catholics gather to pray together as a family during the lunch hour. Friends from outside the workplace are also invited. One of my friends started such an initiative at her office. All of them coincidentally are ladies and they meet during the lunch hour to pray and share. As most Catholics working in Malaysia are based in offices outside the church confines, I pray that we have more people who will initiate workplace ministries so that we get to reach out to our sisters and brothers. Something to pray about. May God bless our work, our bosses and our colleagues and all those we meet through our jobs.