By: Alexis Stallard, Online Editor
The Catholic living community Metanoia is returning to campus and is accepting students to join for the Fall 2022 semester.
Metanoia is a living community where students who want to explore and celebrate their Catholic faith can live with other students hoping to do the same. It previously existed but had to be disbanded when COVID hit in the Spring 2020 semester.
Emily Simon, assistant director of Campus Ministry, said that the hope is to fill two pods in Beata, which consist of about 10 students. Campus Ministry is also raising money to help students afford to live in the dorms if they want to join the community.
Campus Ministry used this year’s annual Giving Day as a kickstarter for the project. Money is needed to provide housing scholarships and buy new furniture for the communal living space that the group plans to use in Beata.
“We’re fundraising money, in addition to Giving Day, to help students afford the costs of room and board with a scholarship,” Simon said.
Newman has had living communities in the past, but COVID put a halt to them due to the need for proper social distancing and the need to reduce the number of people in the dorms. The communities had been offered for several years leading up to the pandemic as an initiative to give college students a better chance at finding a support group while away from home. Next semester will be the first full semester without COVID restrictions since the pandemic started in 2020, so it is the first opportunity for the living communities to make their comeback.
“I would have liked to implement one or two more earlier, but COVID really inhibited our ability to do so,” Middendorf said.
Metanoia is the first and only living community to come back but Middendorf is hoping that with its return, the previous communities will also make their return to the dorms. Some of the previous living communities were for students who were on the track for medical school or other career paths. They’re designed to group together individuals with similar interests and offer a support group while at college. Turner Middendorf, director of Residence Life, said that he feels these communities are important to getting students involved on campus, too.
Metanoia will have an RA on the floor who will work with Campus Ministry to plan events centered around the community’s focus. Joining one of these communities will not cost anything extra beyond current room and board.
Those interested in joining Metanoia or learning more about it can contact Emily Simon at simone@newmanu.edu.
PHOTO: Courtesy photo, University Relations
