Finding and Founding Spaces for Community

Picture this scene – It’s 1:50 pm on a Wednesday afternoon and you’re early for your 2 o’clock class. It’s only you and one other person in the classroom – you can either spend those ten minutes talking with them or on your computer. What do you do?

What we’ve found is that many times, we will choose the anti-social route when given the chance. But why? Perhaps the other person is on their phone. Perhaps we wouldn’t know what to say. Perhaps we want to avoid an unnecessarily awkward encounter with someone we don’t know. It seems as though this reasoning could boil down to the fact that the space was not conducive for coming together and conversing with one another.

Enter Hospitality Sundays.

Every few weeks, Catholic Ministry sets up the Dahlgren Quadrangle with food, games, and decorations in an effort to creating that aforementioned space for fellowship and conversation. In its third year, these events have gained much popularity among the students who attend these “coffee hours on steroids.” Our 2016 Welcome Back Hospitality Sunday featured ice cream stations, an iced tea bar, corn hole and jumbo-sized Janga. The Quad was also filled with tables featuring the various clubs, organizations, and auxiliaries within our Catholic and Ecumenical ministries.

Picture this scene – you are re-experiencing a piece of your childhood with a Spiderman popsicle with gumball eyes, you then go head to head in a game of corn hole with a new friend, after which you learn about the awesome opportunities in our ministries that will connect you to even more enriching experiences. People aren’t on their phones. There is a plethora of topics about which to talk with others. Hospitality Sundays are curated to be a low-barrier means to connect with others. And from what we’ve heard, those spaces are hard to find and much appreciated when found.

Written by Jordan D. Blackwell, C’15, Coordinator for Ecumenical Christian Life