After losing most of 2020 because of COVID-19 or the coronavirus pandemic, the Brotherhood of Hope ministry is back evangelizing students at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
Members of the religious order minister with the Sisters of Jesus Our Hope, an order established in the diocese by Bishop Edward T. Hughes in 1992, as campus ministers through The Catholic Center at Rutgers.
The Boston-based Brotherhood of Hope was founded in 1980 by Father Philip Merdinger in the Archdiocese of Newark. In New Brunswick, the sisters and brothers live in separate off-campus residences.
“Essentially, for 17 months we were more or less shut down because there weren’t any students on campus…It was very difficult to meet new students. This past fall semester that has been different. We’ve met a lot of new people as people came back on the campus,” said Brother Patrick Stucker.
The Brotherhood of Hope has 45 men of which 27 are vowed and 18 are associates, young men who are in their initial year-long discernment, but have not made their vows, Brother Patrick said. There are five temporary yearlong vows in the Brotherhood of Hope order before the perpetual vow, which is a lifelong commitment.
“We aren’t about pushing men into a vocation. We want the desire to grow and if there is a desire we work with them,” said Brother Patrick.
The Brotherhood of Hope fellowship group, consisting of the vowed brothers and associates, meets twice a year, including a summer weeklong conference where brothers make their vows. Five of the vowed brothers are on the Rutgers campus and live in the household along with a sixth associate member.
Although not directly related, the Brotherhood of Hope and Sisters of Jesus Hope “came out of the same kind of movement, so we’re like cousins,” said Brother Patrick Reilly, director, The Catholic Center at Rutgers. He added that while students might be able to dismiss the Church and the Gospel, “they just can’t easily dismiss these three young religious” ministers, Jesus Our Hope Sister Anna Palka and Brother Patrick Stucker and Brother Brennan Robinson.
“They [Brothers and Sister Anna] are vital to the witness of the Gospel and that young people can actually make a radical commitment to Christ in the vows of chastity, poverty, obedience and religious life,” Brother Patrick Reilly said.
Sister Anna said she and Sister Lorraine Doiron work with the brothers, priests and laity along with the Saint Paul’s Outreach missionary (SPO) in serving students through the Catholic Student Association (CSA).
Brother Patrick Stucker said the SPO is a national missionary organization that establishes separate student households for men and women where they live, pray and eat together while outreaching to other students and young adults. SPO has a men’s house on campus and an off-campus women’s house.
Sister Anna said the CSA sponsors weekend retreats once a semester “to devote to God” while being supported by other college students who are seeking the Catholic faith. CSA and SPO are part of the Catholic Center.
Brother Patrick Stucker said there is a CSA Night on Wednesdays where students talk and pray together and do something fun like go bowling.
Sister Anna noted, “I think a college campus is one of the hardest places to live out your Catholic faith. CSA is really like a spiritual family to support one another and to encourage one another in faith.”
CSA holds weekly meetings for men and women together to discuss the content provided as well as men’s and women’s groups that meet separately and smaller groups run through the SPO that might walk students through a booklet on faith or a Bible study discussion.
“It’s not about converting on the spot, but it’s about offering them kindness…it’s just to be a presence on campus and to let people know, ‘Yes, there are Catholics on campus and we want to support you if that interests you,’” Sister Anna said.
Through their evangelization efforts, Sister Anna said the sisters and brothers encourage students to “reach out to their fellow peers and classmates to bring the Gospel message to them.”
For more information about attending the meetings and retreats and The Catholic Center at Rutgers, call (732) 545-6663 or visit the website https://rutgerscatholic.org/