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SAN ANTONIO • If the walls of the old house that serves as the San Antonio College (SAC) Catholic Student Center (CSC) and headquarters for Catholic Campus Ministries could talk, what wonderful tales they would tell. And what wonderful tales they are still recording!
The stately, three and a half story white brick home at the corner of Courtland and Belknap had already been around for several generations when SAC moved into the neighborhood north of downtown in 1951.
Having been owned by just two families, the Hughes and later the Thompsons, the circa 1917 house was purchased by the Archdiocese of San Antonio in 1965 to meet the growing need to minister to Catholic students at the expanding junior college. Two persons involved with the Catholic Student Center from its earliest beginnings were Professor John Igo of SAC, who served as Newman Club sponsor for 25 years, and Msgr. Alois Goertz, the first director of Campus Ministry for SAC and the archdiocese from 1965 to 1968.
Igo, an English professor, became co-sponsor of the SAC Newman Club when he first arrived on campus in 1953. Within weeks, he found himself senior sponsor and in charge of the Newmans, who met at various places around campus and nearby, including the bandstand at San Pedro Park and the gym at Our Lady of Grace Church. Msgr. Goertz still refers to Igo as “Mr. Newman,” due to his long-time involvement with the organization.
“The educational and spiritual aspect of the ‘endangered Catholic young’ was offset by the Newmans and by the Catholic Student Center,” said Igo, now retired. “It’s a very dangerous age — 18 through 22 — for Catholics.” Fresh from their family parishes, the students would find themselves adrift at a secular college, often not finding their way back to church until they later returned as young parents.
“We Catholics lost a lot of people in those days,” said Igo. “They would try other things or just give it all up and become agnostic or atheist — or just nothing.” A year or so before the Catholic Student Center was purchased, Igo spoke at a Serra Club meeting held at the Gunter Hotel. Here, he told his audience of Catholic businessmen that over half the student population at SAC were Catholic (around 6,000) — the equivalent of more parish “families” than many churches — yet they were served only by one chaplain a couple of hours weekly.
Igo did not mince words about the church needing to provide spiritual support to these young men and women, telling the gathering that if action was not taken, “You are gong to be responsible for their spiritual condition.” Within a year, there was a Catholic Student Center on campus at SAC.
Meanwhile, though not realizing it at the time, Father (later, Monsignor) Alois Goertz had been laying the foundation for his future campus ministry. Ordained in 1948, Msgr. Goertz’ first parish assignment was in Weimar under Msgr. Anthony Drozd, whom he described as “a very progressive person.” Dale Carnegie was one of Msgr. Drozd’s heroes, with his motto of “Learn to accept people as they are, not as you want them to be.” Following his pastor’s lead, Msgr. Goertz learned to get involved in all levels of community life. “I got some very good training,” he said.
Msgr. Goertz’ next assignment was Hallettsville where, as the youngest parish assistant, he wound up very much involved with young people, teaching and coaching at Sacred Heart High School. Here he was responsible for coaching football, basketball and volleyball and “hauling people all over the place in school buses.” From there, he went on to Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Victoria, teaching religion classes at Nazareth Academy and serving for two years as sponsor of the Victoria College Newman Club. “All of that, in God’s providence,” he said, “was getting me prepared.”
While in Victoria, he wrote to Archbishop Robert E. Lucey in San Antonio. “We spend all this money in Victoria on those two Catholic high schools, Nazareth Academy and St. Joseph’s,” he said. “Then, when these young people graduate from there and go to Victoria College, we don’t spend much on them at all — money or efforts.”
Shortly thereafter, Msgr. Goertz was assigned by the archbishop to start the Catholic Student Center at SAC and oversee the Newman movement for the Archdiocese of San Antonio. “That’s the day my life changed radically in a beautiful way,” said Msgr. Goertz, adding that he had Archbishop Lucey’s “fullest support” while organizing the campus ministry program. “I give all the credit in the world to Archbishop Lucey,” he said. “He heard the voices that were clamoring for that.”
When Msgr. Goetz arrived for his new assignment, a building for the center had not yet been purchased and he had no place to live. Bishop Stephen A. Leven promptly stepped in and offered him the use of his personal living quarters at Our Lady of Grace Church, while he was off attending Vatican II in Rome for several months.
Igo remembers being part of the group scrutinizing proposed properties for the center. A ramshackle old home on San Pedro, that had been subdivided into apartments and was across from an abortion clinic, did not look promising and was nixed. “Divine intervention,” is how Igo describes the acquisition of the lovely old home and present CSC at 312 W. Courtland.
“God wanted us to have it and we got it,” he said.
Originally on the outskirts of the campus, SAC has now grown past the center.
The house was sold to the school by Mrs. George Thompson, who had been renting out rooms to SAC faculty members and who threw in a good deal of her downstairs furnishings with the sale as well, including a large dining table and formal living room set. The home boasted four fireplaces, several chandeliers, a tennis court, basement and a variety of architectural embellishments. There was no heating or air-conditioning however, and Msgr. Goertz and the students survived the first winter with space heaters.
A carriage house on the property became a garage and then living quarters for nuns later assigned to the center, while the second floor became the priests’ living quarters. A nondescript, two-story frame house next door was also purchased, with plans to build a classroom facility on the site. Instead, it was later sold to SAC to be razed for a much needed parking lot and the funds used to obtain a student center for Catholics at St. Philip’s College.
Msgr. Goertz recalls how helpful Dr. Wayland Moody, president of SAC, and his wife, Lillian, were in helping the Newmans and the center. Igo described Mrs. Moody as Msgr. Goertz’ “guardian angel.” An interior decorator, she insisted on helping with the refurbishing of the old house the following year. “He’d say, ‘I think we’re going to do this,’” said Igo, “and she’d say, ‘No, you’re not. That would be a terrible color!’” As a result, the center became a real showplace, far and above any other campus religion center. Its annual faculty reception and tour became a highly popular event, eagerly anticipated by SAC faculty members.
The center, originally called the Newman Center, officially opened to the students on Nov. 29, 1965, but only the first floor was habitable until a fire escape could be added and the open stairwell enclosed to meet fire department regulations. However, they were allowed to use the second floor room at the top of the stairs (formerly Mrs. Thompson’s bedroom) and this became the chapel. Here, one or two Masses were held daily to accommodate all the students spilling out of the chapel for the then new “folk Masses.”
“It just spoke about the need for what we were about,” said Msgr. Goertz. Priests from other parishes would come to help out and additional priests and nuns were assigned to the center as well, including, at one time, Msgr. Goertz’ sister, Sister Lucille Goertz, OSB. It was not unusual to have attendance of more than 100 students at Newman meetings, as recorded in Msgr. Goertz’ meticulous diaries.
“Knowing so little about what we were doing, we got off to a great start,” he said.
Msgr. Goertz remembers starting the New-Cor (“new-hearted”) retreats that first year. “That was one of the finest things we did that year,” he adds. Given free use of H-E-B’s camp at Leakey, they borrowed old school buses from Msgr. James Boyle at St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles Church for a retreat that included students from Incarnate Word, Our Lady of the Lake and St. Mary’s universities as well.
Some events launched that first year continue today, such as the annual Newman banquet. The first was so large it had to be held in SAC facilities, with guests including the Moodys and Bishop Leven. There were also state and national Newman conferences, and the SAC group’s first national one in New York was especially memorable, with Cardinal Francis Spellman present.
Scrapbooks from those early years brim with pictures of students enjoying the center — putting up decorations, making posters, attending meetings and dances, spinning vinyl LPs in the basement recreation room, playing board games on the Thompson’s former dining table.
“I can’t emphasize enough the importance of (our) presence at SAC,” said Msgr. Goertz. “I was there all the time and they (the students) knew I was there and was with them all the way, whatever we did.” He added, “They had a place to be and good things were happening, just because the place was provided where they could be together on campus.”
This coming together of Catholic young people led to more than a few marriages. “We were practically a marriage mill there for awhile,” quipped Igo, referring to the center’s early years when up to 120 students would visit on a daily basis for various events or just to relax.
Igo describes the Newman Club as being the backbone of the center’s operation. “During those first 10 or 15 years, the Catholic Student Center could not have operated without the Newmans,” he said. “They not only made it possible, they made it efficient.” The organization is named after Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890), a prolific writer and educator, whose ideas brought about the establishment of Catholic centers at colleges and universities.
Igo pointed out the Newman Club aim is three-fold: religious, educational and social. On the religious front, in addition to Masses and Bible study, the rosary was said daily at the center. An outdoor “living rosary” was initiated under Father Anton Rudolph, the center’s second director. Held on the tennis court (which shrunk in later years to a badminton court), at least 55 persons from the center took part, with the neighboring Methodist and Episcopal student centers as audience. “We were a real powerhouse of spirituality,” noted Igo.
Covering the educational aspect of Newman, Igo was programs chair for a weekly Tuesday afternoon gathering for many years that included lectures, performances and tours. He estimates he produced over 600 of these for the Newmans. Then, there was the social aspect.
“The interesting thing about the Newman and social,” said Igo, “is when it was interpreted by the officers to mean social work, the place simply prospered.” This included the students teaching CCD classes throughout San Antonio, assisting with after school programs, volunteering at nursing homes and pioneering the first food drive to help needy local families at Christmas. “The number of Newmans and people at the center doubled, because they were given something that they could see,” he said. “They could practice their faith.” SAC’s Newman Club and center became a model, leading workshops on leadership and outreach. “We were champions for outreach,” said Igo.
At times though, the subject of doing something that was just “fun” would come up and hayrides, dances, picnics, and various excursions would be initiated. “When that happened, it was all great fun — usually for one semester,” said Igo. “And the second semester, the population started dropping.” Attendance would fall from around 60 to 15 or 20 students. “Our fun was great,” he said, “but it wasn’t serving any deep psychological needs, so it died away.”
When Father Rudolph was transferred to duties at Assumption Seminary, Igo found himself the interim director by default. With the help of reliable students to help oversee the center’s basic operational functions, things went off without a hitch though. “I will never get past my appreciation and adoration of the Newmans,” said Igo, recalling those days.
The walls of the Catholic Student Center have recorded many more memories, as Catholic campus ministry at SAC has continued to grow and meet the needs of successive generations. In honor of the center’s 40th anniversary this year, current SAC Catholic Campus Minister Joseph Liedecke has planned a special event each month.
January saw an open house, February featured a sixties dance party, and the blessing of a time capsule was scheduled for 1 p.m. on March 18. Future events include: April 22, blessing and planting of an oak tree; May 6, Parents/Grandparents Day; Aug. 26, a get-together with past Catholic campus ministers; Sept. 30, Alumni Day; Oct. 28, event honoring past and present faculty advisers; and Nov. 29 (the actual anniversary date), a Mass and reception with Msgr. Goertz. For more information call (210) 736-3752 or e-mail jospeh_liedecke@juno.com.
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