Connecting with others through service

“The Call to Stewardship” is a periodic series profiling individuals and families throughout the Diocese of Camden who have shown an inspiring response to the call to Christian stewardship highlighted in 1 Peter 4:10 “As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”

It was the beginning of a new school year at Rowan University in Glassboro. The air was still summer-hot, and the grass was high in the yard that fronts the Newman Center near the heart of the campus. Edward Nowak arrived early to see if there was something he could do to help as new campus minister Rebekah Hardy prepared for the night’s get-together, a movie night on the lawn. As Hardy tells the story, she was under a lot of stress, trying to pull together an event that would draw a crowd.

“Edward,” she says, “jumped in to help, immediately.”

Edward took charge of mowing the lawn that day, and Hardy’s fears that they might not be ready when the other students arrived disappeared. And, as she soon learned, that was a normal day for Edward, taking care of lots of details that others might take for granted.

“He’s always ready to jump in and help in any way that’s needed, by planning the music for Mass, or by making dinner for the group. He just helps without asking,” she said.

Father John Rossi, pastor of Saint Bridget University Parish, agrees that Edward is always ready to lend a hand. The Newman Center, which is affiliated with Saint Bridget’s, is within walking distance of the church. There are about 15-20 students who are a regular part of Newman Center activities, and many more at student Masses. The church is where student Masses are celebrated on Sunday evenings at 6 p.m., and as the liturgical coordinator and secretary for the executive board of the Newman Center, Edward plays a big role in lining up all of the details that need to be put in place to make the liturgy run smoothly.

“You don’t have to ask him,” Father Rossi says. “He’s always ready to step up and serve.”

Of course, Edward’s story really began way before college, in a home where faith was part of the air he and his twin brother, Nick, breathed every day. Their dad and mom, Edward and Mary, made sure that the family always made it to Mass, and as their parents grew in the faith, the boys followed suit, becoming extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist in high school, and going with their mom to daily Mass when possible. Along the way, Edward explains,  the influence of his parents’ faith “turned into actually seeking it out for myself.”

Catholic school also had a big impact on Edward, especially in high school at the Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft, N.J. It was there that he learned how much an individual’s success in life depends on the help of others. “I made connections there that are lasting and deep,” he says. He was well-prepared to enter public university and find a way to make connections with other students who want to find God in their college experience.

For Edward, now a junior majoring in mechanical engineering, service to the Catholic community at Rowan is part of “claiming the faith as my own.” He lines up the lectors. Eucharistic ministers, altar servers and musicians that serve at each Mass, and he heads up the music ministry, often playing, singing and sometimes composing the music for the Mass. Currently, he’s arranging an a capella Mass setting, hoping to be have it ready before the end of the school year this May.

Speaking about faith in his younger years, he says, “I took it for granted.” Today, at 21, faith and connection to community are the way he balances what might appear to be an impossible schedule.

Father Rossi explains the close connection between the parish at Saint Bridget’s and the students of the Newman Center fellowship. Often after the Sunday evening Mass, parishioners will host a dinner for the students, a nice reminder of home-cooked meals and a way to help the students feel part of the larger parish community. And on All Soul’s Day this past November, the parish and students gathered at the local cemetery.

Father Rossi describes a moving scene, where Edward played “Amazing Grace” on the bagpipes while those gathered prayed for the souls of the departed.

As Father Rossi sees it, faith and prayer are the catalysts to good stewardship: “Prayer is key to understanding what God has given us. Hopefully, what develops is a spirit of thanksgiving.”

He adds, “God made each person unique, and each person has gifts and talents. Stewardship is when a person has a prayer life and is willing to share. That’s what Edward does.”

More plans are shaping up for service this spring, as Edward and fellow Newman Center students are working on ideas to engage in service projects in the area. It will likely involve another busy itinerary for a young man who seems to always keep moving. 

But Edward says that he likes the “whole idea of having a good impact on whoever you can share with.” And that, he says, can happen when “people meet and make connections through faith.”

The mission of the Office of Stewardship is to help the disciples of Christ who live in the Diocese of Camden to live out Christian charity in a sacrificial way that “we might understand the grace that comes from giving back from our blessings so that in all things God may be glorified.” For more information, contact Deacon Russell Davis at 856-583-6102.