By Fr. John Schmoll, St. Joseph Church
Contributing Writer
My undergraduate years were spent at Merced College and the University of California, Santa Barbara. I studied hard and did very well at both institutions. I made a lot of good friends and had a lot of fun.
When I was going to Merced College, I was attending Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church. As a child, I was baptized there in 1957 and made my First Holy Communion in 1964.
I was born and raised in Merced as I lived there from 1957-1979. My mom did not have to worry about me going to Mass every Sunday. She and my dad impressed that need into me very strongly. There was no sleeping in on Sundays. Saturdays, yes, but Sundays, no.
When my mom found out I was going to UCSB, which was a full five hours away from Merced, I do not believe she was too happy. She would much rather have had me go to CSU Stanislaus or Fresno State.
When I look back on the education I received, I should have gone to one of those places too, but that is for another column!
If she told me once, she told me a thousand times, “After moving into your dorm room, you must promise me that you will go look for a church. You cannot be two years without a church!”
I did not know the area at all. I had never been so far away from home in my life, at least on my own. Of course, I would not tell her but I wanted to find a church, too. After moving my boxes into my dorm room, I got back into my car and headed off on my church-locating quest.
My mom wanted me to find a church, and I wanted to find a church, but as it turns out, no one wanted me to find a church more than the Lord.
UCSB had its own little freeway off of Highway 101. The university is actually located in Goleta, several miles north of Santa Barbara. I drove down this little freeway and took the Goleta exit.
When I got down to the end of the exit ramp, I stopped at the stop sign. There, right across the street, was Saint Raphael Catholic Church! No GPS in those days. If I had taken one of the other exits, I would have been looking for a long time. My mom must have had a hotline to Heaven. Exactly what she wanted occurred within just hours of my arrival at this very far away campus.
I bring this up because it’s graduation season. Many of you, our young people, will be going far away for college, trade school, military service or the world of work. You will be far away from your parents.
They will not be able to know what you’re doing. They will be completely reliant upon what you tell them. Even with all the technology your parents have, you usually have and know more.
There was zero technology in my college years compared to today. There were no personal computers, I did have an electric typewriter though, and no cell phones. They hadn’t been invented yet. You must think I’m close to 100 years old, but I will just be 67 in August.
If you practice your faith here, find a church, synagogue, mosque or temple where you are going. It is very easy to lose one’s faith when you no longer have supportive family members living with you. It will be very easy to sleep in on Sunday.
Your friends who do not practice their faith, and those who have no faith, can much more easily begin to influence you. Of course, you can influence them, too. God is present on campuses of course, but sometimes it is harder to experience Him.
There are thousands and thousands of voices in the world that are against God. This will be your first time away from home for an extended time by yourself. It is very easy to hear all those voices, if you do not find a place to worship. You will need, now more than ever, an hour each Friday (Muslims), Saturday (Jews) or Sunday (Christians) to hear the voice of God.
Even by today’s standards, I went to a philosophically and morally liberal school. I do not want to think where I would be today if I had not, I believe, been led to that church across the street from the stop sign.Do God, your mom and you a favor. Find a place to worship! Peac
