Amid the hustle bustle and sleepless reverie of fall finals week a professor priest and university president made Pepperdine history.
On Monday Dec. 8 2008 nearly 40 students and faculty filed into Stauffer Chapel at 9 p.m. for a Catholic Mass celebrating the feast of the Immaculate Conception – the first on-campus Mass in nearly 30 years.
Moreover President Andrew K. Benton approved two “trial” Masses for the 2008-2009 school year – one per semester. The second Mass is in the works – likely for Ash Wednesday or Easter.
Although the Masses are intended to accommodate Catholic students on Catholic holy days many – Catholic and non-Catholic alike – consider Benton’s authorization to be a boost to religious diversity at Pepperdine.
“We’re just going to see how it goes this year said Dr. Paul Contino, professor of Great Books and director for the Center for Faith and Learning. President Benton’s feeling is ‘Let’s give it a try’ and if at the end of the year we need to go through others we may.”
Contino who is faculty advisor to the Catholic Student Association (CSA) requested the Masses on campus. He coordinated with Father Bill Kerze of Our Lady of Malibu to bring December’s Immaculate Conception Mass to Pepperdine.
“The Immaculate Conception is what we call a holy day of obligation Contino said. We brought it to campus so it made it easier for students to get there because if you don’t have a car it’s hard to get down to Our Lady of Malibu and at that time of night there’s no shuttle service.”
In 1854 the Church officially declared the long held Catholic doctrine that Mary the mother of Jesus was “immaculately” conceived that is created free from original sin. For Catholics every human being except Jesus is conceived with original sin. The doctrine of Mary’s Immaculate Conception teaches that by a singular privilege and grace granted by God the Mother of the Redeemer was created free from original sin.
“For Jesus to be born of a sinful person would be in a sense a lessening of his dignity said Great Books Chair, Dr. Don Marshall, who is Catholic. God made Mary pure and without any sin so that she was the fit vessel prepared to bear Jesus. She was as it were excused and untouched by original sin.”
This conclusion Marshall explained was reached after decades of deliberation and debate – bearing the mark of human interpretation that has earned the Church a slew of critics including individuals within the Church of Christ.
“I think it’s fair to say that in the historical past Churches of Christ have been very suspicious of Catholics Marshall said. The Churches of Christ wanted to restore the primitive church that Jesus started and they really saw the Catholic Church as having introduced a lot of innovations human inventions and so forth that they thought were unjustified not legitimated by Scripture.”
Marshall said that kind of suspicion of Catholics subsided in the 20th century as the Church of Christ became more ecumenical.
“I think [Pepperdine has] gotten more toward the feeling that it is not any compromise of their own commitment to the Church of Christ to provide hospitality to Catholics if they want to hold some type of service on campus he said.
And Catholic students comprise a considerable chunk of the university’s spiritual makeup. 16.1 percent of the incoming class in fall 2007 identified themselves as Catholic, compared to 19.5 percent who identified themselves as other Christian” and 17.4 percent who identified themselves as Church of Christ according to statistics provided by the Office of Admission. Furthermore Catholic students are the only religious entity that has established an on-campus organization with the Inter-Club Council.According to freshman CSA Vice President Katy Yasick all Pepperdine students regardless of spiritual affiliation are welcome to attend CSA meetings every other Sunday after the 10:30 a.m. Mass at Our Lady of Malibu.
“As an association we welcome anyone interested in the Catholic faith. Our goal is not conversion Yasick wrote in an e-mail.
Pepperdine provides a shuttle to the 10:30 Mass at Our Lady of Malibu every Sunday. According to Father Bill Kerze, nearly 80 students attend the 10:30 am Mass each Sunday, and cumulatively, close to 150 students attend Mass each week.
Non-Catholics who attended the Immaculate Conception Mass said it provided an opportunity for ceremonial exposure and communal worship. Junior Brian Hamm, a Lutheran who regularly attends Malibu Presbyterian Church, attended the Mass with a few friends after seeing the CSA announcement on Facebook. Except for the Eucharist component, in which non-Catholics cannot participate, Hamm said he found the Mass to be an engaging and worthwhile experience.
It’s helpful to have those options getting to know other denominations Hamm said. It provides exposure for people who were only exposed to one faith while they were growing up.
“I mean I don’t personally believe in the Immaculate Conception but I’m definitely glad that I went.”
The details of the Spring Mass which will likely be held either on Ash Wednesday or Easter are still being determined but all parties involved in planning for the Mass have expressed nothing but positive support from the university.
“The Chaplain’s office has reserved the chapel for an Ash Wednesday service but few details have been determined University Chaplain David Lemley wrote in an e-mail. We have held an Ash Wednesday service at Stauffer for several years but it has not included a Mass in the past.”
Mass concludes with the Eucharist at which non-Catholics may not participate. According to Kerze who has led an ecumenical Ash Wednesday service at Stauffer for the past three years all attendees may still come forth to receive a blessing and ashes if they wish.
The decision to hold Masses has no effect on the university’s commitment to the Church of Christ according to Contino.
“President Benton was very clear that the relationship between Church of Christ and Pepperdine will remain a vital one under his leadership. And I am deeply respectful of that Contino said.
The University Chaplain believes allowing Mass to be celebrated in the chapel is beneficial to spiritual life at Pepperdine.
Lemley said he is thankful for Dr. Contino’s care for our community’s spiritual life and his efforts for our Roman Catholic students to express their faith at Pepperdine.”
For Marshall who came to Pepperdine six years ago the Masses are just one more example of Pepperdine’s exceptional hospitality.
“[I was] kind of surprised and pleased when Pepperdine was willing to hire me. In fact I discovered that there are a number of Catholic faculty on campus – I felt very welcome Marshall said. He also said Pepperdine is considerably lenient when compared to schools like evangelical Wheaton College – which fired professor Joshua Hochschild after learning that he had converted to Catholicism in 2005.
This kind of hospitality and welcoming on the part of the institution as an institution that has historic ties to the Church of Christ has actually served to strengthen my faith Marshall said.
You’re either a follower of Jesus or you’re not. And that’s it – there really isn’t anything else he added. Jesus was not a Baptist Jesus was not a Presbyterian Jesus was not a Catholic – he was just Jesus. And that ecumenical spirit seems to have prevailed at Pepperdine.”
