Dear Readers,
Our focus as editors of STM Magazine is to bring you a slice of life from STM’s campus ministry twice a year. Spring 2020 is no exception. What started out as a typical second semester of lectures, Masses and programming quickly became a-typical when our March Alternative Spring Break trips were cancelled, due to the threat of a global health crisis. Days later, as one of our colleagues fell ill with COVID-19, the STM staff and Chaplains were all sent home for a period of quarantine from which we have yet to return. As COVID-19 cases continued to rise in Connecticut, Yale University first informed students, then on Spring Break, that they would not return to campus until April 1. That return was delayed over and over until the university finally announced there would be no in-person Commencement in May.
The STM community reached out to each other in moving and creative ways during these past months of lockdown and self-isolation: flowers drawn in chalk appeared in front of the Chapel on Good Friday; red paper hearts were placed in the Chapel and Center’s windows in honor of all essential workers; Chaplains checked-in with students over email and text; and students took breaks from their online studies to watch shows and movies together over Zoom.
Our students may have lost much of what matters to them: being physically close to their friends, professors, coaches, mentors and STM Chaplains—and yet, as you will see from the articles in this issue, our students are still finding ways to help others, lift spirits and persevere. They have been an inspiration to us, especially our graduates, and we proudly dedicate this issue to them.
As Father Ryan said in his Easter Vigil homily: “Love survives.” Love, and STM’s ministry that accompanies it, has survived—even in this a-typical semester.
Wishing you all health and safety for the months to come,
Robin & Sarah
The STM Undergraduate Council attended Mass at the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, MA, after having stayed in the John Paul II guest house overnight during their annual winter retreat.
