Humble Beginnings Lead to a Great Ministry

This year the UTSC Chaplaincy is celebrating its tenth anniversary. The roots of this ministry, however, go much further back, to 2009. That was the year when a second year student, Erica Figueiredo (née Rodrigues), noticed that there was no Catholic presence on campus – no Mass or other activities.

After spending some days on a retreat, the idea came to Erica that perhaps she could start a Catholic student club.

Immediately, she encountered an obstacle: three students were needed to form the executive of a club, and she didn’t have any Catholic friends on campus. It seemed that the club was destined to fail before it got started, but Erica began looking for students who might be interested.

A seemingly chance encounter with an old high school friend who also went to UTSC led to this conversation: “I’m thinking of starting a Catholic group. I don’t know what it’s going to be, but would you like to help me?”

To her surprise, Brice D’Almeida agreed.

Later, Erica ran into a casual acquaintance at her parish youth group and posted the same question. Sharon Augustine also came on board, and the team began thinking, praying and planning, planting seeds for the club.

After months of preparation, the new club, the Lumen Christi Catholic Students Association, began in September, 2009, complete with a logo and a Facebook page. Erica, Sharon and Brice put up posters for their launch event but had no idea whether anyone would come.

An impressive 25 people came out for the opening meeting! The group began meeting every two weeks to discuss issues of interest for Catholic students and build community. At first, Erica and her team led the sessions, but on occasion guest speakers joined the group. 

One important step in the history of the chaplaincy took place when Fr. Hansoo Park, then the Director of Vocations for the Archdiocese, came to speak on discernment. His interest in the group led to providing support through his Associate Director, Fr. Damian Young-Sam-You. Fr. Damian guided the group spiritually and led some of the meetings.

Gradually, the club began offering other activities as the membership grew.

The Archdiocese began supporting the club’s ministry financially, and Erica continued at the helm of the group until her graduation in 2011. 

Now well established, the Lumen Christi Catholic Students Association continued to support Catholic students on campus, and the time seemed ripe to establish it as a formal chaplaincy within the Archdiocese.

This important milestone took place in 2014, and Fr. Hansoo Park, the recently arrived pastor at St. Barnabas Church, was appointed as the first chaplain.

To enhance the ministry of the newly established chaplaincy, Fr. Hansoo hired Erica as the first Director of Campus Ministry in early 2015 and regular Masses on campus began.

Years of successful growth followed, with the addition of programs and outreach, including an international service project and participation in Archdiocesan inter-chaplaincy events. Ministry activities expanded to Centennial College, and in 2018, the Catholic club there also became an official Chaplaincy.

To serve effectively the needs of students at both institutions, the staff began to expand. Erica was first joined by Rob Rosales, a re:gen campus missionary, and then a campus minister, Alexandra Lee Hoy, was added to the staff team in 2019. Although Covid brought a temporary halt to in person programming, both chaplaincies continued virtually and resumed ministry as soon as possible.

During the post-pandemic rebuilding phase, the chaplaincies benefitted from the presence of OCY missionary Andrea Carandang in 2021. Fr. Hansoo has continued as the chaplain, and the current Director, Andrew Brinas, and campus minister, Marie Gamboa, joined the team in 2022.

In this milestone anniversary year, both chaplaincies continue to grow and thrive. New programs have been added, and the ministries are attracting record numbers of participants, as Catholic students seek support for their faith in an increasingly secular environment. The ministry is also enhanced by outreach to alumni, enabling them to stay connected in prayer and community with the chaplaincies that nourished them spiritually during the critical years of their studies. 

The history of the UTSC Chaplaincy over the past ten years has been a story of God’s guidance and the dedication and commitment of staff and students to ensure that Catholic students on campus are accompanied in their faith journeys. We can’t wait to see what the next 10 years will hold!