Slippery Rock — It has been a year of transition for St. Peter Parish Center and ROCK Catholic Ministry, formerly known as the Newman Center, on the Slippery Rock University campus.

During the past year, the Rev. Kevin Poeking of St. Peter and Diane Magilocca, coordinator of Catholic Campus Ministry, have been working to transform the Newman Center into a parish center that serves both the college students of SRU and the parishioners of St. Peter.

Poeking and Magilocca both said there has always been a history of cooperation between Catholic Campus Ministry and St. Peter, but with the transition into a parish center, that cooperation has become more deliberate as the two worship communities integrate.

In the past, Magilocca, who has worked in campus ministry for 15 years, said the focus of operations in the building has been on reaching out to the campus community and providing “a church home away from home for students.”

Now the focus is on making the parishioners of St. Peter feel just at home as the students are.

One of the first decisions made in this transition was to change the name from the Newman Center to St. Peter Parish Center and ROCK Catholic Campus Ministry.

Magilocca said the Newman Center has always been associated with campus ministry and a new name was needed to reflect the changing priorities of the building.

The new name emphasizes the center's connection to SRU, and as Father Poeking pointed out, also reinforces ties with St. Peter because the name Peter means rock.

Father Poeking said St. Peter had outgrown the two buildings already used by the parish.

Using the former Newman Center, which is owned by St. Peter Parish, will help the parish to better create and develop programs and events that reach out to the community and to make the campus community more aware of the resources and events available at St. Peter.

The process, according to Poeking and Magilocca, has been more of a transition for the parishioners of St Peter than for the SRU students involved in Catholic Campus Ministry.

To ease the transition, the parish has planned and hosted events that appeal to both parishioners and the college students.

This past fall, the parish had a successful first Octoberfest and plans to repeat the event this October. Additionally, the parishioners helped college students host a Mardi Gras bingo as a fundraiser for Haiti Relief efforts.

Poeking and Magilocca said the parish center will plan programs and events as they arise and fit the needs of both campus ministry and the parish.

“The parish is trying to stay open to what happens, to see what evolves from the integration, hopefully, more of the same,” Poeking said.

Magilocca added, “The transition has opened lots of potential directions and options. Now we have to wait and see what the parishioners want to happen.”

Working together in the new parish center, Poeking and Magilocca serve as an example for the students and parishioners as they transition into new ways of doing things.

Father Poeking is relatively new to St. Peter Parish. He was called to the parish, a part of the diocese of Pittsburgh, nine months ago after previously serving at St. Thomas in Bethel Park and Immaculate Conception in Washington.

Poeking grew up outside Buffalo, N.Y., before he moved to the Pittsburgh area to attend college. After graduating, he decided to remain in the area and started working for a shipping company, which later merged with FedEx as a logistics analyst and strategic business planner.

Poeking, who grew up a Protestant, did not become involved in the Catholic Church until adulthood. Once his involvement began, however, he said he “fell in love with the church, so much so that I decided to become a priest.”

Five and a half years ago, following seven years in seminary, he was ordained by the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

On the other hand, Magilocca is a more familiar face at the former Newman Center. She has worked in campus ministry at SRU for 15 years.

She is a Slippery Rock native and an alumna of SRU, graduating with a degree in music therapy and music education. After graduating, she worked as a music therapist and teacher.

Magilocca began working as a volunteer in the church. Ultimately, though, that experience piqued her interest in youth ministry and led her to pursue a master's degree in religious education at Duquesne University.

Before working at SRU, the mother of six worked at St. Paul Roman Catholic Church in Butler and St. Valentine in Bethel Park.

Currently, the parish offers numerous opportunities for parishioners to worship. Masses are held daily at either the St. Peter church building on Main Street or the new parish center on campus. With four services on Sundays and one on Saturday evenings, the parish is doing its best to hold masses that fit into the schedules of both the parishioners and college students.

Magilocca and Poeking agree the noon mass on Sundays at the parish center is more popular with college students. It features more contemporary music and worship styles, which tend to appeal to a younger audience.

St. Peter was founded in 1938 as a mission church by St. Fidelis Seminary. It became an independent parish in 1955. In 1993, the parish began maintaining both St. Peter and St. Anthony in Forestville.

Currently, the parish has about 750 families on the membership list.

Magilocca and Father Poeking both agree it is difficult to estimate the number of SRU students involved in the parish.

According to Magilocca, there are 200 students on the campus ministry's e-mail contact list, but many students who do not receive those e-mails attend masses.

The creation of university parishes is a model that is becoming more prevalent as parishes attempt to remain budget-conscious in their programming.

For instance, the Newman Center on the IUP campus has become a university parish that not only houses church offices, but also serves as the local church.

Magilocca is unsure of other parishes making similar decisions, but believes the practice might be more common in other parts of the country.

For St. Peter, she said, “Things have slowly been heading in this direction; there used to be two priests and now just one who serves both St. Peter and campus ministry.”

<B>Name: </B>St. Peter Parish Center and ROCK Catholic Ministry<B>Address:</B> 342 Normal Ave., Slippery Rock<B>Officials:</B> Rev. Kevin Poeking, priest, and Diane Magilocca, coordinator of Catholic Campus Ministry<B>Telephone:</B> 724-794-2880<B>Facebook: </B>ROCK Catholic<B>Web site: </B>www.rockstpeter.org