Pendleton, Oregon, sits in wheat country. It is cowboy country. For a Catholic teenager growing up there, it can feel like a spiritual desert.
That is Annette's word for it, not ours. "It is a spiritual desert over here in Eastern Oregon," she said. Catholic families exist. Kids get confirmed. But by high school, most of them stop showing up. "They kind of stop coming to church," Annette said. "It's not very youth-centered."
So when Annette started looking at colleges her senior year, she was not just picking a school. She was wondering whether her faith would survive the move.
One Piece of Advice From a Trusted Mentor
Heather Griggs has known Annette since she was eight years old. Heather is her mom's best friend, and she took over the youth group at their parish, St. Mary's, during Annette's senior year.
Heather remembers watching Annette wrestle with the big questions most teenagers face: how to hold her faith and love her friends who saw things differently. "She's not afraid to ask hard questions," Heather said. "She's not afraid to speak up."
As graduation got closer, Annette told Heather what she was really afraid of. "I really just want to make sure I keep my faith," she said. "I don't want to move away and lose my faith."
Neither of them knew much about campus ministry. Heather is a convert who came into the Church after her own college years, so Newman Centers weren't on her radar either. But she gave Annette one piece of advice anyway: wherever you land, look for a Newman Center.
Annette had never heard the term. "What's that?" she asked. Heather's answer was simple: a group of Catholic kids on a college campus.
A Last-Minute School, an Unexpected Home
Annette ended up at Mount Hood Community College outside Portland — a last-minute decision, and honestly, her last choice on the list. Mount Hood itself has no Newman Center, so she searched nearby and found one at Portland State University, meeting at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church in downtown Portland.
She showed up to Mass that first Sunday not knowing a soul. By the time she walked into her first Newman gathering, there were roughly 45 college students in the room, ages 18 to 25.
"They were so welcoming right away," Annette said. "I've never felt so welcome immediately in a place ever."
St. Michael's holds 250 people. Every Sunday, it is standing room only, and the parish runs a Mass built specifically for young adults. That year, eight people from the Newman Center alone entered the Catholic Church. More joined at Easter.
"It's a thriving church population," Annette said. "It's amazing."
The Friends Who Showed Her What Faith Could Look Like
Annette points to two friendships that anchored her. America, a senior in the group, handed Annette her phone number on the Sunday before her first Newman event and checked in on her all week. "She was a super great resource for me throughout the year," Annette said. Months later, they were still getting coffee once a month.
Then there is Theresa, a fellow freshman Annette calls a role model. "She's just so locked in her faith," Annette said. "I look at her, and I'm like, that is how I want to live my faith."
Lastly, there is Father Aaron, the young priest who leads the Newman Center — thirty-five years old, known for trying out slang he does not quite get right. Annette had never felt close to a priest before. With Father Aaron, that changed. "I'd be in his office probably at least once, maybe twice a month, just crying about my problems," she said. She started bringing him banana bread and cookies from her small baking business every week. He never let her forget it.
A Faith That Moved to the Front
Annette had been Catholic her whole life. But she says the year at the Newman Center taught her things about her own faith she had never known before, down to what actually happens during Mass. "I've been Catholic my entire life," she said. "I never knew that this is what you're supposed to do."
That knowledge changed how she carried her faith in public. Before college, she kept it quiet. "It was kind of on the back burner a little bit for me," she admitted. Not anymore. "I'll go out, and I'll just talk to people about Jesus, about the Catholic faith, and I never used to do that."
One of those conversations started with an invitation. A friend from choir, who described herself as loosely Christian with no defined beliefs, asked Annette to hang out on a Tuesday night. Annette explained she had Newman that night instead, and found herself describing the young adult Mass, the dinners, and the community. Her friend asked her to come along. "Would you mind if I came with you to church on Sunday?" she asked. Annette's answer: "Absolutely."
Looking back, Annette does not think she would have lasted at Mount Hood without the Newman Center. "I probably would have been there for about two weeks, maybe a month, and said, 'Yeah, I'm not doing this,'" she said. Instead, it became the center of her week, worth a 45-minute drive each way, twice. "I'd drop $100 on gas every week if it meant I got to go to the Newman Center," she said. "It's so worth it."
What Heather Saw From the Sidelines
Heather watched all of this unfold from a distance, mostly through phone calls. The first one came just days into Annette's freshman year. "Heather, this is amazing," Annette told her. "These are all people my age. This is life."
Over the following months, Heather noticed changes she had not expected. Annette started dressing more modestly at Mass, on her own. She got involved with the pro-life movement after an event connected to her campus ministry, and spent part of her spring break at an Oregon Right to Life training. She began talking about combining her faith with her future career — political science, writing, maybe covering Catholic issues professionally instead of treating faith as separate from work.
Heather never set out to be given credit for any of it. "I feel like I did nothing but give her the information and tell her," she said. "She was looking actively for a Catholic social community."
Why This Story Matters
Every year, Catholic seniors leave home not knowing whether their faith will find a place to land. Some end up in towns like Pendleton, where there is little support left by the time they graduate high school. Some end up in cities where a Newman Center is one Google search away, if they know to look. Annette found hers because one adult in her life gave her a single piece of direction before she ever needed it.
That is the gap Newman Connection exists to close, through Faith Forward: naming, inviting, and connecting graduating seniors to a Catholic community on campus before they ever set foot there. Campus ministries like the one at St. Michael the Archangel remain the ones doing the actual work of welcoming students in. Newman Connection builds the bridge that gets a student like Annette to that door in the first place.
Annette's advice to any senior standing where she once stood is simple. "If you are nervous about it, I would say just go for it," she said. "It's such a beautiful experience that I really feel like everybody should give it a chance."
Heather's advice to every youth leader and parent wondering if this kind of connection is worth making is just as simple: "Use it."
Every soul matters. No one walks alone.
