This past Sunday, the Hall Newman Center celebrated Easter Sunday with an Easter Mass and brunch. 

About 75 people were in attendance for the hour-long celebration. The Newman Center has been around since 1934 at SUNY Oswego, serving students and town residents with weekly masses and other week-night events. 

The current director of the Newman Center is former student Mike Huynh, who has held the role for 20 years — a tenure that Huynh says has been highlighted by seeing so many great people come into the chapel over the years. Easter is one of the most important days in the Roman Catholic faith, celebrating the resurrection of the Lord after his death on Good Friday. 

Huynh says that Easter is more than just a key Biblical moment, “Easter celebrates new life, new beginnings, the idea of redemption. I think that in our life as humans, we’re going to hit a lot of roadblocks, and I’d like to think that we experience many Easter moments throughout our lives. It gives us a sense of hope that helps us journey through life.” 

One of the defining characteristics of services at the Newman Center is their Music Ministry — a group of students, including guitarist Greta Swanson, lead vocalist George Kirk and town residents playing various instruments and providing vocals for the parts of mass that involve music.

 The Music Ministry performed songs for about 15 minutes before mass to provide the Easter spirit as attendees entered the chapel. 

“I’ve always had music in my life and when I first came to mass at the Newman Center they asked if you have any gifts to share, join the Lecture Team and the Music Ministry team so I started playing my clarinet and singing during mass,” Kirk said.

 After the conclusion of mass, all attendees were invited to enjoy an Easter brunch. Volunteers made a wide variety of dishes, including ham, lo mein, salad, sweets and more for everyone. About 60 people attended the brunch, which Huynh says is a critical piece of making Easter feel like a celebration with family for students. 

“I know a lot of students can’t travel so many hours to get home…so we’ve just always found that if we can’t celebrate Easter as a community of faith, then what are we doing? It has been a wonderful blessing to always have students come to join and celebrate,” Huynh said. 

It was another successful Easter Sunday at the Newman Center. The center will continue to host events every week for students and their Sunday mass always starts at 6:30 p.m. 

Huynh encourages anyone involved to simply show up to events and emphasizes that the center is hosting many activities and help sessions, especially for graduating seniors wanting a sendoff. Huynh says that being a part of the Newman Center has more value than just attending masses or events. 

“There are lots of opportunities for service, I really believe that how we serve one another is how we live out our faith, lots of experiences and opportunities for community, just connecting with people, being a part of something bigger than ourselves,” Huynh said.