By Lauren Seynhaeve
It's a new city, a new school and a new academic year for many people on campus. Yet there are no freshman jitters for a certain group of four new Pilots.
These men have been calm and enthusiastic throughout the moving process and have settled into University of Portland quite nicely.
The four newbies are members of the Holy Cross community: Fathers Jeffrey Allison, Gary Chamberland, Charlie McCoy and Deacon Gerard Olinger were all welcomed to UP over the summer.
As the new pastoral resident for Schoenfeldt Hall and professor of Biblical tradition and culture in the theology department, Allison is happy to be at UP.
"It's nice, it's a good community, good students, a nice campus and I get to live in a beautiful new building," he said.
Before moving into Schoenfeldt in July, Allison worked as a pastor at St. Ignatius parish in Austin, Texas. When UP offered Allison a job, his provincial said it would be a good idea, and he moved to Portland.
Upon arrival, he found more than just a new school in a new city. UP's soccer mania has made a big impression on Allison.
"The women's soccer is just fascinating," he said. "The whole interest in it is something totally new to me."
Chamberland returned to The Bluff after a near 15-year leave. He served as hall director for Shipstad Hall and part-time assistant director in campus ministry from 1992 to 1995. He then worked at the University of Notre Dame for several years and was the assistant pastor at Christ the King church in South Bend, Indiana for several more.
Now that he has returned to UP, Chamberland is the director of Campus Ministry and the pastoral resident in Kenna Hall.
Chamberland loves the size of the campus, the student body and the great interactions that students have with faculty.
"It's great to be back," he said. "It's actually one of my favorite places to be, so it wasn't hard to get me to consider coming back."
McCoy also has previous experience at UP. Three years ago, he was a pastoral resident, professor and assistant hall director.
"I have a lot of great memories here," he said. "This was very high on my list."
McCoy is currently the pastoral resident in Villa Maria Hall, a professor of first semester calculus in the Mathematics Department and the mentor of the LXG (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) club. He's really enjoying his time back at UP.
"The intelligence and real goodness of students is great, and there is a lack of cynicism that is impressive for college students," he said.
"The kind of learning that we do at UP is more than just the academics in the classroom."
Before coming to UP this year, McCoy worked at University of Wisconsin-Madison as a mathematics professor for two years before entering the seminary. Over the summer, he was doing research overseas in Austria at Kurt Gödel Research Center for Mathematical Logic.
However, he's glad to be on campus again.
"As a priest, it really heightens my impressions," he said. "Everyone is ready to help one another and they have a very positive outlook on life; the service aspect and the size help to build community."
On April 10, Olinger, currently a deacon, will also enter the priesthood. At the moment, he's serving as assistant hall director of Villa Maria Hall, director of the confirmation program and is a part of Campus Ministry.
"I'm really impressed by the mission, including what it means to be a Catholic school," he said. "UP has been really intentional about that."
Prior to UP, Olinger spent 12 years at Notre Dame. While at South Bend, he obtained both his undergraduate and law degrees, and became the assistant director of the Moreau Seminary. He has also worked at a few parishes in addition to working at UP for two summers - one 15 years ago and one last year.
"Ultimately, I was assigned to come," he said. "But I really wanted to be here."
Olinger's move to UP was eased by the fact that he has worked here in the past and his friend from the Notre Dame seminary, McCoy, moved with him.
"There are people in Campus Ministry I had known before, so getting to reconnect has been nice and has eased that transition into a new place and a new community," he said. "Charlie and I were in the seminary together and were really great friends, so it's great that we get to live so close and do stuff together."
University President, the Rev. E. William Beauchamp, C.S.C., is very happy about the addition of four new Holy Cross members to the UP faculty.
"We are a Holy Cross institution, and we have been blessed with young new men in important positions," he said. "We probably have more priests per capita than any school in the world."
