New campus minster’s circuitous journey to Diocese started in Kenya

MADISON  Since she was a child, Mercylynn Mbuguah, now 25, had an all-consuming desire: to become a doctor. A native of Kenya, who was raised in Fort Wayne, Ind., she wasn’t interested in “getting rich” but in healing the world, especially the underprivileged, maybe as a trauma surgeon for Doctors without Borders.

However, during her undergraduate studies, God pulled Mbuguah — a cradle Catholic who was not religious — in another, unexpected direction: closer to him. Her faith took many turns, which included getting involved in Catholic campus ministry after visiting a Protestant young-adult group; discerning religious life with a Carmelite community; and working in college campus ministry before earning a master’s degree in theology and Christian ministry. Mbuguah’s winding path led her to the Diocese of Paterson, where she now serves as the new diocesan campus ministry coordinator for Drew and Fairleigh Dickenson universities, both in Madison — a job she considers similar to that of a medical doctor.

“I wanted to be a medical doctor, so I could get people, especially the sick and vulnerable, the right resources to heal,” said Mbuguah, a vivacious young adult, who started her new position at St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization here last month. She also will collaborate with other Catholic campus ministries in the Diocese, especially at William Paterson University in Wayne. “I love meeting people. As a campus minister, I can help students heal spiritually at this challenging stage in their lives, with the help of God, who is the ultimate physician,” she said.

This month, Mbuguah dove into her new job, participating in the Drew and Fairleigh Dickenson’s activity fairs to attract students — both Catholic and non-Catholic — and meeting with students. She is continuing existing Bible studies and participation in Masses on Sundays on both campus and at St. Paul Inside the Walls. She also plans to start weekly Catholic Campus Ministry nights, which will include games, Bible-related presentations, and witness talks.

Mbuguah’s life and faith journey started in a small town in Kenya, three hours from the capital of Nairobi. With her family, she went to vibrant Masses that lasted up to 3 hours. In 2006, she and her family — Steven, her father, an environmental specialist; Felistus, her mother, who works in a store; and Martin, her brother, now 19 and a college sophomore — left Kenya for the United States, when she was 10. They had “won” the lottery for a Green Card, Mbuguah said.

“We were doing well in Kenya but my parents wanted my brother and I to have better opportunities in the U.S.,” said Mbuguah, who was a “straight A” student. She competed on her public high school’s speech and debate team in Fort Wayne and got involved in youth group at her parish but had not delved seriously into her faith.

Mbuguah went to the Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. At the time, “I was ‘not bringing God into my decision making,’ ” she said. She briefly joined a Protestant group in college where she met “young people who loved Jesus. I wanted to find out, ‘what did they know that I don’t?’ ” she said. This encounter led her to join the Newman Center at Northwestern at the end of sophomore year. There, she felt at home.

“But I didn’t know the basics of the faith like ‘What is the Eucharist?’ I went to Bible study and the Catholic Scholars Program and talked to missionaries from the Fellow­ship of Catholic University Students,” said Mbuguah. She volunteered in the emergency rooms of two hospitals as part of her “pre-med” training, earned her bachelor’s degree in 2017, and took the Medical College Admission Test to get ready for med school.

However, God was pointing Mbuguah toward Catholic ministry. She took a year off from her studies to serve as a missionary at the Newman Center of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill. She also considered a calling to religious life. “I wanted a deeper relationship with Jesus and a transformation. I was opening my heart to God,” she said. During her undergraduate medical training, Mbuguah met a religious sister who also practiced medicine, giving her the idea that she could combine the two aspirations. She also lived with a Carmelite community in Indiana for a few months, she said.

“I was attracted to solitude and prayer life, which may seem strange because I’m very extroverted,” said Mbuguah, who applied to enter the community but ultimately felt called to campus ministry. “The Carmel­ites taught me the importance of prayer and seeing Christ in others, like even when I’m conversing with someone at a barbeque. That is also a prayer. I learned that we also must have an active missionary heart,” she said.

Filled with that passion, Mbuguah went to Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, where she earned a master’s degree in theology and Christian ministry in May. With the degree, she hopes to be able to help answer her students’ questions about Catholicism, such as “Why should I believe?”

“I don’t have all the answers, but with my background, I can point them in the right direction. Truth points to truth, especially for college students today, who hear so many confusing messages about sexuality and gender,” Mbuguah said. “I want to share my story. When I’m grounded in the Christ of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, that gives me hope in the One, who knows all amid the chaos of a changing world,” she said.

Mbuguah’s father, Steven, and the rest of the family were “shocked” by this “U-turn” away from medicine and toward Catholic ministry.

“Mercylynn had dreamt about medical school since she was young,” her father said. “I was confused. I prayed, asking God to show me that it is his will. I came to embrace that Mercylynn wants to help people, especially young people, and be part of the change,” he said.

Last month, Mbuguah replaced Father Pawel Tomczyk, the previous campus ministry coordinator at Drew and Fairleigh Dickenson, who also served as diocesan director of Youth Ministry and Rite of Chris­tian Initiation of Adults. He now serves full-time on the faculty of Immaculate Concep­tion Seminary at Seton Hall Univer­sity in South Orange. Father Paul Manning, St. Paul’s executive director and diocesan vicar for evangelization, and Father Tomczyk interviewed Mbuguah for the position via Zoom.

“Mercylynn stood out from the other candidates,” said Father Tomczyk, citing her earning a master’s degree and her previous involvement in campus ministry. “Mercylynn has a compassionate heart. She sees her job as a way to minister to students, who are struggling, and bring Christ to them,” he said.