College Station Vs West Lafayette

[Gabriela]

Which place is better for the following:

 

1) Catholic life

2) Organic/natural/local food

3) GOOD food

4) Life without a car (i.e., actually having a life without a car)

 

I may have to be making a decision here soon...

[Evangetholic]

.

Edited March 17, 2013 by Evangetholic

[Evangetholic]

.

 

 

Edited March 17, 2013 by Evangetholic

[CatholicCid]

Check your PM.

[Winchester]

I would think College Station, because you can bum a ride with college punks.

[the171]

Lafayette, LA?

 

Great food, rich culture, bad traffic, great spiritual opportunities, wonderful diocese, great Newman Center (OLO Wisdom)

 

College Station

 

All I know is that they have a good Newman Center as well. (St. Mary's)

[CatholicCid]

Lafayette, LA?

 

Great food, rich culture, bad traffic, great spiritual opportunities, wonderful diocese, great Newman Center (OLO Wisdom)

 

College Station

 

All I know is that they have a good Newman Center as well. (St. Mary's)

West Lafayette, IN and College Station, TX  :spike:

Edited March 18, 2013 by CatholicCid

[the171]

Lafayette, LA > W. Lafayette, IN

[CatholicCid]

Lafayette, LA > W. Lafayette, IN

[the171]

Lafayette, LA > W. Lafayette, IN

 

He didn't live in the city, eh!

[ToJesusMyHeart]

Hey curiousing!  :wave:

 

I live in College Station as a student at the university. I just got a house this year and it's been great to be out of the dorms. Anyway. I love it here. It's a really great town, and everyone is very welcoming!

 

One of the many cool things about our town that is coming to my mind right now is every year we have this amesome student-run service project called Big Event. Big Event is an opportunity for us students to say "Thank You" to the community of Bryan/College Station for their continued support throughout the years. This past year, over 17,500 students volunteered to complete almost 1,650 jobs, performing tasks that range from painting, to yard work, and to cleaning. Students volunteer their day and their labor to help the citizens of College Station and Bryan with anything they want help with. All the students are assigned to a house for the day to just do whatever the home owners request of them. So, anyway, if you move here, you can get your whole house and yard cleaned for free once a year. ;)

 

Here's a video:

http://vimeo.com/45844626

 

Anyway, that doesn't answer your questions. Here we go! 

 

 

1) Catholic life: Catholic life here is AMAZZZZIIIINNNG! We have 5 Catholic churches in the area. Bryan/College Station really are treated as one unit. There is a Spanish parish and 4 English parishes, one of which has Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration, and 2 that have Adoration every day for at least 6 hours. The student parish is Saint Mary's. It's actually not a Newman Center. It's just a student-oriented parish. We have over 80 ministries currently working to enrich the lives of students and parishioners. Families are members at our parish too, but it is true that it's mostly students. We have around 200+ people at daily Mass every day, and over 4,000 on weekends.

 

If you're curious, you can read what George Weigel has to say about how Saint Mary's in College Station is "setting a new national standard for Catholic campus ministry."

 

Aggie Catholicism is something to behold: http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2011/02/aggie-catholic-renaissance

 

We are actually currently raising money to build a new church. We currently have a chapel that is used for confessions and Eucharistic adoration, plus other praise and worship activities. The main church is where we have all Masses, but in the future when our new church is built (because we are overflowing every Sunday...people standing everywhere, in the balcony, and overflowing into the side chapel...it's pretty ridiculous!) the new church will be used for weekend Masses and the current church will be for daily Masses. It is expected to be done in 8 years. It will be the largest church in the diocese, from what I'm told. We're also building a house of discernment for young women and one for young men who are discerning religious life. The women's house of discernment will include the convent for the Sisters who minister at the parish, and the men's discernment house will include the rectory. PRETTY STINKIN' amesome!  :smile3:

 

Speaking of discernment, Saint Mary’s has had more seminarians come out of their program in recent times than any other university system (Catholic universities included). The statistics are on our website, but since 2000, the campus ministry has averaged some 9 students per year entering the seminary or religious novitiates; 132 Catholic Aggies have been ordained priests or made final religious vows in the past 20 years. And then there is the vocation to marriage and family, which the campus ministry takes very seriously. Aggie Catholics are also a powerful witness to the rest of Aggieland; 175 new Catholics have entered the Church the past two years through St. Mary’s RCIA program.

 

Have you heard of 40 Days of Life? That started here! A group of students began the first campaign at our local abortion mill and now it's worldwide. :woot:The national office of 40 Days for Life is staffed by Aggie grads. 

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/matthew-warner/winning-the-future-of-american-catholicism#ixzz2OgWpxi1O

 

The other parishes here are non-student oriented parishes. They're normal parishes that most families and non-students attend. Saint Thomas Aquinas has the Perpetual Adoration. Saint Joseph has Adoration every day and also has the Adoration chapel open 24 hours a day from 1:00pm Sunday to 3:00pm Saturday. Saint Anthony and Santa Teresa are the other two, plus Saint Mary's which has Adoration from 8am-10pm everyday except Friday it's 8am-noon and Monday we end at 8pm in order to have praise and worship from 9-10pm. The parish is open until 11pm every night and opens again at 7am for Morning Prayer, which is prayed in common in the chapel. 

 

Every day we have Morning Prayer at 7:30am, Vespers at 5:10pm in the chapel and daily mass at 5:30pm. We have 7 weekend Mass times, including Spanish Mass. We have Confessions every day, and there is always a line (which is a good thing!). 

 

There is also a Latin Mass offered about 40 minutes away every Sunday, if you like Latin Masses. 

 

We have an Order of Sisters here who minister to the parish by offering retreats and spiritual direction to anyone who wants it. They are the Apostles of the Interior Life, and there are 3 Sisters here with us. My house is actually 2 doors down from the convent, so I live right next to Jesus (they have a chapel and tabernacle at the convent, naturally.. ;) )

 

We also have a huge Theology of the Body program running, plus evangelization teams who go onto campus to share the Gospel with the students. Actually, it would be easier for me to just give you the websites of all these parishes so you don't have to read my book of a description. One last word of this though, the National Catholic Register has reported Saint Mary's as the #1 ( in terms of both size and vibrancy) Public University Catholic Center in the nation. Something to consider!  :winner: 

 

Websites:

1) Saint Mary's Student parish: http://www.aggiecatholic.org/

2) Saint Thomas Aquinas (with perpetual adoration): http://www.stabcs.org/

3) Saint Joseph: http://www.stjosephbcs.org/index.cfm?active=1

4) Saint Anthony: http://www.saintanthonys.org/

5) Santa Teresa: They actually don't have a website...awkward...

6) Saint Mary's in Brenham nearby (Latin Mass): http://www.stmarybrenham.org/

 

SO. Sorry, I like to talk about Saint Mary's. It's so wonderful here! Such a beautiful and vibrant parish!!

 

2) Organic/natural/local food: YES. We have TONS. Two of my roommates only eat local organics. They're also vegetarian, and they have no problem finding food for their organic, vegetarian diets. We have at least 4 grocery stores (probably more, I'll ask them when they get home!) that sell either exclusively organic foods or have a great many organic foods for sale. That is such a blessing! (They are converting me to organic too!) 

 

3) GOOD food: Yes. The food here is yummy. I have chicken and sausage and seafood gumbo in my fridge right now that my roommate made with local, organic ingredients. There are also plenty of nice restaurants and bistros. 

 

4) Life without a car (i.e., actually having a life without a car): Yes, this is possible. I would recommend buying a bicycle, though. You can hitch rides pretty easily with people, and there is also a FREE bus service that runs from the universtiy, to many, many places around town, including Wal-Mart. So you could always ride that. But a bike would be helpful. Walking is safe, but the town is bigger than people think. 

I would think College Station, because you can bum a ride with college punks.

 

College Station

 

All I know is that they have a good Newman Center as well. (St. Mary's)

Not a Newman Center, but yesh, as I verbosely described above, Saint Mary's is mind-blowing.  :like:

 

I hope that is helpful! I don't know anything about Louisiana, but I sure do want to share all I know and love about College Station with anybody interested! 

 

God bless you, curiousing! I hope the Lord shows you where you'd thrive!

Edited March 26, 2013 by ToJesusMyHeart

[WillT]

Which place is better for the following:

1) Catholic life
2) Organic/natural/local food
3) GOOD food
4) Life without a car (i.e., actually having a life without a car)

I may have to be making a decision here soon...

May I ask what you're studying/teaching? I only ask because it seems you are deciding between Purdue and aTm.

[Gabriela]

Hey curiousing!  :wave:

 

I live in College Station as a student at the university. I just got a house this year and it's been great to be out of the dorms. Anyway. I love it here. It's a really great town, and everyone is very welcoming!

 

One of the many cool things about our town that is coming to my mind right now is every year we have this amesome student-run service project called Big Event. Big Event is an opportunity for us students to say "Thank You" to the community of Bryan/College Station for their continued support throughout the years. This past year, over 17,500 students volunteered to complete almost 1,650 jobs, performing tasks that range from painting, to yard work, and to cleaning. Students volunteer their day and their labor to help the citizens of College Station and Bryan with anything they want help with. All the students are assigned to a house for the day to just do whatever the home owners request of them. So, anyway, if you move here, you can get your whole house and yard cleaned for free once a year. ;)

 

Here's a video:

http://vimeo.com/45844626

 

Anyway, that doesn't answer your questions. Here we go! 

 

 

1) Catholic life: Catholic life here is AMAZZZZIIIINNNG! We have 5 Catholic churches in the area. Bryan/College Station really are treated as one unit. There is a Spanish parish and 4 English parishes, one of which has Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration, and 2 that have Adoration every day for at least 6 hours. The student parish is Saint Mary's. It's actually not a Newman Center. It's just a student-oriented parish. We have over 80 ministries currently working to enrich the lives of students and parishioners. Families are members at our parish too, but it is true that it's mostly students. We have around 200+ people at daily Mass every day, and over 4,000 on weekends.

 

If you're curious, you can read what George Weigel has to say about how Saint Mary's in College Station is "setting a new national standard for Catholic campus ministry."

 

Aggie Catholicism is something to behold: http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2011/02/aggie-catholic-renaissance

 

We are actually currently raising money to build a new church. We currently have a chapel that is used for confessions and Eucharistic adoration, plus other praise and worship activities. The main church is where we have all Masses, but in the future when our new church is built (because we are overflowing every Sunday...people standing everywhere, in the balcony, and overflowing into the side chapel...it's pretty ridiculous!) the new church will be used for weekend Masses and the current church will be for daily Masses. It is expected to be done in 8 years. It will be the largest church in the diocese, from what I'm told. We're also building a house of discernment for young women and one for young men who are discerning religious life. The women's house of discernment will include the convent for the Sisters who minister at the parish, and the men's discernment house will include the rectory. PRETTY STINKIN' amesome!  :smile3:

 

Speaking of discernment, Saint Mary’s has had more seminarians come out of their program in recent times than any other university system (Catholic universities included). The statistics are on our website, but since 2000, the campus ministry has averaged some 9 students per year entering the seminary or religious novitiates; 132 Catholic Aggies have been ordained priests or made final religious vows in the past 20 years. And then there is the vocation to marriage and family, which the campus ministry takes very seriously. Aggie Catholics are also a powerful witness to the rest of Aggieland; 175 new Catholics have entered the Church the past two years through St. Mary’s RCIA program.

 

Have you heard of 40 Days of Life? That started here! A group of students began the first campaign at our local abortion mill and now it's worldwide. :woot:The national office of 40 Days for Life is staffed by Aggie grads. 

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/matthew-warner/winning-the-future-of-american-catholicism#ixzz2OgWpxi1O

 

The other parishes here are non-student oriented parishes. They're normal parishes that most families and non-students attend. Saint Thomas Aquinas has the Perpetual Adoration. Saint Joseph has Adoration every day and also has the Adoration chapel open 24 hours a day from 1:00pm Sunday to 3:00pm Saturday. Saint Anthony and Santa Teresa are the other two, plus Saint Mary's which has Adoration from 8am-10pm everyday except Friday it's 8am-noon and Monday we end at 8pm in order to have praise and worship from 9-10pm. The parish is open until 11pm every night and opens again at 7am for Morning Prayer, which is prayed in common in the chapel. 

 

Every day we have Morning Prayer at 7:30am, Vespers at 5:10pm in the chapel and daily mass at 5:30pm. We have 7 weekend Mass times, including Spanish Mass. We have Confessions every day, and there is always a line (which is a good thing!). 

 

There is also a Latin Mass offered about 40 minutes away every Sunday, if you like Latin Masses. 

 

We have an Order of Sisters here who minister to the parish by offering retreats and spiritual direction to anyone who wants it. They are the Apostles of the Interior Life, and there are 3 Sisters here with us. My house is actually 2 doors down from the convent, so I live right next to Jesus (they have a chapel and tabernacle at the convent, naturally.. ;) )

 

We also have a huge Theology of the Body program running, plus evangelization teams who go onto campus to share the Gospel with the students. Actually, it would be easier for me to just give you the websites of all these parishes so you don't have to read my book of a description. One last word of this though, the National Catholic Register has reported Saint Mary's as the #1 ( in terms of both size and vibrancy) Public University Catholic Center in the nation. Something to consider!  :winner: 

 

Websites:

1) Saint Mary's Student parish: http://www.aggiecatholic.org/

2) Saint Thomas Aquinas (with perpetual adoration): http://www.stabcs.org/

3) Saint Joseph: http://www.stjosephbcs.org/index.cfm?active=1

4) Saint Anthony: http://www.saintanthonys.org/

5) Santa Teresa: They actually don't have a website...awkward...

6) Saint Mary's in Brenham nearby (Latin Mass): http://www.stmarybrenham.org/

 

SO. Sorry, I like to talk about Saint Mary's. It's so wonderful here! Such a beautiful and vibrant parish!!

 

2) Organic/natural/local food: YES. We have TONS. Two of my roommates only eat local organics. They're also vegetarian, and they have no problem finding food for their organic, vegetarian diets. We have at least 4 grocery stores (probably more, I'll ask them when they get home!) that sell either exclusively organic foods or have a great many organic foods for sale. That is such a blessing! (They are converting me to organic too!) 

 

3) GOOD food: Yes. The food here is yummy. I have chicken and sausage and seafood gumbo in my fridge right now that my roommate made with local, organic ingredients. There are also plenty of nice restaurants and bistros. 

 

4) Life without a car (i.e., actually having a life without a car): Yes, this is possible. I would recommend buying a bicycle, though. You can hitch rides pretty easily with people, and there is also a FREE bus service that runs from the universtiy, to many, many places around town, including Wal-Mart. So you could always ride that. But a bike would be helpful. Walking is safe, but the town is bigger than people think. 

 

Not a Newman Center, but yesh, as I verbosely described above, Saint Mary's is mind-blowing.  :like:

 

I hope that is helpful! I don't know anything about Louisiana, but I sure do want to share all I know and love about College Station with anybody interested! 

 

God bless you, curiousing! I hope the Lord shows you where you'd thrive!

 

Wow. Thank you so much for this! I did my undergrad at A&M, so I know there's great community there in general, but I wasn't Catholic at the time, so this is very helpful. I appreciate your "book", TJMH!

[Gabriela]

May I ask what you're studying/teaching? I only ask because it seems you are deciding between Purdue and aTm.

 

I am deciding between Purdue and A&M. I study communication and I've been accepted to both PhD programs. Currently, however, only Purdue has found funding for me (I applied late). My heart is leaning towards A&M, though, so I really hope they come up with some money (more than Purdue did!). Are you at one or the other place?

[WillT]

I am deciding between Purdue and A&M. I study communication and I've been accepted to both PhD programs. Currently, however, only Purdue has found funding for me (I applied late). My heart is leaning towards A&M, though, so I really hope they come up with some money (more than Purdue did!). Are you at one or the other place?

No, I'm not at either place. Since both are Land Grant institutions, I thought you might be studying something Ag related (my field). However, I do know several alumni of both and they all speak highly of their respective alma maters. I know both are highly respected in Ag, but that probably doesn't help you very much! At any rate, good luck and congrats on being accepted to a doctoral program!