On Friday afternoon, the Student Government Association (SGA) was called into session at 12:16 p.m. As per usual, this meeting began with opening remarks by Sister Susan Becker, Pace’s campus Chaplain. She began with a gentle word of advice to this year’s Senators.

“There are four ways that you, as leaders, are going to be invited to show up. We’re invited to be warriors [go-getters, action takers], teachers [mentors], healers [listeners], and visionaries [think creatively],” she said. “All the Senators are here because, in some way, you are visionaries. As you go through leadership, consider how you and your peers show up. Did you show up as a warrior, teacher, healer, or visionary? A little bit of each?”

Sister Susan was invited to this campus a few years ago by Professor John Agnelli, who was the Director of Student Development and Campus Activities at the time. She came to Pace not knowing what to expect, having never been given much of a description as to what her role would be on campus.

Today, she has designed, and continues to redefine and add to her integral role as Campus Chaplain.

“I can say I want to be approachable, ‘user friendly,’” Sister Susan explained. “Here at Pace my role is pastoral counselor.”

It’s no secret that living in an age of constant technological advancement and instantaneous communication, students and young professionals tend to be burdened by various forms of external distraction. It seems difficult to disconnect from the responsibilities and to-do lists we have to fulfill. Sister Susan portrays a deep understanding of such concepts, thoughts, feelings, and conflicts Pace University students face on a daily basis.

“I think the amount of external stimulation we are subjected to on a college campus–or anywhere else, for that matter–whether it’s calls or texting, etc., robs us of moments of real quiet when we can think,” she said.

In an effort to help students and faculty find these moments of real quiet, Sister Susan often advises students and faculty to set aside small periods of time, even so little as ten minutes, to go for a walk or simply sit in silence.

Providing a space for such quiet, once a month, a group of faculty and students gather behind the townhouses after classes for meditation, guided by Sister Susan herself, for “twenty minutes of letting go of expectations, fears, worries, and all the stuff we walk about with all day.”

In addition to silent meditation, Sister Susan has also hosted spirituality-based discussions on campus, among a myriad of other activities. One such discussion regarded Separation of Church and State as a topic. She also plans to hold Catholic Communion on Tuesday afternoons during common hour this semester.

“[Spirituality is] a process, journey, endeavor to deepen our relationship with God, The Ultimate, the One, however, we think about a higher power, with others, and with ourselves,” she said. “As our connectedness grows, so does the circle of creation is included…If a person is really engaged in the process, it shows up in the way he or she lives, in choices he or she makes.”

Sister Susan’s presence on campus has shown an affect upon students and faculty. When asked about Sister Susan, sophomore communications major Gabriel Solano replied simply, “As small as they come, has no connection to how mighty they can be.”