Passersby confess at Cathedral

The Cathedral of Learning might finally live up to its title as a cathedral thanks to the… The Cathedral of Learning might finally live up to its title as a cathedral thanks to the efforts of Father Kim Schreck.

Schreck sets up two lawn chairs and a fold-out sign that reads ‘Confession, Counsel, Advice’ on the Cathedral lawn every Wednesday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and lets students come to him.

Schreck, a Roman Catholic priest, also holds office hours at Carlow University and CMU for three hours once a week, and he said that Pitt was the busiest of the three colleges. An average of 10-20 students stopped by per week.

‘[Students] line up right on the grass,’ he said. ‘It’s awesome.’

If it’s too cold, he moves his sign and chairs inside to the Commons Room.

Many students come to him with ‘brokenness in their lives,’ he said, including relationship problems, feeling used, doing something the student viewed as wrong, families broken through divorce and addictions.

‘A lot of people are looking for hope, the thing no college degree or class gives you,’ said Schreck. ‘The one thing that comes up most is hopelessness.’

He also said he ends up discussing the standard issues of college life with students, like which career to choose or pressures in school.

He said, ‘There’s a lot of work in classes for the mind, not for the heart.’

Another common topic during his office hours is faith: Why do things happen the way they do?

‘People are looking for answers that the world can’t give,’ said Schreck.

Schreck hails from the South Hills and said he never planned on becoming a priest. During college, he felt as if something was missing and began praying, which led him to drop out of Pitt and attend seminary at Duquesne.

‘I recognized that there had to be more than just living for myself,’ said Schreck. ‘There had to be hope.’

After two years at Duquesne, Schreck had another nine years to complete before he became an ordained priest. He completed a total of 11 years of schooling and three degrees, which include a bachelor’s of art in philosophy and theology, and degrees in moral theology and bioethics.

Schreck spent much of that time in Rome, where all of his classes were taught in Italian. However, he explained that the degrees he earned in Rome don’t have real equivalents in the United States and that they are unique to Catholic seminaries.

Schreck became ordained on June 30, 2007.

‘It rocks. It’s awesome,’ he said about being a priest.

Because Schreck is a parish priest, he will always work in the Pittsburgh area. However, he might not always work in his current position at St. Paul’s Cathedral, he said.

Parish priests are rooted in the places they grew up and are dedicated to those communities. Schreck also holds office hours at two area Catholic high schools and made interchangeable badges printed with the office hours for each school in different colors.

‘I tried to get as close to school colors [on the badges] as possible, but Kinko’s didn’t have a lot of options,’ he said.

Schreck said he wanted to hold outdoor office hours as a sign of hope to students, although he gives credit for the idea to God.

‘I want to help [students] experience a God who’s always waiting for them, to give them hope and peace, to heal their wounds,’ said Schreck.

He said that not just Catholics and Christians stop by his office hours; atheists and Jews have also spoken with him.

Some people will stop by to tell him they did well on a test or simply to talk, in addition to the people who are dealing with harder problems.

CMU’s student population seems to have a greater number of atheists who come up and talk, said Schreck.

‘I’m glad the kids at CMU don’t bring me their crazy genome homework,’ saying he could discuss philosophy and theology much easier than science or math.

Students do come back to thank Schreck for listening and to tell him that he helped them out.

Pitt has given Schreck permission to sit on the lawn or inside the Cathedral as long as he doesn’t harass students.

‘I sit there in a lawn chair with a white sign,’ he said, laughing.

He emphasized that he lets students come to him, and that he doesn’t need to seek them out.

In addition to his campus work, Schreck also does the ‘usual priest stuff’ at St. Paul’s, including giving confessions.

The Newman Center at the Pittsburgh Oratory also has an active campus ministry. The Center holds events and Bible studies, in addition to providing students with a recreational room where they can hang out, study or play games.