Breaking Bread and Spilling Tea at Campus Ministry’s Tea Time

By: Mikayla Boyd, Editor-in-Chief

Each Monday, the doors of Loyola Hall open to receive visitors through Campus Ministry’s Tea Time event series. For the first time, I dropped into a tea time, along with Assistant Opinion Editor Lily McMenemy, to have a small conversation with folks about life, Canisius and community. The tea times are hosted by Campus Ministry, and they have brought a revitalizing energy to the department. Caroline King, who began serving as assistant director of campus ministry in August 2025, began hosting weekly tea times in the fall semester to build community and build the department’s visibility on campus. She hosts them alongside the friendly face of Fr. Fred Betti, campus chaplain and one of the Jesuits on campus. 

King was inspired to create the tea time event series because her and Fr. Betti “wanted to create a space where students could explore Loyola Hall, have meaningful conversations and build community. It started originally because a couple of students had questions about the Jesuits and we wanted to chat with them about their questions over a cup of coffee [or] tea in a casual way. It has since grown to include more students, a consistent Monday schedule and a variety of topics discussed.” Fr. Betti and King serve as a dynamic and complementary duo who brighten the days of each person they come across. They can usually be seen walking across campus in tandem, stopping to ask genuine questions to each individual who approaches them and shining their bright light on campus community members. There is also something to be said about how Loyola Hall, a building that many students who attend Canisius do not ever walk into in their four years, becomes filled with the laughter and voices of young students at each of these chats, and students get the opportunity to learn more about our spiritual community.

The tea times provide an opportunity to have a deeper, more intentional conversation than usual light, passing chats. They have no theme, just an open invitation to come with whatever is on your mind and engage in dialogue as lighthearted or pressing as the attendees of tea time need it to be. At this week’s tea time, gathered around Fr. Betti, King, McMenemy and a couple of other acquaintances, I shared a common sentiment among many graduating seniors: anxiety and uncertainty about the future. Although I have a post-grad plan, it hasn’t seemed to ease the sadness and stress about closing an entire chapter of my life – but sharing it with this small community did. Fr. Betti shared witty anecdotes about his time teaching at a high school where he watched students come and go, reconnected with them after their graduation and shared that the best moments of their lives waited for them outside the walls, in moments like their careers or marriages. Caroline King reminded us that there are so many opportunities that lie outside the bounds of this campus, waiting to be seized. 

While the sun shone brightly and huge flakes of snow fell outside, I found it to be a metaphor for the fact that two things can be true at once: I can look back at this past semester (and four years) incredibly fondly and miss being here, but I can also look forward to whatever life brings me after this. At this moment, Fr. Betti interrupted his story to point out a vibrant, red cardinal perched on a branch outside of Loyola. Cardinals are thought to represent hope and joy during a rough time, and in that moment, the small group at tea time were my cardinals too. King remarked that her favorite part of these events is “the way that a number of students who may not otherwise interact or overlap (from different circles of campus) get to come together and have genuine, open conversations about things that matter to them in life, from their classes or Canisius happenings, to life post-grad, to the state of the world and everything in-between. It’s been a meaningful space to laugh, listen and ponder deeply with one another all over some sweet treats and warm beverages in Loyola Hall.” These moments of growth, dialogue and community could not have been possible without the intimate and safe circle of friends and mentors that was tea time. 

These tea time chats are a vivid representation of Canisius University’s Jesuit values. You can find cura personalis in the intense, radical way that Fr. Betti, King, and other tea time attendees listen intently and respond intentionally, paying close attention to each person’s worries, joys and everything in between. Being a person for and with others is reflected in the solidarity among attendees and their willingness to engage with one another, even if they barely know each other. Ultimately, the Canisius experience is not entirely built in spaces like classrooms or the library; it is also crafted in these small, quiet moments such as tea time.