McCARTHY HALL – Resident Minister Anthony “Tony” Manza’s weekly office hours for students were empty this week, likely because the Southwest Quad, like the rest of campus, has been vacated in order to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus. 

Although, if we’re being honest, they were empty last week too. 

And the week before. 

In fact, this is the eighth consecutive week of no shows for “Faith Talk with Tony.” 

“It can be discouraging at times,” said Manza, “but I try not to let it get to me.” The 36-year old Presbyterian minister lives in his McCarthy single along with his wife, three children, and their two dogs. “Usually if I just leave my door open, one or two students walk by, and I can hear kind of the ruckus and goings-on of the hall, but not even that anymore.”

“The last time a student came to my office hours, she was looking for the bathroom,” Manza elaborated. “I managed a solid five-minute discussion on her faith-life, and she went away with a cookie. I felt pretty good about it.”

“It was pretty uncomfortable,” related Jennika Coleman (SFS ‘22), the student in question, “not in the least because I was in a towel. The cookie was pretty good.”

“We eat a lot of baked goods, cookies and muffins, that are left over from the meetings,” said his wife, Alice. “I keep telling him to bake less, but he doesn’t listen. ‘Must be ready for the students,’ he always says.”

For the time being, Manza will continue his office hours, even planning to ramp them up. “Maybe it’s just a bad time for people. Give them some options, yeah. That’ll bring ‘em in.”