Finding Faith — and Family — in College: How Bear Catholic Builds Community in Greeley
- Guest Contributor
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Students at the University of Northern Colorado and Aims Community College are finding their “home away from home” in the Heart of Christ and within the walls of St. Peter Parish.

By Sarah Mendus
Every individual carries a unique calling, a divine invitation to love and be loved in a particular and fruitful way. Within the tapestry of each unique call, there is a shared thread — the universal call to be part of a community, the Church. This beautifully woven experience gives us the opportunity to love and support those around us while also opening our hearts to receive that same in return.
Our journey on Earth is not meant to be navigated alone. We need others — friends, mentors, and fellow seekers — to encourage us and guide us closer to God, especially during moments of hardship and confusion. This is true at every stage of life, but it becomes particularly poignant during our college years. As students venture into new schools, churches and cities, often feeling like outsiders in unfamiliar landscapes, it's all too easy to feel lost in the crowd. The weight of isolation can be overwhelming, making the need for community all the more vital.
In Greeley, Bear Catholic is working to battle this isolation and create powerful, enriching community on the campuses of the University of Northern Colorado and Aims Community College. Operating out of St Peter Catholic Parish in Greeley, Bear Catholic is an entirely self-supported organization with a mission “to facilitate an encounter between students and Jesus Christ’s thirst for them through a devotion to the sacraments, prayer, apostles’ teaching and communal life,” according to Bear Catholic’s website. Their mission is supported primarily by Bear Catholic’s student leadership and FOCUS missionaries.
For Tony Landretti, the ministry’s development director since 2024, Bear Catholic has become “a home away from home ... a place for kids to be truly seen and known, a smaller community inside of a much larger community called UNC or Aims.”
This concept of a “home away from home” lies at the heart of Bear Catholic’s mission. It aims to provide a space where students can be themselves, grow and learn, develop meaningful relationships and receive love and support from individuals who genuinely care about each student as an individual.
A huge staple of this home is Bear Catholic’s community center, a house located just a few blocks northeast of UNC’s campus, complete with study spaces, a game room, a food pantry and a basement chapel. According to Landretti, its doors are always open to students as a space for students to “hang out and socialize, build communities, study, pray, whatever they want to do.”
The community center is “a landing place, so to speak,” Landretti continued, the epicenter of student engagement, from which “there are many paths that give people an opportunity to further engage socially or engage more in their faith.” They host social events like bonfires, line dances, camping weekends and social outings in Greeley, as well as more spirituality-centered events like Bible studies, service events, Rosary walks and retreats. Whether a student is a practicing Catholic or has never been associated with a church, Bear Catholic has an event that can bring them in.
(Photos courtesy of Bear Catholic)
One of Bear Catholic’s most popular events is their Sunday dinner. During the school year, St Peter’s 6 p.m. Sunday Mass turns into the unofficial student Mass, followed by a free dinner served to students by parishioners of St Peter’s. The event always sees huge student participation — even if the students went to a different Mass or don’t regularly attend church, they come to this event for the food and the community. It’s a wonderful opportunity for fellowship and building genuine relationships.
All these separate events are the foundation of the Bear Catholic community, which can unfortunately be rare in today’s college world. Before Landretti worked with Bear Catholic, he was a professor in UNC’s business school, where he saw a broad group of students and witnessed their daily struggles.
“Kids are just lost, just struggling with identity. Who am I, what am I going to be, why am I doing this?” Landretti said, recalling the dynamics he noticed in the students he served in the heavily secular college world. “You don’t have that personal interaction, everything’s done through a phone, and I think that creates challenges for students … kids have a tendency to be lost in the world of social media and miss out on personal interaction and can oftentimes be brought down paths that aren’t necessarily beneficial for them.”
While the struggle is not unique to UNC or Aims, Bear Catholic strives to foster personal relationships and community amid an impersonal world. Every Sunday dinner, Bible study, line dance and Eucharistic procession is Bear Catholic’s response to a culture of loneliness. Every genuine connection formed in this community is the answer.
“College is a time for relationships. Relationships with others, but also a relationship with Jesus. Bear Catholic creates an environment for students, Catholic and non-Catholic, to encounter Jesus and know they are loved by God,” Father Tomasz Strzebonski, St. Peter’s pastor, said in a 2023 newsletter. “It’s an opportunity to have others walk alongside you on your journey, regardless of where you are today.”
That personal community, in which students encounter God's love for them, has made all the difference for hundreds of students. As they embark on a new chapter of their journeys — one often characterized by loneliness and struggle — Bear Catholic helps them find a “home away from home” in the heart of Jesus, and within the walls of St. Peter.
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For more information about Bear Catholic, and to get connected with their community ministry, visit bearcatholic.com.