By: Richonda Fegins; Published February 2024

If you’re looking for Father Colin Kay on campus, his office might just be the last place to check. As he is immersed in several areas of campus life, you can find him in your email inbox writing emotive and creative messages from Campus Ministry, hanging out at Starbucks in the University Center to be at the heart of student life, or even bustling around campus during the Christmas season to participate in many holiday initiatives. Father Kay’s pulse beats fiercely within the veins of Seton Hall; his gentle nature and deep-rooted commission to care for the whole person with everyone he encounters is just a fraction of what makes him such an influential member of the University community.

As we sat in the University Center, we looked out onto the University Green where students were walking to class or resting outside. "Wherever my laptop is, wherever my cellphone is, that’s my office," he said. And he was right; Father Kay likes to be out and about where he can be seen and accessible to the community he serves.

Since childhood, Father Kay has had a strong connection to Seton Hall growing up right in the Ivy Hill apartments close to campus. "Seton Hall has been my backyard. I walked the dog at Seton Hall, I rode my bike at Seton Hall," he said. "Looking at it all now from the other side, it’s a lovely feeling for me, and I am very grateful to feel so rooted here."

He described it as sort of a full circle moment, as if it was God’s calling and purpose to return to Seton Hall as a priest after growing up adjacent to the campus. He reminisced, "My mother used to say over and over again, ‘bloom where you’re planted.’ But she turned out to be kind of right, here I am back where my roots are, doing my best to bloom."

Before returning to Seton Hall, Father Kay served four years in the military and seven years in a Carthusian monastery. His unique journey to priesthood has made him who he is today. It was the day that Father Kay enlisted in the military that he remembered feeling free. "It was a terrific experience," he said. He continued, emphasizing how he used the time as an opportunity to begin paying off a debt he felt like he owed since his father’s death. "Immediately checks were coming from Social Security, the United States Government, and the people of America. Those monthly checks kept my mother, me, and my sister afloat," he said. "The military is not the only way you can pay that kind of debt, but it was a good way for me. I left the military feeling like I was given much more than I gave, so I am still, in a way, trying to make a difference in providing for our church, our University, and our country."

For the seven years that followed his military service, Father Kay explained his time in the monastery as the hinge on which his life turned. It was in the monastery that he learned the power of prayer and the hard experience of having everything taken from him, which drives his passion for helping others to understand the significance of connection. "Connection, relationships, and encounters are key to understanding and navigating the challenges in life, which is what this University is all about," he said.

Father Kay was ordained almost 19 years ago and is grateful to be a part of the growth of a Catholic University. Although he thought he’d be in the monastery for the rest of his life at the time, the turns of his journey steered him back to Seton Hall. He came to peace with what he felt God calling him to do. "The Lord reminded me that I didn’t have to do it alone," he said.

A popular phrase of Father Kay’s began to surge among the Seton Hall community around the Christmas season: Be the Tree. All of who he is is wrapped up in that phrase, and it helps to illuminate the crux of his work at Seton Hall and what he encourages current students to do during their time here and beyond. While the tree, adorned with thousands of lights each December, is stuck where it is, Father Kay says, "you and I can shine everywhere. Especially in the darkest of places, especially among the poorest people who don’t have an opportunity to see this light. That’s what we’re meant to do… shine with the light of Christ."

Father Kay attended Seton Hall Prep and later Columbia University, where he earned his B.A. in Latin. He completed his studies at the Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology and was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Newark in 2005. After serving as Director of Campus Ministry since 2019, and then the Interim Vice President for Mission and Ministry, he was officially named Vice President for Mission and Ministry at Seton Hall in 2020 and helps to facilitate mission training and recruitment at the University, working with students through many outreach initiatives.