Chaplains

If you have a religious, ethical or personal question you would like to discuss confidentially, the University Chaplain, the Catholic Chaplain, and the Jewish Chaplain are available to talk with you. Call for an appointment, or simply drop in. Regular private time for longer-term spiritual guidance and development can be arranged.

John Patrick Colatch, D. Min.

University Chaplain
Rooke Chapel

570-577-1592
jpc026@bucknell.edu

 

The Reverend Doctor John Patrick Colatch is an ordained United Methodist pastor who has served in ministry in higher education since 1986. Prior to his arrival at Bucknell, he served as Director of Religious and Spiritual Life and Chaplain at Lafayette College. He has also held positions at Allegheny College, Ferrum College and the Wesley Foundation at the University of Delaware.

His theological interests include Christianity as it relates to social and environmental justice, bereavement issues and care at the end of life, interfaith conversation and cooperation and the ways in which the whole idea of religious belief can be communicated to young adults in ways that make it relevant. He holds degrees from W.Va. Wesleyan College, Duke University Divinity School, Duquesne University and Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School. He is married to Connie, and they are the parents of two grown children.

Fr. Fred Wangwe

Catholic Chaplain
Newman House

570-577-3766
fw007@bucknell.edu

Father Fred Wangwe was born in the village of Bumalah in Uganda and second of the 7 brothers and one sister. He comes to Bucknell from St. Joseph's Parish in Mechanicsburg, where he has served as assistant parish priest since November 2006. He served as assistant parish priest of the St. Rose of Lima in York for the previous two years.

Father Wangwe studied in Kenya and Uganda in preparation for the priesthood and in 1993 received a diploma in philosophy from the Apostles of Jesus Philosophicum in Nairobi, Kenya. In 1995 he made his first profession of religious vows and in 1999, made his final profession. He was ordained a deacon in December 1999 at the Apostles of Jesus Shrine at Langata in Nairobi. In 2000, he earned a diploma in sacred theology from the Apostles of Jesus Seminary and received his bachelor of arts in sacred theology from the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome.

Father Wangwe served as assistant parish priest at the Sirari Catholic Parish and the Bunda Catholic Parish in Musoma Diocese of Uganda before coming to the United States.

Rabbi Serena L. Fujita

Jewish Chaplain
Berelson Center for Jewish Life

570-577-2273
sfujita@bucknell.edu

Rabbi Serena Fujita was ordained from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, the Reform Movement's seminary. Her first year of seminary was spent in Jerusalem and her four stateside years were at the New York campus. During her seminary studies, she worked as an intern for the Reform Movement's Commission on Interreligious Affairs and was the student rabbi in East Liverpool, Ohio and Woodlands Community Temple in White Plains, New York. She also worked as a student chaplain at New York Presbyterian Hospital for a summer. One of her main interests has been interfaith communication, and she participated in several ongoing dialogues with seminarians from many different faith communities.

Before entering the rabbinate, Serena was a Montessori School teacher. She taught in the elementary program at the Shrewsbury Montessori School and before that at the Cambridge Montessori School. Serena was also the director of the pre-school programs for Boston Community Schools. She has two grown sons, Ross and Craig, who reside in the Boston area, but will pop up on the Bucknell campus from time to time.