St. Mary’s Catholic Center at Texas A&M University is a powerhouse for student ministry. Each weekend 4,000 students attend Masses at St. Mary’s. St. Mary’s is treasured across the dioceses of Texas because of its history of preparing active and engaged laypersons for parish life after college and for producing over 100 vocations to the priesthood, diaconate and religious life over the past 25 years. In order to continue to support the growth of the student population of Texas A&M and Blinn College, St. Mary’s conducted two campaigns, the first of which was to build the St. John Paul II addition to the existing 20-year old student center. At a cost of more than $10 million, this expansion was to provide new classroom spaces, assembly rooms and office space. Dini Spheris provided campaign counsel to this campaign that raised $11.5 million. The growth in the ministry also contributed to the decision to replace the dearly loved but too-small existing church. The plan was to create a church that would accommodate the growing enrollment of Texas A&M, whose undergraduate population is the largest in the nation. The 1,600-seat domed church now serves as a beacon of faith to the entire Bryan-College Station community. Dini Spheris was engaged to assist with a second capital campaign that would fund the construction of this magnificent structure. More than $34 million was raised for this campaign. These two campaigns required out-of-the-box thinking to engage alumni, parents and extended family in reaching a host of new major gift constituents for St. Mary’s.
