Santo, the ten-week-old Black Lab and CMSA mascot.
MARY HALEY / THE QUADRANGLE
Mary Haley, Senior Writer
Campus Ministry and Social Action (CMSA) welcomed a black Labrador retriever puppy at the beginning of the semester. Ten-week-old Santo spends his time at Manhattan University’s (MU) CMSA cornerstone room, and also at Rev. Edward Beck and Rev. Robert Joerger’s priesthouse in Pelham, NY.
Beck and Joerger adopted Santo with many goals in mind. In order to spread further awareness of CMSA being a resource on campus, the two priests explained how their main goal since arriving at MU in October of 2024, was to have the ministry space feel safe and approachable for students of any, or even no, faith background. Oftentimes, the idea of stepping into a religious space can appear intimidating for many.
“Especially during exam time, students will come in, and if they’re tense, they can come hold the dog and it helps,” Joerger said. “I think it’s communication and building community. You’ve got a lot of people who don’t even know each other coming in to sit around here and just throw toys around [for Santo]. The phones go down and people start engaging with each other and with us.”
Santo, named after the Spanish word for “saint,” is a black Labrador. Known to be an extremely affectionate and gentle breed, black Labradors are often trained to be therapy and service dogs. Along with serving the students, Santo also has a more personal responsibility as he begins to grow up.
Beck opened up to The Quadrangle about his hearing impairment, and mentioned how Santo is being trained as a service dog to alert him to important sounds such as doorbells, alarms or knocks. Santo’s training combines self-guided programs and videos with support from an experienced trainer who has spent decades working with Labradors as guide dogs.
“Socialization is really important at this stage. [Santo] is only ten weeks, and between eight and 18 weeks, they have to be socialized,” Beck said. “They try to meet as many people, [hear] as many sounds and as many toys [as they can]. Socialization has been really a big part, and the university has been great for that, with all different people, languages, the buses, fire engines, subways and the cars.”
There are big plans in store for Santo’s involvement in the campus community. Santo will be at CMSA’s February retreat titled, “Love is in the Air, Love of Self, God and Others.” It will run from Feb. 13 through Feb. 15 at the Thomas Berry retreat house in Queens, and is open to students of any faith tradition, or none at all. The retreat is meant to be a nonjudgmental space for reflection on relationships, spirituality and personal well-being.
“There’s no price of admission, and I think that’s our job here,” Joerger said. “You’re within a college environment, particularly one that has its roots in Catholic Lasallian tradition. Here we grow not only intellectually, physically and emotionally, but also spiritually, and those people have that search, and enjoy the search.”
Ilda Xhediku, the assistant administrator of CMSA, told The Quadrangle how Santo has given her another reason to be enthusiastic about her work at CMSA, as well as how she’s seen his impact on the students.
“Santo has brought so much joy,” Xhediku said. “We see students gathering together for him…I saw students with their headphones on and not really communicating, but with Santo, everything has been different.”
Santo’s influence has caught the MU community by storm, amassing over 200 followers on his Instagram account: @santothelab.
“There’s a way that an animal brings out things in people and can build community, even on a team or in an institution that makes people feel they’re never going to be judged by an animal,” Beck said. “They don’t have to perform for an animal. You don’t have to look your best for an animal. You know, it’s like they just show up and they represent something, and I think that we have found that. So I think that he’s the CMSA mascot.”