Young people entering adulthood often find that they have to seek out the Catholic faith that was more easily present to them through the supportive structures of family, their home parish or their Catholic school and do so with intentionality.
Many who attend non-Catholic colleges find some of their beliefs at odds with what they encounter daily, or simply struggle to find places to energize their faith.
A priest and four Catholic students from Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania shared their experiences with guests who came to St. Mary Magdalen Church in Media Saturday, Oct. 11 for “Catholic Life, Secular Universities? An Evening Reception.”
The Collegium Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture, which partners with the Penn Catholic Newman Center and the Drexel Newman Catholic Community, hosted the talk that followed Mass.
“The object here is to incarnate the vitality of the Catholic intellectual tradition across all domains at the first secular university in America, and to make it available for study and exploration not just for committed
Catholics, but for all people of goodwill,” said Dr. Daniel Cheely, executive director of the Collegium Institute.
Father Remigio Morales, the pastor St. Agatha-St. James Parish in Philadelphia, leader of the Penn Catholic Newman Center and the chaplain for numerous Penn sports teams, shared how athletes and coaches at these universities offer an example of how much young people are expanding their search for ways to live their faith.
“One or two athletes years ago came to Sunday Mass, and then I just started welcoming them, receiving them.
Dr. Daniel Cheely, executive director of the Collegium Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture, speaks at St. Mary Magdalen Church in Media on Oct. 11 during “Catholic Life, Secular Universities? An Evening Reception,” which explored how students live out their faith on secular campuses. (Photo: Jay Sorgi)
They started a Thursday night meeting of athletes. Right now, we have nine of those teams holding Bible studies,” said Father Morales.
“A baseball coach told last week, ‘Remy, what you are doing here is changing the culture of the team. We can never be vulnerable among ourselves. Coaches are strong and harsh with discipline and commitment, performance and success. Do you think we have a moment where we can rest and be ourselves, and show ourselves vulnerable with one another? This is what we are looking for.”
Four Drexel and Penn students of varied ages and academic majors took the microphone and explained why the Newman centers and the Collegium Institute matter to them. Their reasons range from the intellectual to the emotional, from the challenge the Catholic faith presents to the peace it offers.
“What I found was like a restlessness in my heart, maybe alluding to what St. Augustine says, a restlessness that I continue to not find in different things,” said Stokely Palmer, a third-year civil engineering student at Drexel.
“When I came to the Newman Center, I saw rest, especially among the students. No matter how much work I had, no matter how many exams, I was able to find rest through all that, and find peace.”
Diego Budejen-Jerez, a second-year philosophy student at Penn, sees the Catholic faith as something that summons people to counter what he believes is the antithesis to objective truth.
“The biggest threat to college-age students would be this nagging ideology of relativism, the mentality of ‘If it works for you, it’s fine, but not for me.’ I think that impedes the spreading of the Gospel, impedes the receptivity to it,” Budejen-Jerez said.
“There’s a lot of antagonism that you get from being in a secular university towards the inevitable, ‘Church is bad’ rhetoric and whatever form it takes. “There’s a temptation to stay silent to that, and I think that weakens your faith a little bit. I think we need to have enough courage to speak against your professors if they say something you don’t think is right, or your friends, or some social group.”
Isabella Chu, a second-year nursing student and a resident assistant at Penn, sees the Catholic opportunities that are available to her bring fulfillment in faith, service and community, the kind she believes college students strongly need.
“There happens to be a lot of nursing students in my year that are also Catholic, and so that community has really given me the courage to even tell friends in our proximity, ‘We’re going to Mass after this. Do you want to come to Newman Mass?’” she said.
“With Christ in the City, we serve the poor with missionaries, and it’s really rewarding.”
Caleigh Brogan, who is in her final year studying mechanical engineering at Drexel, sees her Newman Center experience as a launchpad for owning her faith and moving into the post-collegiate working world.
“From my faith experience, it’s very much been this burning desire of the Lord,” she said. “These places give you the opportunity to know how much God loves you and know how much good He wants for you.
“Everything is because He loves us, because He wants literally the best for us, and I take that to wherever I land.”
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