Campus Ministry

By Jess Wallace, Associate Director of Campus Ministry – Liturgy

This year we had the awe-filled opportunity to journey with eight students as they prepared to receive sacraments of initiation to become Catholic at the Easter Vigil. Four of them were catechumens– unbaptized individuals who received all three sacraments of initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, and First Eucharist)-- and the other four were candidates who were already baptized Christians in other denominations and professed their faith and were received in full communion with the Catholic Church and then received Confirmation and First Eucharist. 

One of my favorite aspects of this process is the communal nature of the preparation that reminds us of the strength and beauty of the universal Catholic Church. Not only do the students preparing for the sacraments spend time learning, growing, and discerning, but also our student leaders who mentor and accompany them are transformed by this witness and the renewal of their own sacramental faith. I loved seeing the smiles on the faces of our elect as they received the sacraments at the Easter Vigil, but I also loved watching the joy of their sponsors who were eager to welcome them into the family of the Church and for them to receive the graces that the sponsors already experience through the reception of the sacraments. 

It is courageous and bold to make the decision to choose Christ and the Church in college, as our eight students did this Easter, but the commitment was not made by them alone. All of us renewed our baptismal promises at Easter. Whether we made this choice for the first time by ourselves or whether our parents made it on our behalf by baptizing us as infants, we get to choose how we let the fruits of these sacraments bear fruit within us everyday. Getting to accompany these students preparing for the sacraments of initiation at this Easter Vigil has been a beautiful witness to all of us in the Church that no matter how long ago or how recently we made our first Communion, each time that we receive the Eucharist is a gift. Our students longed for this opportunity all year to be in full communion with the Catholic Church, demonstrated most fully through the sacrament of the Eucharist. Their hunger for this unity is a reminder that we all continue to hunger for Christ and for community.

One of the tragedies of being a liturgist on a college campus is that the academic calendar does not allow us to experience the fullness of the beauty of the liturgical cycle. Especially with Easter being so late this year, we did not get much opportunity to experience together the boundless joy of being a new creation as a Church living in the promise of the Resurrection, bearing fruit through the Spirit at Pentecost. However something that does encourage me is knowing that we have all received this same Spirit through Confirmation and receive the same Lord in the Eucharist. Even though our time to celebrate with these Neophytes (new Catholics) was cut short by the end of the semester, and some of them will be going to new places after their graduation, I am comforted that no matter where they go, we are now one in Christ.

Photo credits: Matthew Himes 2025'