On Jan. 19, the Indiana University football team, after decades of losing and causing heartbreak for fans, won the national championship. It was a remarkable turnaround, an experience of communal joy and catharsis like I have seldom known and a testament to how conversion is possible, even in the direst circumstances.
As the pastor of St. Paul Catholic Center, the Newman Center at Indiana University, I was blessed to attend the playoff games with one of my vicars, Ben Keller, O.P. Even more amazingly, we were invited to celebrate with the team on the field after their victory.
Father Ben and I hoped we would get the chance to congratulate the Catholic players on the team whom we had gotten to know through St. Paul’s. We were able to get to a few rather quickly, but looking around, I realized we probably would not be able to talk to Fernando Mendoza, the (vocally Catholic) quarterback and the most sought-after man on the field.
Moments later, I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Fernando, who, on his way to the stage, saw Father Ben and me and came over to us. What a special moment that was.
On Feb. 18, less than one month after the national championship, another joyful and unprecedented event happened: More than 3,500 I.U. students came to St. Paul Catholic Center for Ash Wednesday Masses, almost double the number who had shown up just two years before. (For context, two years ago, we could hardly believe the number of students who attended, because 1,800 Mass-goers was a marked increase over prior years.)
As tremendous as the football team’s success has been for Indiana University, the significant growth we are experiencing at St. Paul’s is cause for even greater celebration. What’s even better news is that the growth we are experiencing at I.U. is happening at Newman Centers and Catholic universities all over the country.
When I attended the Seek Conference in February, it seemed like every campus minister I spoke to told me about record-setting Mass attendance numbers and, most encouragingly, record numbers of students becoming Catholic.
At St. Paul Catholic Center, in addition to the record-setting Ash Wednesday attendance, we have had more than 150 people join our O.C.I.A. program this year, which is a five-fold increase from last year. Sunday Mass attendance for students has grown from around 500 to more than 1,300.
Before every Sunday Mass, we have multiple priests available for confession, and the lines are always long. During the week, we have four hours or more of eucharistic adoration. It is common to find a dozen or more students praying in the church during these hours. Our FOCUS missionaries and student leaders are currently forming more than 170 students in some kind of intentional discipleship. They have also helped expand participation in our Bible studies to more than 500.
These are but a few of the concrete examples of how the Holy Spirit is leading a revival on the campus of Indiana University.
Drawn to the Eucharist
Such success and rapid growth should cause us to take a moment to reflect on why all of this is happening. What is leading young people to the church? What questions are they asking of us? From where are they coming? What follows is my effort to respond to these and many similar questions as a pastor, not as a social scientist or a commentator.
To start, in my conversations with dozens of college students who are becoming Catholic, I have noticed a deep love of the sacraments and a desire for support in their ongoing conversion as disciples of Jesus. As a priest who participated heavily in the National Eucharistic Revival as a National Eucharistic Preacher, I cannot help but reflect upon the impact that revival, directly and indirectly, has had on this renewal. By inviting all Catholics to center and to deepen our faithful participation in the eucharistic celebration and mystery, we were challenging people to marvel at the work of God’s grace and offer their lives more fully to Jesus and his church.
As Bishop Andrew Cozzens recently said in an interview with The Pillar, “I think we are learning something about evangelization, and it is something that I certainly sensed in prayer during the revival: that we have to let Jesus do the heavy lifting.”
In speaking with so many young people, I have heard wonderful testimonies of faith from those who have found their deepest meaning and ultimate purpose once they started going to Mass and believing in the Eucharist. Several of this year’s converts have talked about a discernment process that spans several years. Most were raised with little religious influence in their lives, but they started asking questions or were invited by a friend to explore Christianity.
Though the language they use is different, they have all spoken with me about desiring a deeper connection both to Jesus and the church. When they were introduced (or reintroduced) to the Eucharist, the fireworks went off for them. Then they experienced the solemnity, the joy and the beauty of the Christian community gathered in worship at Mass. This helped them put together all the pieces. One young man shared with me how he had been searching for so long for what was “really real.” He finally found it when he came to Mass.
As attractive as the Mass is, our work at St. Paul Catholic Center is more than simply opening the doors and offering a beautiful liturgy. We absolutely are committed to celebrating the Mass reverently and beautifully. As Dominican friars, we priests are committed to preaching orthodox and accessible homilies on the mysteries of our faith. But to reach and keep even more students, we must invite them into something more to build relationships and help form them in their faith as disciples.
In a world that permits everything yet forgives nothing, in a culture where many, if not most of our young people come from broken families, our students are hungry for authentic friendships and learning how to build them. We must teach them simultaneously that they are lovable and loved. We must build trust with them through authenticity, intimacy and appropriate vulnerability. They long to be known and loved. Our Catholic faith teaches that our God longs for every soul with a perfect love. Connecting those two realities is the path to success.
Consequently, what our students really desire is to experience the presence and the power of God. As Catholics, this presence is manifest in the Sacraments. Like moths to a flame, our young people are flocking to the Eucharist, both at Mass and in adoration, and to the confessional, especially when the liturgy is reverent and the availability for confession is frequent.
Depth and Clarity
As our ministry has grown, one thing has become an even bigger need: creating an opportunity for integral Catholic formation. Having grown up in the information and social media age, our young people have an almost innate ability to navigate an increasingly complex world. At the same time, they want something with depth.
This past year, the number of young people in our O.C.I.A. program has grown from 31 to more than 160. In the many meetings I have had with dozens of them, almost all have spoken about the depth and clarity of the teachings of the Catholic Church as something that inspired them to explore the faith.
Our formation must find a way to meld the theological, the practical, the pastoral and the charitable. These young people look at the world around us with concern and a desire to make a real difference. They are coming to the church because they believe the church has the right answers and, perhaps just as importantly, because the church knows how to ask the right questions.
As a Dominican, I find this particularly edifying because of the deep commitment my order has to the intellectual patrimony of the church and because of the theological method of St. Thomas Aquinas. Though St. Thomas held to the teachings of the church, he was willing to ask tough questions of the faith and even to extend charity and an open mind to questions and ideas that many would consider problematic.
Because our world and especially our politics are rarely black and white, our young people benefit from learning about thinkers like St. Thomas and others in the Catholic tradition who were not afraid to seek new ways of understanding.
The formation we offer, however, cannot simply be theoretical and intellectual. Direct service to the poor and vulnerable and formation, both lived and intellectual, in Catholic social teaching are also important and necessary.
Admittedly, such spiritual, intellectual and human formation is difficult, but when we are able to provide it to our young people, they seek it out and flourish.
Pastoral Presence
In addition to the depths of our intellectual tradition, our young people say they love their priests and greatly benefit from their encounters with us. I am truly blessed to serve as part of a team of four priests at our parish. This is a rare luxury in today’s church.
But I have seen the real benefit for our young people when they get to know priests on a personal level. In the Scriptures, we are called to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. The more young people witness how priests are, firstly, disciples of Jesus who are striving imperfectly to do his will, the better.
A few years ago, an alumna sent me a card in which she described how getting to know me and seeing my imperfections was a great source of inspiration for her in her pursuit of holiness. A meaningful relationship with a priest provides an example of the realities—in all their wonder and challenges—of pursuing holiness as a broken person in a broken world.
The church, especially on college campuses across the country, is having a similar breakthrough to the Indiana University football team. After so many years of struggling and confusion, suddenly there is hope, excitement, success and joy.
After Ash Wednesday, I texted Fernando to tell him about our success because someone told me, “Father, all of these students are the Mendoza effect.” Always the humble man, Fernando replied, “It’s the Jesus Christ effect!”
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