Appropriating the Faith

“So, why can’t I receive communion?”

It was a sunny Wednesday afternoon during my freshman year of college and I was walking to class with one of my good friends. He was raised in the Anglican tradition and regularly attended our on-campus Masses and other Newman events, but he struggled with not being able to receive the Eucharist. I had known that this question was coming since he’s an inquisitive guy, but I’d assumed that it would emerge during a Newman Night or another similarly convenient time when a priest or campus minister would be able to give him the answer he was looking for. Instead, it was just the two of us and I was thoroughly embarrassed as I found myself unable to give an adequate answer.  

I attended Catholic school from preschool through twelfth grade, so I spent most of my time with Catholic people. Because of this, I assumed that I knew all that I needed to know about my faith and considered myself to be generally well-informed as I headed off to college. However, after a few weeks on campus, I realized how wrong I was. Only a few of my friends were actively Catholic, while several others were either raised Catholic and fell away from the Church or had a different faith altogether. I found myself unable to defend my faith or answer questions about why I believe what I believe, and I realized that the knowledge of my faith that had carried me through high school was no longer sufficient in this new academic setting.

Luckily, I soon realized that I had a valuable source to help me grow in my faith: campus ministry. I got involved with Newman during the fall of my freshman year and was soon attending the weekly Newman Nights, which often involved discussions of topics such as immigration, Theology of the Body, human dignity, the Trinity, and many more. Because of attending these events, I was able to begin the process of piecing together the information that I needed to become a well-informed Catholic, and I was soon able to offer better explanations for curious friends.

As I quickly realized as an incoming freshman, college cultivates uncertainty and makes one question the strength of his or her faith. Fortunately, however, college can also provide the tools that are needed to appropriate faith through effective campus ministry, which in turn produces young adults who can respond to challenges to their faith in the college setting and are prompted to grow and develop even after leaving campus and heading into the real world.

Emily Cardwell, CMLI Directing Team, Ashland University