We all want to keep our high school students in touch with their Catholic faith during their college years. Unfortunately, many young adults don’t take the opportunity to connect with a Catholic faith community once they leave home.
The Newman Connection can help with that.
A program of Newman Ministry, a national non-profit organization, Newman Connection gets college students connected with the Catholic campus ministry on or near their college campus.
Research shows that 82% of students who are engaged in Catholic campus ministry remain active participants in the faith post-graduation. In contrast, Pew Research shows that 79% of Catholics who are disaffiliated leave the church by age 23, just after or during their college years.
Students engaged in campus ministry are:
• Six times more likely to participate regularly in the sacramental life of the church post-graduation.
• Five times more likely to consider a religious vocation.
• Eight times more likely to stay connected to parish life after college.
Additionally, students who are active in their faith during college and attend Mass give to the church four times more than their non-church going counterparts after college.
Since beginning with a humble 71 students in 2014, thousands of local Catholic graduates’ names have been submitted to Newman Connection. In one recent year, the names of more than 1,400 students from the Archdiocese of Louisville were submitted to Newman Connection.
Making use of this outreach is as simple as this:
Email the St. Serra Club of Louisville a student’s name, their college (include the city and state since a few colleges have similar names), and (if you have it) an email address or phone number for the student.
The club will do the rest. Catholic leaders on or near the campus will locate your student.
This applies to students attending a Catholic college or university, too, since students don’t always disclose their church affiliation on their college applications.
For more information or to submit names, contact Chuck Lynch at 442-9302 or ChuckLynch4782@gmail.com.
Chuck Lynch is president of the St. Serra Club of Louisville, which is dedicated to promoting vocations in the Catholic Church. F. DeKarlos Blackmon, Ed.D., is the vice chancellor for pastoral services for the Archdiocese of Louisville and director of the Diaconal Ministry.
