College is a time to explore one’s identity; for a handful of students at the University of Louisville, this exploration led them to the Catholic Church this spring.
During Easter Vigil Masses April 4, 10 students from the university were fully initiated into the Catholic Church.
“That’s really extraordinary,” said Dominican Father John Baptist Hoang, the University of Louisville’s Catholic Campus Ministry chaplain, noting that the university typically has one or two students initiated each year.
Father Hoang prepared the group of students for initiation through the process of OCIA (the Order of Christian Initiation for Adults).
Many of the OCIA students are friends of students involved in the Catholic Campus Ministry, he said. But the Campus Ministry can’t take the credit for the surge, he said.
“About half the group is freshman; they’ve been thinking about it since high school,” he said.
That’s the story of freshman student Spencer Rice, a native of Fleming County, Ky., who entered the Church at St. Louis Bertrand Church’s Easter Vigil.
Raised in an “unreligious family,” he was introduced to Catholicism in high school, he said in an interview on March 25.
“There’s, like, this feeling of spiritual well-being every time I go to Mass. I just feel better.”
— Spencer Rice, University of Louisville freshman
“I had a couple friends in high school who were converts, as well, to Catholicism,” he said. “Whenever I was around them, they were discussing religion, nonstop.”
He felt the desire to get involved, he said. But it wasn’t until college, when one of those high school friends invited him to Catholic Campus Ministry, that he took the leap, he said.
Last spring, “I was discerning, ‘What am I?’ and I got invited to Mass” at the Interfaith Center, he recounted.
At that Mass, it felt like the priest’s homily was “personally directed” at him, he said. He’s been attending Mass since. “There’s, like, this feeling of spiritual well-being every time I go to Mass. I just feel better.”
Now, he’s a regular attendee of the Catholic Campus Ministry’s weekly events.
“It is the most welcoming and the most friendly place I’ve ever been,” he said with a smile.
Ozy Anyanwu, a sophomore, similarly felt called to explore her religious beliefs in college, she said in an interview March 25. Anyanwu received the sacraments of initiation in the Diocese of Lexington at St. Mark Church in Richmond, Ky., her hometown, on Easter Vigil.
“College, I think, was just the turning point for me … to explore who I am religiously,” she said, noting that she was raised attending both Catholic Masses and non-denominational services, but had not been baptized.
Her friends and sorority sisters have helped her in her faith journey, she said.
One of her sorority sisters introduced her to the Interfaith Center at UofL and leads a Catholic Bible study at their sorority house, she said.
“We will go to Mass together all the time,” she said, noting that they often grab lunch after Sunday Mass.
Many of her other friends are also Catholic and often attend Mass at each other’s parishes and walk to adoration on campus together, she said.
She enjoys “the serenity and the feeling of peace” that she receives while at Mass and adoration, she said.
Father Hoang said he hoped the students would continue to be involved in Catholic Campus Ministry and parish life after their full initiation.
After the Easter vigil, Rice said he hopes he can practice “daily Communion, routine confessions and just learn more.”
Anyanwu said she hopes to “make time every day to read my Bible and grow in my faith and know who the Lord is. That’s something that’s always been my goal. I really hope that it continues after I join the Church.”
The students received the sacraments of initiation at various parishes in the archdiocese, including Holy Name Church, the Cathedral of the Assumption and St. Louis Bertrand, as well as in other dioceses, including the Diocese of Lexington and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
