Over a traditional Indian meal of chicken curry and naan (a soft flat bread), a group of 60 Bellarmine University students gathered early this month to talk about their struggles with faith.
Franciscan Friar John Pozhathuparambil — who serves as director of campus ministry and chaplain at Bellarmine — co-founded “Nones Eating Naan” in 2020. It’s offered twice a year — once on the school’s campus and again at Holy Family Church’s Ashram, a religious meeting place and the rectory where the friars live.
Father Pozhathuparambil is originally from Kerala, India. He started Nones Eating Naan along with Franciscan Friar George Munjanattu when he realized students were struggling with their beliefs, he said.
“It’s a very non-traditional program but we have to think of creative ways to engage the young people,” he said in a recent interview.
College campus ministers know that food draws students, he said. Father Munjanattu, also a campus minister, is known for his cooking and so the idea was born.
Father Pozhathuparambil explained that “Nones” is a reference to people who say they are “spiritual but not religious and typically answer ‘none’ or ‘none of the above’ when asked about religious preference, affiliation or identity.”
In 2019, when Father Pozhathuparambil was doing research for his doctoral degree, he found that 50 percent of students on Bellarmine’s campus were struggling with their faith, he said.
He wondered, “How can I reach out to them?” and “How can I connect with them?”
A group of students met with him for a listening session where he asked them, “Share your frustrations with the church — why are you angry? Don’t look at me as a priest, just be honest about your frustrations,” he said adding that these conversations bring healing. This session served as a starting point for the program, he said.
“Nones Eating Naan” sessions are open to students of any or no faith tradition and help facilitate these conversations, he said.
The church has programs to “attract and minister to young Catholics whose beliefs and lifestyles are more traditional, but not for those who wrestle with religion,” he noted.
He thinks of “Nones Eating Naan” as a way to bridge that gap, he said.
The program is modeled on the story of the Road to Emmaus in the Gospel of Luke — where Jesus encounters two of his disciples traveling to Emmaus, walks with them and listens to them.
“It’s a story of listening, accompanying not judging,” said Father Pozhathuparambil. “It’s what Jesus taught me, and I apply it to the program. Judging alienates. You lose people. Jesus was very compassionate. He broke bread with them.”
Jesus created a “sacred space” that enabled the disciples on the road to Emmaus to understand what they were feeling, he said. He hopes that “Nones Eating Naan” will accomplish that as well.
“This is significant because it gives me a chance to get to know them, listen to them and make an action plan to reignite their faith,” he said. “Our actions work. What you preach they may forget but what you do for them remains.”
Kaylie Malloy, a senior at Bellarmine, was among the 60 students who attended the Nov. 8 gathering. She and those who attended had the opportunity to talk about the experiences that brought them to their particular “worldview” or “faith tradition” and how they live out those beliefs, she said.
Malloy, who is Catholic, said she appreciated the interaction with students of different faith traditions.
“It was nice to give a human perspective of the Catholic faith. Sometimes people look at it objectively,” she said. “Having these conversations helps me verbalize what I believe and I don’t often do that.”
