Princeton, N.J. (AP) – Other students may be in class or socializing at lunchtime, but a group of young Catholics will attend mass at Princeton University Chapel at noon on weekdays.
They sing Gregorian chants in Latin, pray in the side chapel (inside the giant non-denominational Princeton chapel) and receive communion – young, devoted Catholics consider it a sacred shelter in an almost liberal and secular Ivy League setting.
“I feel that people have a strong faith here,” student Logan Nelson said of the dedicated Catholic space he attends daily masses.
Close-up Catholic Campus Ministries in a Historic Chapel
The Gothic University chapel was built in 1928. At the time, Princeton was the second size of King’s College Chapel at Cambridge University, with the ability to seat more than 2,000 people.
Today, the chapel holds interfaith services, concerts and weddings throughout the school year, and is known at the university as the “Bridge of Town and Gowns.”
On May 8, Catholic students were worshiping as usual at the Daily Mass in Side Chapel when service was interrupted by a news alert on their mobile phones. In the Vatican, white smoke swirls in large waves from the Sistine Chapel, indicating the election of a new leader of their faith.
Princeton’s Catholic pastor, Rev. Zachary Swantek, told the group to gather at the offices of the Catholic Ministry. Together they watched it on television when the election of the first US-born pope was announced.
“It was electricity,” Nelson said, a Chicago-born cardinal had a “fuss” in the room. Robert Previst He became the 267th Pope. “It was so cool to see the American Pope.”
Like other members of the Catholic Ministry, he hopes Pope Leo XIV will help bring about the revival of American Catholicism.
“I feel there’s a Catholic revival today,” said Nelson, who has no religious connection until last year when he converted to Catholicism. “You see people who have a passion for their faith. A new wave is coming. And we will have more converts like me who are coming from “non-nos.” ”
Over the years, the number of people who are not unbelievers or have no connection to an organized religion has grown dramatically. People known as “Nona” – Atheist, agnostic, or nothing in particular – including over 30% of the US adult population, investigation According to the Associated Press Center for Public Affairs.
Princeton’s Religious Life Bureau says it supports members of the school community “with their religious identity, whoever’s religious identity or whoever’s belongs.”
Being a dedicated Catholic on an almost secular campus is challenging. Swantech says he didn’t feel “need more as a priest.”
He welcomes the Catholic community he leads and is proud of how he helped converts recently enter the faith.
The American-born Pope is a sign of hope for American Catholics
That’s what the first US-born pope was Welcome to Catholics Crossing the ideological spectrum Pope Leo XIVhometown.
“What has brought me so much hope is Pope Leo’s missionary background,” said Princeton alumni Ace Ackna. He recently attended Mass at the Chapel before beginning his nearly five-week Catholic pilgrimage from Indianapolis to Los Angeles.
“In a world where faith may seem to be declining in some places, churches willing to go out into margins and evangelize and fall into missions, that’s very important,” Acuna said.
When he was an undergraduate at Princeton, Acuna said the chapel became important to his college life.
On his way to class every morning, he passed the chapel for quiet prayers. He returned to the midday mass and again at the end of the day for a final prayer.
“Princeton is a very busy place and there’s a lot of noise externally, but internally we’re so busy and we’re always worried about what’s next,” he said. “Sometimes you just want silence, you just want a place where you can throw away your burden.”
At the end of the recent Mass, David Kim and his girlfriend Savannah Nichols continued to pray near the altar, clutching their hands, kneeling and kneeling respectfully.
Kim, a recent graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, converted to Catholicism last year and serves as an altar server at Princeton University Chapel. He called the chapel’s side altar “the island of Christian life in a world that does not believe.”
Princeton University has always had a vibrant and religiously diverse community, said Eric Gregory, a professor of religion there.
“In a sense, it’s not threatened by the Christian presence on campus, as it is secular or even secular later,” he said. “The religious students on our campus are not spinning off campus. They are also in sports teams, clubs and newspapers. They are integrated.”
Leo’s hometown Catholic student cheers for his election
The Catholics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign were overjoyed by his election and revitalized by practicing their faith.
“It’s a great blessing for me to be able to survive my faith on this very secular campus,” added Daniel Vannisco, a lifelong Catholic, later in an email that the election of the Pope “really helps me to see that someone who grew up in the same state as me is the successor of Peter of the Church.”
Ascending junior Cavan Movers said attending UIUC “gives me the opportunity to challenge my beliefs, give me the opportunity to think critically about what I believe in, and share my faith with others.”
Asked in an email exchange about the Pope’s election, Mober replied, “It’s time to live!”
“I hope he can unite the Church in many times of division between Catholics and everyone in the world,” Morber added.
___
Associated Press Religious Reporting is supported through the Associated PresscollaborationWith funding from Lilly Endowment Inc., the AP is in a conversation by taking sole responsibility for this content.
Source link
