As we speak, college students are moving into dorm rooms at nearby colleges. It’s obvious from the neighborhood surrounding the church that students are back in town. There’s more activity and traffic on Lancaster Avenue. Kelly’s Bar has mysteriously opened again. Good Shepherd is located within a stone’s throw of six institutions of higher learning: Villanova University, Haverford College, Bryn Mawr College, Rosemont College, Harcum College, and Eastern University. Over the past four years, and with the generous support of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania, we’ve been rebuilding campus ministry on the Main Line, where in recent years there was virtually no Episcopal presence on college campuses. Reviving campus ministry was at first a difficult task, especially at the height of the pandemic. But four years into our efforts, the fruit is visible.
During the first year, our attempts to connect with college students were frustrating because other than the Choral Scholars in our choir, we had few personal ties to local colleges and universities. I’ve learned that campus ministry is all about relationships. And ultimately it was through the fostering of relationships that our campus ministry began to grow. It started with one student at Bryn Mawr College, whom I met at an Easter celebration on campus. And from there, things began to blossom. This student began attending Masses at Good Shepherd, and soon, as a natural evangelist, she was spreading the word about both Good Shepherd and our campus ministry. It was also a great help to have the support of the interfaith chaplain at Bryn Mawr College, a rabbi, who connected me with Christian students who might find exploring Christianity/reconnecting with Christianity through the Episcopal lens to be nourishing. By year three of the campus ministry, we had established an LGBTQ+/Allies Bible Study group that met bimonthly on the campus of Bryn Mawr College. Through this regular gathering, relationships were formed, and several students found a way to reengage with Christianity in a thoughtful, prayerful way, perhaps after some time away from the Church. This Bible Study is going into its third academic year.
This program year marks year five of Good Shepherd’s renewed involvement in campus ministry, which is one of the most robust forms of outreach in which we’re engaged. We’re moving outward from our campus to meet students and bring them the presence of Christ through reflection on God’s word in Scripture and through our prayerful support of their college experience. And now, because relationships have been built and strengthened among the students themselves, student leadership is materializing. Two Bryn Mawr College students have registered the Episcopal Campus Ministry as an official student group on campus, and a Haverford College student is in the process of doing the same on his campus. As an ordained leader in ministry, it’s both exhilarating and moving to see lay leadership rise up and take charge. This is precisely what’s happening within our campus ministry.
Cristian Latorre, from Haverford College, one of our student campus ministry leaders
This week, I’ve spent a few hours on the campuses of Bryn Mawr College and Haverford College, advertising our Episcopal campus ministry to new students. It has been clear to me from the past few years that there is a deep hunger for Christ among students. Many are looking for religious engagement that offers robust spirituality and honest, intelligent conversation. As many of you are aware, several students have become involved in our own parish life. We count college students among our most dedicated volunteers. Indeed, I have very much missed their presence over the summer! I’m looking forward to seeing them again as they serve at the altar, run our Sunday Mass livestream, sing in the choir, and help out around campus. Good Shepherd is richer for the presence of these bright and thoughtful people.
Our table at Bryn Mawr College’s new student orientation week
There’s something about campus ministry that reminds me of the spirit of the early Church. Going to college campuses is rather like leaving the comfort zone of the parish campus and moving into the unfamiliar mission field. Every time I walk onto a college campus, I’m reminded that I’m venturing out among people who are not necessarily part of the Church. Some belong to other religions. Some have no religion or interest in religion. Some are even surprised that the Church wants anything to do with them. In fact, on one campus this week, a student who saw the flyers for our LGBTQ+/Allies Bible Study observed, quite frankly but curiously, “Isn’t that a contradiction?” The implication was that the Bible is off limits to a group of people that have been stigmatized and ostracized for centuries by a misappropriation of the Biblical texts. This saddened me a great deal, but I understood the observation. Our Bible study is an invitation to all, and especially to those wounded by the Church and the weaponizing of Biblical texts, to encounter God’s living word anew. Many students are hungry for God and for Christ, and when I visit college campuses, I can’t be complacent with being a Christian. My words and my actions matter. Students will sniff out any whiff of disingenuousness. It’s not my job to force others into conversion. It’s my duty to bring Christ to them in whatever way I can, and then I let the Holy Spirit do the rest.
Not only are we bringing the presence of Christ to college students through our campus ministry; we’re offering an invitation into what we call “a home away from home to gather, engage, and encounter Christ.” College is an exciting time. It’s also a lonely time for some. I pray that students in our own neighborhood will be touched by our hospitality over the coming year, just as we are touched by their presence in our own lives. Please join me in welcoming them warmly into our parish, inviting them to coffee hour, and assuring them that this parish is a safe and nurturing place where all can find a relationship with Christ. And may God continue to bless our labor in the mission field of college campuses and beyond.
Yours in Christ,
Father Kyle