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Institute for Catholic Life Fosters Religious Discourse
By Jon Garaffa, Princeton ’20
The Aquinas Institute for Catholic Life is a new initiative that will focus on the faith formation of Princeton students. Directed by married couple Alexi Sargeant and Leah Libresco Sargeant, and coordinated by Dr. R.J. Snell, the initiative comes out of the Aquinas Institute, the Catholic campus ministry at Princeton. Focusing on members of the undergraduate community, the Institute for Catholic Life offers a variety of seminars and guest speakers and hopes to create new conversations on campus related to faith and religious scholarship.
“As we develop, the vision is to provide a full range of formation,” explained Dr. Snell. “This includes liturgy and sacraments, small groups, Bible study, mentoring and spiritual direction, prayer, and also solid intellectual offerings in theology, philosophy, arts, and literature dealing with perennial Christian themes, as well as responding to contemporary questions and topics.”
Ministry Leaders Seek to Foster Hope, Community
By Catherine Elvy, Staff Writer
In the wake of the suicide of Gregory Eells, the University of Pennsylvania’s Executive Director of Counseling and Psychological Services, local campus ministry leaders pledged to actively support students battling depression.
Christians with ties to Penn also expressed a desire to help foster a better sense of community and to emulate the hope of Christ to their collegiate peers.
“Community is a big help. Welcoming people in and being especially attentive to those who are struggling is important,” said Patrick Travers, a director with the Penn Catholic Newman Community (newman.upenn.edu). In light of eternal matters, “the good news of the Gospel and the new life that Christ invites us to is quite different from the ‘successful life’ that Penn preaches.”
Penn for Jesus Hosts Edifying Event
By Avery Johnston, Penn ’23
Colossians 3:16 proclaims the fullness of joy and wisdom that can be gleaned from worshiping with other followers of the Lord: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” (ESV)
The Scriptures make it clear how worship and fellowship will be used for building up one another. The All-Campus Worship Night at the University of Pennsylvania on September 28, 2019, certainly worked to rejuvenate the local community of Christians. The event, held at beautiful Christ Community Church, was hosted by Penn for Jesus, an organization with a mission of connecting and unifying all Christians on campus, irrespective of denomination, participation in any specific on-campus ministry, and church background.
Late Journalist Remembered for His “Gracious Spirit”
By Catherine Elvy, Staff Writer
One of the nation’s leading newspapers recently shared the remarkable story of the Harvard-educated journalist behind one of its prestigious awards.
The New York Times highlighted the memory of Nathaniel Nash and the paper’s efforts to create an award in his honor for a business journalist who exemplifies professional excellence and exceptional character. The publication also designated a Nathaniel C. Nash room to pay tribute to the reporter who died in 1996 while traveling with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Ronald Brown and his delegation of business leaders and government officials.
Prayer Room Is Open for Students, Ministries, and Churches
By Luke Brown, Dartmouth ’18
Empowered by the Prayer Room, Dartmouth students are interceding for each other, their campus, and the world.
Nestled among second floor apartments on Main Street in Hanover, New Hampshire, the Prayer Room stands humbly and boldly as a space to seek the Lord in silence and solitude or in praise. Started in 2009 by two community members, its mission is “to promote the expansion of God’s kingdom in Hanover by providing students and others a sacred space dedicated to enabling them to encounter Christ, equipping them in the work of intercession, and empowering them to be His ambassadors in this world.”
Campus Ministry Is Tight-Knit Community
By Luke Brown, Dartmouth ’18
Agape Christian Fellowship celebrated the seniors during their Senior Sendoff event in the spring.
Agape Christian Fellowship is providing a loving and welcoming place in which Dartmouth students can seek the Lord.
Agape, living out the meaning of its Greek name, seeks to shower the campus in God’s sacrificial love. The ministry’s vision proclaims that “even the slightest contact with agape love transforms... Knowing God’s love brings us gently toward a joyful surrender and commitment to sacrificial love for others. God’s love creates family, and that’s what we strive to be.”
Liz Choi, Dartmouth ’20, the student president of Agape, said, “When people enter our space, I want them to feel loved and I hope that, as Christians, we can be vessels for God to use on this campus.”
Dave Evans Lectures at Cornell
By Zachary Lee, Cornell ’20
In September, the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University hosted Stanford Professor and author Dave Evans, who spoke about how the application of design thinking can bring fulfillment and meaning. Evans, co-author of the New York Times’ bestseller, Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life, appeared as part of the Dyson Dean’s Distinguished Speaker Series.
Featuring his signature rapid-fire wit and humor, Evans lit up a full Statler Auditorium with anecdotes and constructive advice, speaking right to Cornell students’ penchant for problem solving and strategy. Even though he did not share specifically about his faith, an astute ear could catch allusions to Christianity. Evans previously wrote a companion to Designing Your Life that dives deeper into the themes of the book and examines their place within the Christian worldview.
One-Man Show Comes to Columbia University
By Nathan Barlow, Columbia ’20
For students involved in campus evangelism, the life of C.S. Lewis offers an interesting case study as his path from apostasy to faith took place in the halls of the academy. On October 1, the Fellowship for Performing Arts brought its one-man play, C.S. Lewis: The Most Reluctant Convert, to the Roone Arledge Auditorium at Columbia University. The event was sponsored by several ministries, including Columbia Reformed University Fellowship, Christian Union at Columbia, and the Veritas Forum.
Brown University Study Presents Radical Disparity
By Catherine Elvy, Staff Writer
Teens who engage in same-sex activity may be more than twice as likely as their peers to turn to self-harm, according to research from Brown University.
In June, the study appeared in JAMA Pediatrics, prompting a wave of attention from media outlets, including medical press. Such findings add further weight to existing scholarship that has documented physical and emotional risks associated with alternative sexual behavior, especially during adolescent years. In the study, psychiatrist Richard Liu, Cornell ’02, found that rates of non-suicidal self-injury were elevated among engaging in same-sex or “bisexual” behaviors, when compared to other adolescents. Liu is an assistant professor in psychiatry and human behavior at Brown’s Alpert Medical School.
Strikingly, 38 percent to 53 percent of surveyed “homosexual” and “bisexual” teens acknowledged engaging in personally dangerous behaviors, compared to 10 percent to 20 percent of adolescent youth who said they had cut, hit, or bruised themselves.
We have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
— Colossians 1:9-12
