In a context in which efforts grow to reach young university students, a Catholic organization in the United States seeks that university ministries think “out of the ordinary” to help students grow in faith and bring the gospel closer to those who do not know it yet.
As part of his campaign to inspire new and creative evangelization initiatives in universities, the non -profit organization Associates of St. John Bosco (ASJB) announced on August 6 to the winners of the first edition of the Rise Awards (Renewal of Innovative Student Evangelization).
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The purpose of ASJB is to help students maintain and strengthen their Catholic faith during the university stage.
This year the George Mason, The Catholic University of America (Cu) and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) were awarded. Among the three they will receive a total of 25 thousand dollars to launch their innovative evangelization plans, which seek to bring young people closer to the Catholic faith.
At the moment, the awards are awarded only to University Campus of Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia, although the organization hopes to expand its scope.
According to the official statement, the George Mason University was awarded for its innovative approach that brings together athletes from different disciplines to form a community in Christ. These young people will become “ambassadors” that, wearing clothes with the logo of the University Catholic Ministry, will attract other athletes to small groups and activities.
In the case of the Catholic University of America, the project consists of carrying out Eucharistic Outdoor Adoration with praise and confessions music, both the first Saturday back to classes and during the Family Weekend in autumn. The objective is that more students and families meet Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
Virginia Tech was awarded by her Pour Into Others program, which consists of opening a cafeteria once a week at the same time in which Eucharistic worship is performed at the Newman Center. Thus, it is sought that students visiting the cafeteria are invited to worship and other activities of the University Ministry.
Danielle Zuccaro, Executive Director of ASJB, told CNA – Ewtn News – who “the answer has been incredible” before the new campaign and the Rise awards.
Zuccaro, who has been in the organization for 15 years, explained that the idea arose from its founder, Fr. Christopher Vaccaro, who was university chaplain for nine years.
“He realized that many times university ministries have limited resources and, sometimes, they lack creativity. We think that creativity could be encouraged encouraging ministries to develop novel evangelizing projects, and we would give them funds to carry them out,” he said.
“This year we granted 25 thousand dollars. If a university had always wanted to carry out a project but never had the money, I could ask for the amount it needed, but it had to be a different creative project, which served a specific group on its campus,” he added.
The winning ministries must present a video and project plan that will be published on the ASJB website, so that any university in the United States can replicate it.
Zuccaro expressed his desire to “launch the widest possible network to reach the largest number of students.”
“We always say in our organization that we want to go as far as possible, and we hope that these university ministries are also launching broad networks and serving students who, otherwise, would not have achieved,” he concluded.
Translated and adapted by ACI Press. Originally published in CNA.
Francesca Purchio Fenton
Francesca Pollio Fenton is responsible for social networks of Catholic News Agency. He received his degree in communications with emphasis on digital media from the University of Colorado, in Denver (United States).