Attendees highlight RCIA program, faith-based clubs

Notre Dame’s Campus Ministry hosted its annual “Feed Your Faith” event on August 28, featuring 40 on-campus faith-based groups and clubs. The event was well attended with an estimated turnout of 1800 students. In addition to serving as a reunion for many students returning from the summer break, “Feed Your Faith” provided a place for students to be introduced to many groups on campus that offer religious programming and community. 

Brett Perkins, Campus Ministry’s Assistant Director for Evangelization and Religious Education, described the event to the Rover as “Activities Night for the faith-based clubs.”

Father Brian Ching, C.S.C., Rector of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, also lauded the “Feed Your Faith” event to the Rover as “a great showcase of the multitude of ways you can live your faith on campus.” He encouraged students already connected with groups to continue exploring and investing in “the great variety of ways of engaging the life of faith.” 

Sophomore Teresa Pingel, who attended the event her freshman year and became connected with groups like the Liturgical Choir, said of the event: “It’s a really fun atmosphere, and I willingly went again this year to enjoy being with a community that so clearly thrives off of being Christ to others.”

Campus Ministry, in addition to providing food and t-shirts for the event, also runs its own table with various offerings for student engagement, one of which is their Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) program. RCIA representatives organized a booth at “Feed Your Faith” to inform students about the process of becoming Catholic and getting confirmed. They “were continuously busy,” said Perkins, highlighting the long list of sign-ups.

In the days following the “Feed Your Faith” event, the RCIA program hosted two information sessions, one of which was packed to standing room only. Following the information session, interested students were able to meet personally with Perkins and Fr. Ching, directors of the RCIA and Short Course programs, respectively. 

One unique attribute of the Campus Ministry program at Notre Dame is, in addition to RCIA, the Short Course program, which offers a different timeline and community for discernment. While the more common RCIA program extends for the whole school year, Short Course teaches and prepares students for the sacraments over the course of one semester. Both provide students with a rich, in-depth curriculum and a large community of their fellow students, who serve as sponsors and provide support through catechesis. 

“It is so important to have solid sponsors who take their faith seriously and live their faith vibrantly and can accompany and walk along and serve as mentors,” said Perkins. 

Senior Camila Holden, who was baptized and confirmed through the RCIA program last year, emphasized “how important it is to discern in community, because you’re not the only one struggling with some of the intellectual [questions about the faith].”

According to Perkins, the quality of catechetical formation at Notre Dame should not be taken for granted. “Others are taking note,” said Perkins. “There are a lot of people around the country, colleagues at other places, who reach out to us and ask about what we do here in terms of our two tracks, the year-long and the semester-long.”

In the years following the pandemic, the number of students in the RCIA program has steadily increased. 

Fr. Ching noted, “There is a noticeable uptick in religious practice over the past couple of years. For a long time we were concerned about the declining attendance in Mass … but I think it’s pretty easy to say over the past couple of years that Masses, especially hall Masses, have been increasing in attendance.” 

In addition, the demographics of RCIA participants have become more diverse, spreading beyond those who were raised Catholic but never received the sacrament of Confirmation. According to Perkins, they have received more international students from non-Christian cultures as well as Protestants, many of whom would characterize themselves as “disenchanted by denominationalism.”

As of publication, the RCIA and Short Course programs are already working with 61 students this year seeking to become Catholic (30) or get confirmed (31). They are currently in search of more students who are willing to volunteer to be sponsors. 

Those who are interested in the program, whether as a participant or a sponsor, can contact Brett Perkins at brett.perkins@nd.edu. 

James Whitaker is a graduate student in the Theology department. As a happy product of Notre Dame’s RCIA program, he leapt at the opportunity to write about it. This also means he completed the infamous Rover hat-trick, writing three articles for one issue. To congratulate him (or to ask him to write less), you can reach him at jwhitak5@nd.edu.

Photo Credit: Campus Ministry Website

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