Anyone who set foot on South Quad on the evening of August 26 would have seen crowds of students lining the sidewalks clad in blue t-shirts, smelled tacos and pizza from food trucks, and heard praise and worship music echoing across the quad. For returning Notre Dame students, these sights can only mean one signature campus event: Feed Your Faith.
This annual faith kickoff event, organized by Campus Ministry, featured nearly 50 student clubs and attracted over 1,400 students. With the help of roughly 200 volunteers, Feed Your Faith offered abundant options for those seeking to explore spiritual opportunities available on campus.
Emily Mountain, a freshman in McGlinn Hall, attended Feed Your Faith and joined clubs such as the Children of Mary, Notre Dame Right to Life, and the Militia of the Immaculata. She described her experience to the Rover, “It was definitely a place where you were invited to find a group that you fit in with,” Mountain said. “Everyone I met there was really nice and encouraging.”
Junior Carlos Jison, a member of Asian Student Ministry, described the wide variety of opportunities at Feed Your Faith in an interview with the Rover. “Campus Ministry is obviously Catholic and Christ-focused, but a huge part of who we are … is meeting people where they are in their faith.” Jison continued, “Feed Your Faith really provides a great opportunity to see all that Campus Ministry has to offer, and that Campus Ministry really has something for everyone.”
Alongside Catholic groups such as Exalt Praise and Worship Adoration, OCIA, and Hallow were tables featuring clubs like the Muslim Student Association, Iron Sharpens Iron, and the Orthodox Christian Fellowship. Additional tables advertised various liturgical choirs, retreats, multicultural clubs, and more.
Sophomore Mark Mikhail, president of the Maritain Fellows program through the Jacques Maritain Center, described how the many tables helped students establish the groundwork for deepening their faith.
Mikhail told the Rover, “They’re each very specific, but there’s so many of them that you can find your own niche in order to grow your faith.” For students, he went on, “knowing that there are these places that can nourish your faith with God is foundational.”
Lucy Konrad, a junior who helped represent the Campus Ministry Retreats table, echoed the event’s emphasis on welcoming all students into a faith community. “I had really good conversations with some first-years who were curious about retreats,” Konrad told the Rover. “There’s so many people, and it’s fun, and everyone is there for the same reason: to bring people into the love of Christ and to build a community around that.”
Beyond merely being welcomed, students at Feed Your Faith were invited to take an active role in the larger faith community. Director of Student Ministry Mike Buckler told the Rover in an email, “In Campus Ministry, we want every student to know that they are not only welcome, but actually called to live into their role as beloved daughter or son of God, as a disciple of Jesus.”
Buckler continued, “Feed Your Faith tries to help students find a ministry that will best help them grow in faith and share their gifts, to contribute to authentic Christian community, and actually be [the] Church on campus.”
Konrad described Campus Ministry Retreats as having a similar call to action.“[They are] equipping people to go out into the campus community and to love others as Christ loves and to take what they learn … and to go out and spread the Gospel.”
From attending Feed Your Faith last year as a freshman to running a table this year alongside new friends, Mikhail told the Rover, “seeing my friends behind all of these tables … just made me so proud of everybody who’s working really hard to try to serve the Notre Dame community in order to grow their faith.” He added, “I see God’s grace working … a lot in my friends.”
Buckler noted that Feed Your Faith’s invitation persists even after the event’s conclusion. “Each person on this campus is invited by the university to deepen their faith during their time here—-if you will, to feed their faith,” Buckler explained. “We hope that Feed Your Faith is an event that invites all students into something deeper, something more meaningful, and that students connect with a community of faith that will make possible such a deepening.”
Noirin Dempsey is a sophomore from Lake Geneva, Wisconsin currently living in McGlinn Hall. When she’s not studying political science and journalism, she can usually be found playing piano in the McGlinn chapel, wandering the snack aisle at Trader Joe’s, or watching the Chicago Bears win football games. You can contact Noirin at ndempsey@nd.edu.