Pastor’s keyboard: This past week, a junior from St. Mary’s college contacted me to let me know that a friend of hers wanted to become Catholic.  The young woman who had contacted has continued to be a missionary on the campus, frequently asking friends and others to come to mass with her, and she goes even further.  She started a pro-life group on campus, which is not an easy thing to advocate on any college campus these days. Yet she did all the work to get the approval on her own and contacted pro-life organizations to get displays and stood outside with a huge board that explained abortion and why it is not good for women and society.

She said very few people stopped by to ask her questions, but she was grateful to the ones that did. Some students knew very little about the pro-life movement, so she took the opportunity to explain it.  Last year she wore a necklace with little feet pendent. People would comment on it or ask what it symbolized, and she would use it as a conversation starter to speak about the pro-life movement.  She explained that the feet were the size of the feet of a baby in the womb at so many weeks.

Certainly, plenty of people don’t want to have this conversation or don’t want to hear the pro-life side of it, yet she is constantly looking for way to advocate for the unborn.  She is never rude, mean, crude or any of the things that would make people angry or upset at her words or tone. She knows the facts, has passion, and clearly loves and has intelligence.  She is a modern-day missionary on campus, one who can reach young people who would never knock on my door.  She is an amazing example of what every Christian, who lives the faith, should seek to do these days.  She recognizes evil and seeks to fight it with good, she sees darkness and vanquishes it with light, she encounters ignorance and seeks to counter it with wisdom and knowledge.  She knows the Lord, herself, and what is required of her.  May we follow her good example and pray for her and those like her on very secular college campuses all over the country. It is not easy, yet she is not looking for easy, she’s looking for souls to bring to Christ.  May we do the same every day.

Your brother in Christ,

Father Scott