Arizona State University’s All Saints Catholic Newman Center received a record 52 students into the Catholic Church during a Nov. 30 Mass.
The group, composed of students from ASU’s main campus, completed the Rite of Reception, the liturgical process through which candidates are baptized or received into full communion with the Church, at the Newman Center in Tempe.
“The Mass was easily one of the most beautiful witnesses I have ever seen” Ben Power, the program director for OCIA, told CatholicVote Dec. 2. “OCIA in general is inspiring to not only me, but all Catholics. Seeing 52 students become Catholic warms our hearts.”
The celebration drew an exceptionally large crowd, Ryan Ayala, the director of the Newman Center told CatholicVote. It was standing room only as more than 600 people filled the 450-seat church.
He credited the large group in part to the coordinated outreach of Newman Center staff, who he said are responding to a rising desire for faith among students.
“College students, Gen Zers, are hungry for truth, belonging, and an unwavering Catholic faith,” he said. “Our campus ministers, missionaries, and priests see that and have committed to meet this moment with passion and urgency.”
No call or email from students goes unanswered, according to Ayala, who said he expects a similar number of student converts in the spring cohort.
“We want ASU students to know we truly care for their souls and want them to know Jesus Christ,” he said.
The event’s reach extended well beyond the campus. A video announcing the record-breaking turnout circulated widely on social media, accumulating more than 92,000 views on X and drawing messages of support from Catholics across the country.
From Catholic Vote
I suspect the service of missionaries from the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) has also contributed to this.
And, the University of Mary (Bismarck, ND), a solid Catholic university, also offers classes at ASU. There is no Catholic college in Arizona, yet ASU students have the opportunity to enroll in Catholic studies courses that fulfill ASU general studies requirements and are taught by University of Mary faculty. These are the types of creative outreaches and ministries that we should be considering and supporting, there and elsewhere. You can see that they bear “fruit.”
The Diocese of Phoenix has a partnership with the University of Mary, and has established a new diocesan seminary– Nazareth Seminary– with 27 seminarians for the Class of 2030. It is Arizona’s first Catholic seminary. That is great news.
My wife and I happen to be in Tempe now for a wedding this Saturday. ASU is the nation’s largest university. May God bless those here and everywhere reaching out to young adults with Christ and His Church.
Why are they having a retreat at a devil camp?
The ASU mascot is the Sun Devil.
Link to ASU mascot Sun Devils logo:
https://share.google/images/pWay5MRr1IMPLWkMR
LOL – that’s the ASU mascot – the sun devils.
Would you expect the minority of Christians at ASU to get that public university to change its mascot, the Arizona Sun Devils?
Duke has the Blue Devils.
I did my undergraduate studies at San Jose State University. I don’t endorse the Spartans.
Catholics at USC aren’t really Trojans. And, University of Dallas has the Crusaders. And, most have some issues with the Crusades.
Notre Dame has the Fighting Irish. I wouldn’t make too much of a school’s mascot. In its 80 years, I don’t know that the devil has influenced ASU more than any other public university (and even some Catholic ones). Let’s rejoice in those young adults embracing Christ and His Church.
“Why are they having a retreat at a devil camp?” What better place to battle Satan?
Would you drive a Lamborghini Diablo if it were given to you? Or, a Rolls-Royce Phantom? (And, if you say no and sold it, that would be providing a near occasion of sin for someone else, no?)
Or, the more likely Dodges, the Demon or the Hellcat? Or, the AMC Gremlin?
Sorry, the link to the Sun Devil mascot logo didn’t work!