Sometimes what we need most is someone to hold our hand. While teens heading off to college are so very excited to be let loose, they are often uncomfortable with or nervous about connecting to a new parish or campus ministry. Often what they need is to make a connection. They need relationships. Wait, youth ministers are good a building relationships!
In Fall 2019, Fr. Chuck Dornquast, our new diocesan vocations director, wanted to connect with college students from our diocese. Rather than wait for them to come to him, he went to them! Fr. Chuck went on a road trip to visit a few Catholic college and universities around Florida. He let the campus ministry and students know he would be there, and invited students to join him on his visit so they could catch up, visit the campus ministry together, and connect with both him and the campus ministry community.
Simply put, Fr. Chuck was relational. It took time and gas, but made helped connect college students with both our diocese and their local campus ministry. What if you committed to pick the college at which you know you have a lot of former teens, and go visit that one campus ministry this Fall? You don’t have to hit all of Florida in one trip – start small! Who’s ready for a road trip?