GW Catholics in the news!

DC ‘Hood vs. St Bartholomew parish, Bethesda, tonight, 7:30 pm. The (basketball) game will be played at St Bart's gym.  Go ‘Hood!!


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GW Catholics are in the news! Here is an article from yesterday’s Catholic Standard, the Catholic newspaper in Washington:


Archbishop encourages GWU students to invite friends back to Church

By Moira McLaughlin
Special to the Catholic Standard

Emphasizing his message of the New Evangelization that he wrote about in his recent pastoral letter, Archbishop Donald Wuerl concelebrated Mass Sept. 12 for a church full of George Washington University students at St. Stephen Martyr parish in Northwest Washington.

“We all know people who have drifted away…our responsibility, our task is to invite them to enjoy again the embrace of their Father,” the archbishop said in his homily after the Gospel reading of Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son.

The archbishop told the students about being stopped in airports by non-practicing Catholics curious about the faith.

At a ticket counter in the airport, one man told him that he used to be a Catholic, but wasn’t sure what happened.

“All you have to do is next Sunday make your way to Church,” he told the man. To the students, he said, “Sometimes, people just need to be asked.”

Coming to church helps Catholics live with a purpose and a goal, the archbishop noted, and it helps answer the big questions. Jesus’ first disciple were excited by this and so invited others to join them, he said. His new pastoral letter, Disciples of the Lord: Sharing the Vision, was issued on Sept. 9.

Discipleship

“Each one of us is called to be not only disciples who have heard the message, but each one of us is called to be a witness,”, he said and challenged the congregation, saying, “Some have drifted away, and it’s up to you and me to bring them back.”

At the end of Mass, the archbishop spoke to the students again. He recalled Pope Benedict XVI’s message when he visited Washington in 2008. The pope said that secularism, materialism, and individualism – the idea that one can make it alone – are hurdles that people face, distractions that can keep them from Christ.

But, Archbishop Wuerl continued, “We walk through this life knowing there’s more to it.” The archbishop said that the pope encouraged Catholics to help others meet Jesus. The theme of the papal visit was, “Christ Our Hope,” and the pope said that “Those who have hope, must live different lives.”

After Mass, the archbishop joined students for a reception at the parish, Some George Washington students interviewed later said they appreciated his visit with them, and they took his message to heart, thinking about how they might be more vocal about their faith.

Sharing the Faith

Freshmen Amanda Pasek said she would invite a friend to Mass with her next time. Junior Jared MacDonald pondered the different ways he might speak about his faith to someone who might ask. Senior Elizabeth Janus recalled being a little scared to talk to a roommate last fall who questioned her weekly Mass attendance. She feels she would be more comfortable with the conversations now.

According to sophomore Damian Legacy, who is in formation to become a priest in the Congregation of Holy Cross, the Catholic movement is growing on the G.W. campus…

Just as the archbishop spoke of the excitement of the first Catholics, so too did Legacy talk about that same excitement in the Catholics at that university.

“We have a small group of people, but when we get excited, that grows.” Legacy noted the increase of students attending Tuesday night Mass and dinner this year from last year. “When you’re asked about what you’re doing, that attracts attention,” he said. “We’re seeing the work we’re doing paying off,”, he said.