Hello! What an amazing year!! In all honesty, I have nothing to compare it to, but this year was amazing. I keep telling people I’m having too much fun. We have a record number of students in Bible studies. We had over 550 students come through two Masses at the Newman Center for Ash Wednesday. (We had to set up extra chairs at both Masses.) We had 18 men at the last Discernment group. We also started a Women’s Discernment Group. This group has had up to 12 young women. We had some amazing speakers for our Theology on Tap nights. Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we were able to bring in some top notch national speakers to come talk to our students about everything from the Shroud of Turin, to the spirituality of Star Wars, to transgenderism. More importantly, students are falling in love with Jesus. I see students in the chapel constantly. The Masses are well attended. Thursday night Mass is well attended. The two Sunday Masses are both almost full. We estimate we interact with over 600 students a week! Hundreds of students went on mission trips and/or retreats this year. We had over 60 students go to SLS this January, another record for our campus. We have four students going on to be FOCUS missionaries themselves. Again, people ask me about the future of the Catholic Church. I tell them I have no idea what is going to happen to this or that parish. However, I do know the future of the Catholic Church is bright, alive, and excited. The young people are on fire for Christ, the Church, and the teachings of the Church. They do not want the Truth watered down and made easy. They want to be challenged to live the impossible; because they now know the impossible is possible with Jesus and Mary. They inspire me to be more holy, draw closer to Christ, and to live a life immersed in the love of Christ and our Blessed Mother. Fr. Andrew Vogel Pastor SUMMER 2018 1
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