When Angela Fragale decided to attend The Catholic University of America for college, “it had nothing to do with faith,” she said. She decided to attend because she liked the business school, and she would go on to study international business. Little did she know, she would also go on to be one of the 23 Student Ministers who serve the students of Catholic University, and faith would play a huge part in her college experience.

Fragale went on the freshman retreat soon after college started, where she had her first experience with Eucharistic Adoration, which is a time of prayer in front of the exposed Blessed Sacrament.

“That is really when I was drawn to Christ,” she said. “That was when I wanted to make a change in my life.”

After this experience, Fragale realized that she needed to make friends who had this same priority. So, about a month into the semester, she decided to attend her first “House Mass,” which takes place every Tuesday at 8 p.m. in the “The House,” an intentional community in Caldwell Hall that 10 of the Student Ministers live in. When she arrived, she felt like she didn’t fit in, and everyone else already knew each other. Overwhelmed, she began to cry.

The Student Minister who was assigned to her freshman dorm, as each dorm has one or two, pulled Fragale aside to talk to her.  She told her it was okay, that everyone feels that way at first, and proceeded to have about an hour-long conversation.

“If she hadn’t done that I wouldn’t have come back to another House Mass again, and look at me now, I’m running House Mass!” Fragale said.

Fragale is now a senior at CUA, in her second year as a Student Minister, and is going to be the manager of “The House,” where she now lives in community with the nine other Student Ministers who serve freshmen residence halls. There are 13 other Student Ministers who live in upperclassman residence halls.

In addition to planning events, like their annual end of the year “luaupalooza,” the Student Ministers spend much of their time participating in what they call a “ministry of presence.” They spend several hours a week knocking on doors in dorms to check in and build relationships with the students, which Fragale said was very special to her as a freshman.

“My Student Ministers were really taking that extra step to get to know me as a person and challenge me to enter into this relationship with Christ in a way that I was ready for,” Fragale said.

Catholic University is not the only college that offers Campus Ministry to serve the needs of students and help introduce them to Christ. Ben Dobson, a junior at the University of Maryland in College Park, had a similar experience of being invited into community at the Catholic Student Center there.

He had been going to Mass since he began college, but Dobson didn’t discover the Catholic Student Center community until the spring of 2016, the end of his sophomore year. He knew that he wanted to get more involved, but was worried that he wouldn’t quite fit in.

“They probably already have their inside jokes, and I am just not going to be as involved as some of them have been,” Dobson thought.

But when he attended one of the Catholic Student Center’s Wednesday night dinners, Dobson was soon drawn in to the community. He even bought a mandolin, even though he had no idea how to play it, and brought it to an upcoming retreat, where everyone joined together in song around the campfire.

“It has really opened me up to this whole idea of inviting someone into a relationship with Christ, as well as a relationship with the community, because both are vital for having a strong faith,” Dobson said. “I had the faith aspect, but I don’t think I had the community aspect.”

Morgen Owens, a senior at Howard University and president of the Newman Club there, also finds having a community of faith to be indispensable. Before college, Morgen grew up going to a Catholic church with a membership that was predominantly African-American, so she was surprised when she came to college and found out that a lot of people were confused to hear that she could be both black and Catholic.

She said for some people, “it is apparently such a big stigma for blacks to be Catholic… It is great to have people on campus to talk about that and not be discouraged and not feel like you have to change what you believe in,” Owens said.

Colin Murphy, a senior at George Washington University, said one of the most important things about his involvement in campus ministry has been learning about his faith and how to defend it in a secular environment.

“Every day you are met with people who feel very strongly about things that maybe are not in line with the Catholic faith or are directly opposed to Catholic faith and they will challenge you on it,” Murphy said. “Everyone is really passionate there and if you are Catholic at GW, you really have to ask yourself. ‘What do I really know about my faith? What do I not know? Do I really believe the things I think I believe?’”

In addition to providing students with exposure to the sacraments, building community, and teaching about the faith, campus ministry groups often go out and serve others. At Trinity Washington University, students involved in campus ministry go to Christ’s House every Tuesday to serve dinner and interact with the people there, and go to the Capital Area Food Bank every Friday, where they make packages of food to give to children or elderly in need.

“The whole purpose of campus ministry is to involve Trinity students to serve,” said Laetitia Sangwa, a campus ministry intern who has been awarded Trinity’s “Greater Good Award,” as well as a Gold President’s Volunteer Service Award.

While Trinity Washington University is a Catholic college, the majority of the student body is not Catholic. In order to best minister to the students, Campus Ministry hosts interfaith services every Wednesday, Guided Imagery Meditations, and “Peace Circle” retreats, which all cater to many different faiths.

“Me believing in God has helped me with so many things,” said Demane Butler, another campus ministry intern at Trinity, who was raised as a Baptist. “…Just believing in God’s will has gotten me through so many things this year.”

Campus ministry at Trinity also offers weekly sacramental prep for students who would like to enter the Catholic Church. Lynn Myrick, the director of campus ministry there, said they usually have about four students enter the Church at Easter every year.

“One way it makes me happy to serve others is to help students to figure out how they can integrate faith into their everyday lives and into their vocations and careers,” Myrick said. “I think it is really important to see what you do every day in your job as a way of bringing God to others and making the world a better place.”

For many students, like Dobson, who said that his favorite part of being involved in the ministry at the University of Maryland has been “the family aspect of it,” campus ministry groups provide a home away from home.

“When you leave for college, you don’t have your mom asking you every day, ‘How are you? How was school?’ and actually caring about your answer,” Fragale said. The student ministers at CUA have the opportunity to fill that void as people who really do care, she said.

“They are more than just friends,” Dobson said of the people he has met through the Catholic Student Center at Maryland’s Catholic Student Center. “When you get together with them, it feels like you are home. … They are people who support you with everything, really, emotionally and spiritually, they’ve got your back.”