Catholic Campus Ministry at Virginia Tech 2025 : Issue 1

From the Chaplain Blessed Easter to you! What a momentous time in the Church we are living through. As I write this letter, it is the second week of Easter, and we have just watched the beautiful and solemn funeral rites and the internment at St. Mary Major for Pope Francis. I have been reflecting on how his last official act was to give the traditional Urbi et Orbi blessing, “to the city (Rome) and to the world.” It was a true witness of service that he carried on the traditional papal blessing to the world one final time. Beginning in February, we heard of the Pope’s illness and watched with prayerful concern as he went to the hospital and disappeared from the world stage while recovering. Looking back, these earlier events seemed to indicate that we were reaching the end and, in a way, prepared us for what finally happened on Easter Monday. How strange it has been that this final journey of our Holy Father paralleled in many ways our journey through Lent and our Lord’s journey to the cross. Our loving God seems often to give us signs and reminders that he is ultimately in charge. Our lives must intersect with the cross. The Paschal Mystery of our Lord’s Passion, death, and Resurrection is presented to us not as memory but as true reality. Our Easter joy is tinged with sadness at the loss of the Holy Father. Yet our hope in the Resurrection is only strengthened by the manner of his passing on Easter Monday. His death brings into focus what we believe Easter truly proclaims: there is eternal life after death. Those of you who are alumni may remember that we have a wonderful tradition of washing the feet of one another on Holy Thursday. We held a service this Holy Thursday before the beginning of Mass where I washed the feet of 12 of our student leaders, and they, in turn, washed the feet of other students, which started a chain until every foot in the congregation was washed. It is a simple yet very unusual moment for us to wash the feet of another. That night I read from Matthew 25 and had a student reflect on the importance of service prior to the start of the Triduum liturgies. In the past, this would have been a great moment to point out that the Pope had gone earlier that day to wash the feet of the poor or the imprisoned. This year’s Triduum, we were talking about service to the poor and washing the feet of one another, while praying for the Pope who was unable to do the same. Our student speaker that night, Sabrina, was one of our leaders who graduates this spring. This academic year, she was the primary planner of our six Alternative Spring Break trips, including our most recently added trip to Abingdon, VA. I hope you will enjoy reading about this new ASB and its impact later in this issue.

Servant Leaders Jules Fedak, Student Campus Minister Ben Rubinich, Asst. Student Campus Minister Hugh Grennan, Music Minister Nolan Conroy, Community Minister Margo Del Giudice, New Evangelization Minister

Megan Reese, Liturgy Minister Olivia Smaltz, Outreach Minister

RaeAnna Kelly, Communications Minister Clare O’Herron, Christian Formation Minister Cameron Pellei, Service and Justice Minister

Kathleen Calvin, Team Director Andrew DeCelle, Veteran Missionary Andy Eastman, Second Year Missionary Madelyn Bauer, First Year Missionary Nicholas Pluemer, First Year Missionary FOCUS Team

It is clear that our students have a true heart for serving others much like the late Pope Francis. May we look forward with hope this Jubilee Year to the example our young people will find in the new Pope.

Prayerfully,

Father Tom Yehl, Y.A.