Catholic Campus Ministry at Virginia Tech 2025 : Issue 1

“ Faith in Action is Love. Love in Action is Service. ” – St. Teresa of Calcutta While most college students head home to relax over spring break, 78 of our Catholic Hokies chose something different — something deeply rooted in faith and mission. Through our Alternative Spring Break (ASB) program, a group of 13 students and three staff members traveled to Abingdon, Virginia, for a week of service, reflection, and spiritual growth that left a lasting impact on everyone involved. “As a freshman, I was assigned to work in Abingdon for my very first ASB,” shared student Andrew O’Kane. “It was an amazing experience.” Each day, the group split among three job sites: assisting with cleaning and repairs at the Jubilee House Retreat Center and Christ the King Parish, doing odd jobs at the Elder Spirit retirement community, and helping with yard work and student engagement at St. Anne’s Catholic School in nearby Bristol. The trip was a mini Catholic Hokie reunion as the pastor of Christ the King and the chaplain of St. Anne both have strong ties to our ministry. Fr. Masla of Christ the King is a Catholic Hokie alumni, and Fr. Tom Lawrence of St. Anne was a seminarian and deacon at St. Mary’s in Blacksburg. At St. Anne, the Hokies quickly became part of the school family. “They sat with our students at lunch, played (very high energy) football at recess, joined (even higher energy) hockey games in PE, shared their faith in the classroom, and worked hard to mulch our school grounds,” said Nicole Hughes, Assistant Principal at St. Anne.