VT Catholic Campus Ministry 2026 Issue 1

From the Chaplain

Happy Easter! I pray the Lord has blessed you and your family in this season of resurrection. Our Newman House has been filled with joyful celebrations these past few months. This spring semester has been marked with extra gifts of cold and snow, but also the invitation to enter into Lent and join Christ on the walk to Calvary. Our staff was amazed at how many came to Ash Wednesday, and we’ve seen so many students coming to our liturgies, stopping in for prayer, joining Bible studies, and building friendships with one another. We have seen large numbers of students in our OCIA classes, and our Easter Vigil saw a record number of students receiving sacraments. While sometimes feeling worn out, I have been energized by the witness of faith and Easter joy among our students. Even in the days after Easter, new faces appear at our Masses and at the Newman House seeking out the sacraments. Easter invites us to approach the great mysteries of salvation with wonder, awe, and ultimately joy! We walk the difficult road of Lent and find ourselves alongside Jesus; he offers us the chance to help carry his cross through our prayer, penances, and almsgiving. We are brought near to him on the road to Calvary in our triduum liturgies, and he fulfills his work for our redemption on Easter. We remembered the Last Supper on Holy Thursday, grieved on Good Friday at our Lord’s passion, and then we were amazed all over again at the empty tomb on Easter morning. One other great way in which our Newman Community enters into Lent is by our Alternative Spring Break trips. Just two weeks prior to Holy Week, our Catholic Hokies could be found on seven different trips to serve in different communities in need. This too is part of our Lenten journey and our Easter joy! The resurrection of Christ sends us out to serve. As Pope Leo said in Dilexi Te , his Apostolic Exhortation, our service of others and of the poor is in response to the love that Christ shows to us. Our Easter joy and our service to others are inseparable, and I am proud our Newman community is responding in love and charity. May the joy of Easter and the love of Christ be yours!

Servant Leaders Ben Rubinich, Student Campus Minister Ashley Clark, Asst. Student Campus Minister Hugh Grennan, Music Minister Rachel Fries, Community Minister Nolan Conroy, New Evangelization Minister Ashley Glynn, Liturgy Minister Angela Drapac, Outreach Minister Nish De Leon, Communications Minister Keira Salvanera, Christian Formation Minister Attisyn Kruse, Service and Justice Minister

FOCUS Team

Prayerfully,

James Lutz, Team Director Andrew DeCelle, Veteran Missionary Madelyn Bauer, Second Year Missionary Nicholas Pluemer , Second Year Missionary Lourdes Navarro , First Year Missionary

Father Tom Yehl, Y.A.

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