This article was amended on Sept. 26, 2012 to remove a quote attributed to Fr. Carlos Martins.
TORONTO - York University students now have the option of a new extracurricular activity: Catholic campus evangelization.
York’s Catholic chaplaincy launched Apostles on Mission this summer, a six-session program designed to teach students how to minister at the university. Planned and run by chaplain Fr. Carlos Martins and associate pastor Fr. Ben St. Croix, the program targets “the more spiritually mature students,” Martins said. But the invitation remains open and any student is free to join.
These student evangelizers “are going to minister on campus and be an extension of the Catholic chaplaincy in the hallways and in the corridors,” Martins said.
The curriculum covered the Catholic Church’s teaching on evangelization, what exactly evangelization is, why evangelize, whom to evangelize and elements of how to pray. Misconceptions of the Catholic Church and how to defend the faith were included. The sessions also covered effective ways to give a testimony and how to start a conversation with a stranger. It’s about “how to approach somebody in a situation where you don’t know the person and to do so in a way that makes the person you’re approaching comfortable and feel safe,” Martins said. “We (Martins and St. Croix) are members of the Companions of the Cross. This is our bread and butter.”
York has about 55,000 students. Its main Keele campus is where the Apostles on Mission will volunteer a minimum of two to four hours a week, but Martins promises that the skills learned through the sessions can be applied anywhere.
This month, the Apostles on Mission will begin to to provide Catholic resources and provide information on what the chaplaincy has to offer. The students also have the option of running Bible studies.
“We’re trying to make people aware that there is something here that is being offered that they may appreciate and desire,” said Martins. He does not want people to be treated as potential converts, with their individuality disregarded as a result.
The plan is “we’re throwing seed out,” said Martins.
“Undergirding our belief here at the chaplaincy is the belief of the Church that God has prepared the hearts of those who will receive His message to respond to Him.”
The sixth session took place on Aug. 23 and allowed participants to practise their conversion story or testimony.
Lolita Akimana was looking for a Catholic student group when she joined the chaplaincy at York. She has been to two Apostles on Mission sessions. She is unsure how she is going to approach students, but feels ready to share the word of God. In her conversion story or testimony, she spoke about growing up in the African country of Burundi.
“I used to go to church with friends, but I didn’t really know God,” she said.
She has four siblings and her father died before she was born. Akimana asked Jesus to be her father and He provided, she said. For her, God no longer seems abstract.
Akimana’s testimony, said Martins, is an example of Christ filling a need in one person’s life.
Martins anticipates the student evangelizers will face two main challenges: time and lack of confidence. The pressures of school leave students little free time, he acknowledged. And though he’s never encountered hostility on campus in the year that he’s worked at York, evangelizers will need self-assurance to help them deal with any hostility or potentially bad experiences.
“They’ll come away learning about themselves and learning about the faith,” Martins said.
The main Apostles on Mission sessions have been recorded with the hope of making them available to students as a training program. And interest from students who were unable to be on campus during the summer has Martins interested in training more students during the academic year.
“Students have risen to the challenge,” he said.