It was getting close to noon and I was already catching whiffs of food coming from the direction of the ISU student center when Sam Bunch came sauntering up to Friar Mario, cupping a white bag in one hand that smelled delicious.
“Have a chicken tender,” he said.
“No, no, no thank you, ”Friar Mario waved him off.
Sam pushed the bag in his direction. “You’re a mendicant order, you have to take it.” Laughing, he took a tender and bit into it. I, on the other hand, not being in a mendicant order, was free to refuse, but it’s hard to turn down free food when your tummy is rumbling and I gave in after only a token resistance.
This was our first mission outing on ISU campus. It was the first day of classes for fall semester and one couldn’t ask for more perfect weather. Friar Mario and I set up outside the career center at a bench under the trees. Mario went over to talk with the Baptists who had their own table set up and walk around for a while. I minded the table and worked on making hand-knotted rosaries. Many young people walked by wearing ear buds and staring at their smartphones at the same time (How do they keep from running into each other?), or passing swiftly, eyes straight ahead or even up like, “If I don’t look that way maybe they won’t see me.” But to those who made eye contact, I called out, “Beautiful day, isn’t it? We’ve got free stuff here.” Several stopped. I had some say, “I gotta get to class. Will you be here in an hour? I’ll be back.” And, in fact, they did come back.
Friar Mario is such a natural with the kids, asking them questions about their major or where they’re from, introducing himself as campus minister and inviting them to upcoming campus ministry functions, like Mass on the Grass, and the Holy Spirit Mass.
I really enjoyed talking with those who stopped. We had a lot of good encounters with some very interesting people. One freshman in particular we invited to Maximize Your Faith night also took a Mass on the Grass/Holy Spirit Mass flyer. She was picking out a rosary and, of course, I asked her if she was Catholic. She wasn’t, but she had graduated from a Catholic high school because her dad wanted her to have a quality education. I asked her, “Have you ever thought about becoming Catholic?” She shrugged, so I followed up with, “Can I tell you one good reason why I became Catholic when I was in college?”
“Yes,” she said.
So I told her a bit of my story, how I felt challenged to find out about this Catholic faith just to know the truth, and started meeting with a priest at Ball State campus ministry. I found so many things that never made sense from my protestant perspective just fell into place from a Catholic view. But what really clinched it was when I found out that Jesus personally founded the Catholic Church while on earth and promised that the Holy Spirit would protect it from teaching error. And that church is still with us today. That was a shock. I had never thought about that. I realized if Jesus founded only one church, then why wouldn’t I want to part of the one true church founded by Christ? And that’s how I became Catholic at age 18.
“Doesn’t it make more sense that God wanted 1 church rather than 33,000 different Christian churches that all teach different things?”
“Right,” she nodded. So I asked her what is she going to do about it now that she knows? She waved her flyer and said, “I’m gonna check this out.” So we told her how to find St. Joe’s and also invited her to also check out the 7:00 Mass Sundays.

Then there were the 3 freshmen girls picking out rosaries who said they were not only Catholic, but were surprised to learn half the girls on their dorm floor were also Catholic. So we quick like a bunny gave them extra flyers and told them to pass them around.

We’re going to try to go back to ISU campus every week we can. Note to self: from now on, pick a site not next to a trash receptacle to avoid bee encounters.

Joan
Jesus is Lord. Spread the word.