Consortium Students Today 

This past week students came from many of the Consortium schools to attend the Student Ecumenical Prayer service and orientation at Catholic University and surrounding religious study houses.

There was a lost bus, a lost friar, and some last minute arrangements, but the prayer service offered a great unity of song, prayer, and preaching (which I was honored to do and enjoyed).   A bit of Greek around the variations of “oikos” in Ephesians 2 for the newly initiated among the Lutherans and Episcopalians and Catholics was great fun.  

Above all I am struck by how students seek a chance to pray and learn together.   Students imbarked for over 20 religious study houses among Dominicans, Franciscans, Whit Friars, Sulpicians, the De Salle house, the Maronite seminary, and more.   A special thanks to the Benedictines, Paulists and Theological College for taking in extra guests!  Students reported great table fellowship, deep conversations about call and ministry, and in some cases opportunities to pray Compline.  

I heard call stories of moving from Phd’s in physics to a call for orders in one Catholic  community, strong “external calls” from home congregations and college peers among a Lutheran brother, and the nurture and spiritual growth of a cradle Episcopalian that finally lead to seminary.   This was but a taste of the evening.

Entering students are already primed for international, cross cultural, and interdenominational encounters when they arrive–many with their own ecumenical narratives (or those of famlies), and brimming with skills to network, collaborate, and learn across all kinds of boundaries….   I wonder, to what degree are their schools equally primed?