• Education
    • Higher Education
    • Scholarships & Grants
    • Online Learning
    • School Reforms
    • Research & Innovation
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Fashion & Beauty
    • Home & Living
    • Relationships & Family
  • Technology & Startups
    • Software & Apps
    • Startup Success Stories
    • Startups & Innovations
    • Tech Regulations
    • Venture Capital
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cybersecurity
    • Emerging Technologies
    • Gadgets & Devices
    • Industry Analysis
  • About us
  • Contact
  • Advertise with Us
  • Privacy & Policy
Today Headline
  • Home
  • World News
    • Us & Canada
    • Europe
    • Asia
    • Africa
    • Middle East
  • Politics
    • Elections
    • Political Parties
    • Government Policies
    • International Relations
    • Legislative News
  • Business & Finance
    • Market Trends
    • Stock Market
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Corporate News
    • Economic Policies
  • Science & Environment
    • Space Exploration
    • Climate Change
    • Wildlife & Conservation
    • Environmental Policies
    • Medical Research
  • Health
    • Public Health
    • Mental Health
    • Medical Breakthroughs
    • Fitness & Nutrition
    • Pandemic Updates
  • Sports
    • Football
    • Basketball
    • Tennis
    • Olympics
    • Motorsport
  • Entertainment
    • Movies
    • Music
    • TV & Streaming
    • Celebrity News
    • Awards & Festivals
  • Crime & Justice
    • Court Cases
    • Cybercrime
    • Policing
    • Criminal Investigations
    • Legal Reforms
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • World News
    • Us & Canada
    • Europe
    • Asia
    • Africa
    • Middle East
  • Politics
    • Elections
    • Political Parties
    • Government Policies
    • International Relations
    • Legislative News
  • Business & Finance
    • Market Trends
    • Stock Market
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Corporate News
    • Economic Policies
  • Science & Environment
    • Space Exploration
    • Climate Change
    • Wildlife & Conservation
    • Environmental Policies
    • Medical Research
  • Health
    • Public Health
    • Mental Health
    • Medical Breakthroughs
    • Fitness & Nutrition
    • Pandemic Updates
  • Sports
    • Football
    • Basketball
    • Tennis
    • Olympics
    • Motorsport
  • Entertainment
    • Movies
    • Music
    • TV & Streaming
    • Celebrity News
    • Awards & Festivals
  • Crime & Justice
    • Court Cases
    • Cybercrime
    • Policing
    • Criminal Investigations
    • Legal Reforms
No Result
View All Result
Today Headline
No Result
View All Result
Home World News Us & Canada

Catholic students find refuge at Princeton University’s worship space and cheer new pope

June 1, 2025
in Us & Canada
Reading Time: 6 mins read
A A
0
Catholic students find refuge at Princeton University's worship space and cheer new pope
3
SHARES
6
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


PRINCETON, N.J. — While other students might be in class or socializing at lunch, a group of young Catholics attends Mass every weekday at noon at the Princeton University Chapel.

They sing Gregorian chants in Latin, pray and receive Communion at a side chapel — inside the huge, nondenominational Princeton Chapel — that young, devoted Catholics see as a sacred refuge in a mostly liberal and secular Ivy League environment.

“I feel that people’s faith is so strong here,” student Logan Nelson said of the dedicated Catholic space where he attends daily Mass. “It feels like a home — even more so than my own house.”

The Gothic university chapel was built in 1928. At the time, Princeton says, its capacity to seat more than 2,000 people was second in size only to King’s College Chapel at Cambridge University.

Today, the chapel hosts interfaith services, concerts and weddings throughout the academic year and is known by the university as “the bridge between town and gown.”

On May 8, Catholic students were worshipping as usual at daily Mass in the side chapel when the service was interrupted by news alerts on their phones. In the Vatican, white smoke billowed from the Sistine Chapel, indicating that a new leader of their faith had been elected.

The Rev. Zachary Swantek, Princeton’s Catholic chaplain, told the group to gather at the Catholic Ministry office. Together, they watched on TV as the election of the first U.S.-born pope was announced.

“It was electric,” Nelson said, adding there was “uproar” in the room when Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost  became the 267th pontiff. “It was so cool to see an American pope.”

Like other members of the Catholic ministry, he is hopeful that Pope Leo XIV will help bring a revival for Catholicism in America.

“I feel that there’s a resurgence of Catholicism today,” said Nelson, who was religiously unaffiliated until last year when he converted to Catholicism. “You see people who are passionate about their faith. There’s a new wave coming, and we’re going to have more converts like me, who are coming from the ‘nones.’”

Across much of the world, the number of people who are nonbelievers or unaffiliated with any organized religion has dramatically increased over the years. The people known as “nones” — atheists, agnostics, or nothing in particular — comprise 30% or more of the adult population in the U.S., according to a survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Princeton’s Office of Religious Life says it supports members of the school community “of any religious identity or of none.”

Being a devoted Catholic on a mostly secular campus can be challenging; Swantek says he’s never felt “more needed as a priest.”

He is proud of the tight-knit, welcoming Catholic community that he leads, and how they’ve helped recent converts come into the faith.

News of the first U.S.-born pope was welcomed by Catholics across the ideological spectrum in  Pope Leo XIV  ’s homeland.

“Something that did bring me a lot of hope is Pope Leo has a missionary background,” said Ace Acuna, a Princeton alumni. He recently attended a Mass at the chapel before beginning a nearly five-week Catholic pilgrimage from Indianapolis to Los Angeles.

“In a world where in some places it might look like faith is on the decline, a church that’s willing to go out to the margins and evangelize and be on mission, that’s going to be so important,” Acuna said.

When he was an undergrad at Princeton, Acuna said the chapel became crucial to his college life.

On his way to class every morning, he’d pass by the chapel for a silent prayer. He’d return for the noon Mass and again at the end of the day for one last prayer.

“Princeton is a very busy place and there’s a lot of noise both externally but also internally because we’re so busy and we’re always worried about the next thing,” he said. “Sometimes you just want silence, and you just want a place where you can lay down your burdens.”

At the close of one recent Mass, David Kim and his girlfriend Savannah Nichols continued to pray near the altar, holding hands, kneeling or prostrating on the floor in a sign of reverence.

Kim, a recent graduate of the Princeton Theological Seminary, converted to Catholicism last year and has been serving as an altar server at the Princeton University chapel. He called the chapel’s side altar “an island of Christian life in an unbelieving world.”

Princeton University has always had a vibrant religious community and a religiously diverse one, said Eric Gregory, a professor of religion there.

“In a way it’s either so secular or even post-secular that it’s not threatened by the Christian presence on campus,” he said. “Religious students in our campus are not cloistered from campus. They’re also in sports teams, clubs and the newspaper. They’re integrated.”

Catholics at the the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign were elated by his election — and reinvigorated in practicing their faith.

“Being able to live out my faith in this extremely secular campus is such a blessing to me,” said student Daniel Vanisko, a lifelong Catholic, later adding in an email that the pope’s election “really helps me to draw closer to my faith, seeing that someone that grew up in the same state as me, is the successor of Peter in the Church.”

Cavan Morber, a rising junior, said attending UIUC “gives me chance to be challenged in my beliefs, think critically about what I believe, and share my faith with others.”

Asked in an email exchange about the pope’s election, Morber replied: “What a time to be alive!”

“I am hopeful for how he will be able to unite the Church in a time of a lot of division among Catholics and everyone around the world,” Morber added.

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.



Source link

Tags: 122392541ArticleCatholicCatholic ChurchcheerColleges and universitiesEducationfindGeneral newspopePrincetonrefugeReligionspacestudentsU.S. newsUniversitysworship
Previous Post

US sends Iran nuclear proposal, WH says

Next Post

Will flooding force Seattle’s South Park residents to leave?

Related Posts

Baltimore schools sued for failing to protect students from a predatory teacher

Baltimore schools sued for failing to protect students from a predatory teacher

June 2, 2025
2

Proposed fast-tracking of national projects ‘serious threat’ to treaty rights: AFN Chief

June 2, 2025
2
Next Post
Research illuminates growing extinction threat for southern resident orcas

Will flooding force Seattle’s South Park residents to leave?

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Family calls for change after B.C. nurse dies by suicide after attacks on the job

Family calls for change after B.C. nurse dies by suicide after attacks on the job

April 2, 2025
Pioneering 3D printing project shares successes

Product reduces TPH levels to non-hazardous status

November 27, 2024

Hospital Mergers Fail to Deliver Better Care or Lower Costs, Study Finds todayheadline

December 31, 2024

Police ID man who died after Corso Italia fight

December 23, 2024
Harris tells supporters 'never give up' and urges peaceful transfer of power

Harris tells supporters ‘never give up’ and urges peaceful transfer of power

0
Des Moines Man Accused Of Shooting Ex-Girlfriend's Mother

Des Moines Man Accused Of Shooting Ex-Girlfriend’s Mother

0

Trump ‘looks forward’ to White House meeting with Biden

0
Catholic voters were critical to Donald Trump’s blowout victory: ‘Harris snubbed us’

Catholic voters were critical to Donald Trump’s blowout victory: ‘Harris snubbed us’

0
Amazon is selling 'lightweight' $70 Eddie Bauer pants for $35, and shoppers wear them year-round

Amazon is selling 'lightweight' $70 Eddie Bauer pants for $35, and shoppers wear them year-round todayheadline

June 2, 2025

Truist Securities raises BioNTech stock price target on new partnership todayheadline

June 2, 2025

How to Turn Setbacks Into Strategic Advantages todayheadline

June 2, 2025
'We're way off': Businesses in key swing state blame Trump cuts for loss in tourism money

‘We’re way off’: Businesses in key swing state blame Trump cuts for loss in tourism money todayheadline

June 2, 2025

Recent News

Amazon is selling 'lightweight' $70 Eddie Bauer pants for $35, and shoppers wear them year-round

Amazon is selling 'lightweight' $70 Eddie Bauer pants for $35, and shoppers wear them year-round todayheadline

June 2, 2025
4

Truist Securities raises BioNTech stock price target on new partnership todayheadline

June 2, 2025
3

How to Turn Setbacks Into Strategic Advantages todayheadline

June 2, 2025
4
'We're way off': Businesses in key swing state blame Trump cuts for loss in tourism money

‘We’re way off’: Businesses in key swing state blame Trump cuts for loss in tourism money todayheadline

June 2, 2025
4

TodayHeadline is a dynamic news website dedicated to delivering up-to-date and comprehensive news coverage from around the globe.

Follow Us

Browse by Category

  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Basketball
  • Business & Finance
  • Climate Change
  • Crime & Justice
  • Cybersecurity
  • Economic Policies
  • Elections
  • Entertainment
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Environmental Policies
  • Europe
  • Football
  • Gadgets & Devices
  • Health
  • Medical Research
  • Mental Health
  • Middle East
  • Motorsport
  • Olympics
  • Politics
  • Public Health
  • Relationships & Family
  • Science & Environment
  • Software & Apps
  • Space Exploration
  • Sports
  • Stock Market
  • Technology & Startups
  • Tennis
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized
  • Us & Canada
  • Wildlife & Conservation
  • World News

Recent News

Amazon is selling 'lightweight' $70 Eddie Bauer pants for $35, and shoppers wear them year-round

Amazon is selling 'lightweight' $70 Eddie Bauer pants for $35, and shoppers wear them year-round todayheadline

June 2, 2025

Truist Securities raises BioNTech stock price target on new partnership todayheadline

June 2, 2025
  • Education
  • Lifestyle
  • Technology & Startups
  • About us
  • Contact
  • Advertise with Us
  • Privacy & Policy

© 2024 Todayheadline.co

Welcome Back!

OR

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Business & Finance
  • Corporate News
  • Economic Policies
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Market Trends
  • Crime & Justice
  • Court Cases
  • Criminal Investigations
  • Cybercrime
  • Legal Reforms
  • Policing
  • Education
  • Higher Education
  • Online Learning
  • Entertainment
  • Awards & Festivals
  • Celebrity News
  • Movies
  • Music
  • Health
  • Fitness & Nutrition
  • Medical Breakthroughs
  • Mental Health
  • Pandemic Updates
  • Lifestyle
  • Fashion & Beauty
  • Food & Drink
  • Home & Living
  • Politics
  • Elections
  • Government Policies
  • International Relations
  • Legislative News
  • Political Parties
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Middle East
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Cybersecurity
  • Emerging Technologies
  • Gadgets & Devices
  • Industry Analysis
  • Basketball
  • Football
  • Motorsport
  • Olympics
  • Climate Change
  • Environmental Policies
  • Medical Research
  • Science & Environment
  • Space Exploration
  • Wildlife & Conservation
  • Sports
  • Tennis
  • Technology & Startups
  • Software & Apps
  • Startup Success Stories
  • Startups & Innovations
  • Tech Regulations
  • Venture Capital
  • Uncategorized
  • World News
  • Us & Canada
  • Public Health
  • Relationships & Family
  • Travel
  • Research & Innovation
  • Scholarships & Grants
  • School Reforms
  • Stock Market
  • TV & Streaming
  • Advertise with Us
  • Privacy & Policy
  • About us
  • Contact

© 2024 Todayheadline.co