Elon Catholic Campus Ministry
Spring 2018 Issue
CCM Newsletter
Getting Ignited! Spring Reteat at the Ignited By Truth Conference
By Mackenzie Hall, Class of 2020

On April 28th, servant leaders Emily Trainor '19 and Andrew Novinski '19, organized more than 20 Elon students as we attended the Ignited by Truth Catholic Conference at North Carolina State University. There, we listened to a variety of speakers, including Fr. Robert Spitzer, Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers, and a crowd favorite, Mark Hart.

Mark Hart, the most energetic and engaging of the speakers, spoke, specifically, of living a joy-filled Catholic life. He focused on the humor of our faith and maintained the attention of the audience with plenty of jokes. However, he also offered thoughtful insight that called us to consider how we spread the joy of Christ with others. Do we consider our faith a burden? And if not, why do we walk around like we do?

Bishop Zarama circled back to this idea in the Mass that concluded the conference. He encouraged everyone to "turn their frowns upside down" when processing to receive the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the greatest thing that God has given us and yet we approach it looking miserable, grim, and solemn. We learned, however, that there is an important difference between reverence and misery. Jesus wants us to receive Him with the utmost joy in our hearts, so a simple smile is a good way to start!

Both Mark Hart's and Bishop Zarama's talks, among others, inspired many faithfilled conversations that we shared with one another in small groups throughout the day. Questions like, "How do we share the good news we believe to be true with others and, specifically, with our fellow students at Elon?" were of great prevalence in these conversations. Ultimately, we were being challenged in our faith in ways we hadn't considered before, which both scared and excited us. Overall, we, Elon students, greatly enjoyed spending the day as honorary members of the NC State Wolfpack growing in our faith on this year's Spring Retreat.

Articles in this issue:

Guests of Honor: Bishop Luis Rafael Zarama and President Connie Book by Emily Keller

Getting Ignited! - Spring Retreat at the Ignited By Truth Conference by Mackenzie Hall

Embracing the Faith by Taylor Stephens

An Organization Worthy of Giving by Greg and Sandy Janis

Graduation Mass 2018 - Senior Memories