“Fish swim. Birds fly.” They may just sound like lines from a children’s book for children, however sophomore Kara Cowdrick claims that these four simple words hold the secret to the purpose of life.

Cowdrick first heard these words from Catholic speaker Mark Hart at a LIFETEEN leadership conference, and as vice president of spirituality, she chose to share them with the members of Catholic Campus Ministry during their annual Beach retreat at the North Carolina Baptist Assembly at Fort Caswell Sept. 14-16.

The message suggests that every creature on Earth was created to do some definite service, according to Cowdrick, and it coincided with the retreat’s theme for the weekend: “God’s Calling… Are You Answering?”

Throughout the weekend, Father Gerry Waterman and the Catholic Campus Ministry executive team gave talks on their own vocations, put on skits and led the members in praise and worship. They also formulated a trust walk to communicate the urgency of trusting and listening to God’s call.

Those who attended were given journals to reflect on the presence of Christ in their lives.

“It gave me time to clear my mind and really think about what I wanted to do in life. I was a declared chemistry major but ultimately realized that I was doing what everyone else wanted me to do. Now, I am invested in international studies and very excited about the change. The retreat really changed my life,” junior Elise Mercier said.

By the end of the weekend, faiths deepened and friendships formed.

“Beach retreat is a great place to grow in faith and in community,” junior Matthew Straub said. “You get closer to fellow Catholics and feel like you are part of a family. Catholic means universal, and there is nothing more universal than family.”

Upon returning to Elon, members of Catholic Campus Ministries found that they had built a closer community among themselves centered around trust and love.

“I think Catholic Campus Ministires is an awesome way to meet friends, and on top of that, it gives me a group of people whom I not only have an incredibly fun time with, but also a group of people with whom I can share my faith and that’s something that’s not easy to find in college,” freshman Courtney Graham said.

Yet at Elon, finding a faith community fostered in mutual respect and charity is not difficult to come by. Located on College Avenue, the Vera Richardson Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life was established “to enable Elon students to learn about their own and other faiths and to live lives of reconciliation.”

The Truitt Center offers nine campus ministries which encourage students to explore the spiritual aspects of life and learning: Baptist Student Union, Campus Outreach, Catholic Campus Ministry, Elon Gospel Choir, Elon Hillel, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Methodist Fellowship and Sigma Alpha Omega.

“Campus ministries help bring life into perspective; there is more to life than classes, meetings and social lives,” sophomore Lisa Bodine said. “Spirituality and religion are often times the most important aspects of our lives and campus ministries help remind us of that.”

Reporter: My Nguyen - 09/26/07