Franciscan University Students Spread Christ’s Light Across the Globe

STEUBENVILLE, OHIO-More than 200 Franciscan University of Steubenville students, faculty, and staff members recently returned from 12 separate mission trips around the globe.

Students gave up their spring breaks to serve others through teaching, retreat ministry, homeless ministry, medical ministry, street outreach, and sacramental ministry.

Franciscan University's Missionary Outreach Office facilitated student-led missions to Ecuador, two cities in Belize, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, New York City, Denver, Los Angeles, Detroit, Arizona, New Mexico, and Steubenville.

Amelia Brennan, coordinator of Missionary Outreach at Franciscan University, said the missionary program is at the heart of Franciscan's mission to form joyful disciples empowered by the Holy Spirit and that the fruits of the spring break trips are being felt by many on campus.

"The Lord is working through our mission trips to help students understand their personal vocations to holiness through encounter, conversion, and community. Our students find that when they give of themselves out of love, they also come to know the love of Christ in a tangible way," Brennan said.

"The University is doing something unique through the Office for Personal Vocation. We are teaching students that their vocation is not just a state in life, but it is a call in the present moment to be holy. Through mission trips, we offer our students another opportunity to be who they are called to be and then make a gift of themselves."

Franciscan University is unique among other Catholic colleges and universities, as it has an entire program dedicated to missionary work that focuses throughout the year on planning and facilitating mission trips, holding retreats for students, weekly Works of Mercy ministries, and ongoing faith formation.

Upon completion of the missionary trips, students came together on campus for an event called "Gratitude Sunday," where they each shared graces received from their missionary trips.

Columban Honan, a junior philosophy major, said he experienced deep personal conversion during his missionary trip to the Bronx, New York. Honan described his experience feeding, encountering, and ministering to the homeless and addicted in New York as life changing.

During one encounter with a recovering drug addict named Steven who was living on the street, Honan ministered to the man and discussed his relationship with Jesus Christ. Honan led him to a Catholic Church where Steven experienced Eucharistic Adoration for the first time.

"Connecting with Steven and watching him in eucharistic adoration was so powerful. My confidence in missionary work just shot right up," Honan said. "I know I was meant to be there for Steven, to talk with him about Jesus and to bring him to the Church."

Honan went on to say he would never have experienced the fruits of mission if he had not come to Franciscan University.

"I have a lot of friends at other Catholic colleges, but none of them have such a public expression of Catholicism and missionary spirit. They might have a missionary trip or two, but this is uniquely our charism at Franciscan," Honan said. "I learned on mission that if you truly have the love of Christ in your heart, it cannot just stay there. It has to go somewhere. That's why we need to be on mission."

Katie-Marie Zickert, a graduate student who led a mission trip to Honduras, said she learned that performing corporal works of mercy and being Christ's presence in the lives of the poor and spiritually bereft makes a tangible difference in the world.

Zickert was most moved by an encounter she had with an elderly blind man who, like many in his village, was living in extreme poverty. Because the man also had hearing problems and trouble speaking, Zickert was unable to have any in-depth discussions with him. She felt herself become discouraged and questioned if she was making any impact at all.

"I was asking myself, what's the point of this when I can't even communicate with him and he probably doesn't even know I'm here," Zickert explained. "But in a split second, I had a God moment and felt Jesus nudging me. Jesus was reminding me of the Matthew 25 Scripture verses and was telling me that even though I couldn't do anything for this man, what I could do was just sit with him and be Christ's presence to him."

Zickert said she "experienced and clearly saw God's grace" in that moment and said the entire mission confirmed her purpose in life.

"On the plane ride home, I started dramatically reflecting on my time in Honduras and just felt overwhelming gratitude for this opportunity," Zickert added. "This trip lit a fire in my belly and confirmed for me that I am on the right path and that my whole life is going to be a mission."

Michael Henderson, a sophomore who did missionary work in New York City, said his time spent feeding the hungry, ministering to the poor, and praying for the unborn and mothers with other students and consecrated religious outside an abortion clinic made him realize God has given him so much, and it is his mission in life to give it all back.

"I received confirmation of my desire to join the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal and to live a life completely in the service of God and his people," Henderson said. "Being in New York and ministering, there was nothing I wanted to do more with my life than what we were doing-praying a lot, growing in community, and actively supporting each other in our journeys toward God. We did this all while being God's light to a part of the world that needs it in a special way."

To learn more about missionary outreach at Franciscan University, click here.