Kayla MacLeod remembers the moment her faith began to re-awaken, like a dormant seed waiting for the perfect moment to sprout.
“I was a freshman at Georgia Tech, and my new roommate invited me to Mass,” the 23-year old recalled.
Growing up in Savannah, Ga., she remembered the Catholic faith of her devout mother, the daily Masses the family was accustomed to, and how she “fell out of” the tradition in high school, swallowed up by social mores and expectations.
The witness of her peer, though, brought back something familiar. “So I went to Mass at the school’s Catholic Center, and that kick-started” the reversion.
Today, as an Echo Graduate Service Program apprentice serving in the Diocese of Camden, MacLeod aims to follow her roommate’s example of practicing this “beautiful accompaniment,” as she calls it, in her own way these next two years, as a campus minister to high-schoolers at Paul VI High School in Haddonfield.
“All of my students, whether they know it or not, ache for God,” MacLeod said. “At Paul VI, I can talk about God. I’m expected to talk about God and walk with students, bringing Christ’s love to them. There’s a freedom there; it’s a gift.”
MacLeod, Francesca Casarella and Maggie Schoening are the Diocese of Camden’s newest ECHO apprentices taking part in the graduate service-learning program based out of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. Since the fall, the trio have been building community among themselves and in three of South Jersey’s Catholic high schools, while simultaneously completing a master of arts in theology degree from Notre Dame.
With MacLeod, 23, at Paul VI; Casarella, 22, at Gloucester Catholic, Gloucester City; and Schoening, 23, at Camden Catholic, Cherry Hill, the three have embraced the opportunity to bring their faith into the high schools, a place they found themselves in not too long ago.
For Casarella, from South Bend, Ind., being an ECHO apprentice means talking about Thomas Aquinas’ “5 Proofs for the Existence of God” and C.S. Lewis’ “Mere Christianity” with her freshman classes.” She also teaches juniors.
Her goal for her students is that they begin to see that the study of religion is a worthwhile use of their time, Casarella said, adding that she attempts to foster curiosity and dialogue in her classroom “the way the Catholic faith was presented to me, in my own family and in social circles growing up.”
“I want my classroom to be a place open to questioning, and asking God ‘why’ or how;’ where their faith can deepen, rather than stop,” Casarella said.
Schoening, a native of Indianapolis, teaches theology to juniors at Camden Catholic while also facilitating campus ministry outreach that includes student-focused retreats or service opportunities. Her interactions with students in these instances, or even in the hallways between classes, have borne much fruit and given her confidence for the future of the Church, she said.
She recalled how the day after teaching one of her Church history classes, she was approached by a student. “She told me she had thought a lot about Church history on the school bus going home. Her eyes lit up as she made connections with the faith, the people and events we’ve learned, and the point of it all.”
“Having her take my teaching to heart just proves that through the yuck and the suffering that happens still in the world, the Church can be encountered in any era and will live on be perfected,” Schoening said.
Dr. Lee DelleMonache, diocesan director of religious education and co-leader of the ECHO program along with Donna Ottaviano-Britt, director of the Diocese of Camden’s Office of Discipleship and Leadership, said the passionate faith and witness of the ECHO apprentices can be “catalysts for high school students in their own faith journeys.”
“When they see somebody not too far from being their own age, who has such a beautiful faith and love for Christ, there’s so much potential to positively influence the faith development of students. The ECHO program is a gift for the Church of South Jersey,” she said.
Fully devoted to her faith, MacLeod now focuses on laying a firm foundation in South Jersey’s Catholic Schools, just as her roommate did for her not so long ago.
“The world is presenting youth with terrible, evil things, and the response should be to present them with the truth,” she said.
at the bottom and then tap “Add to Home Screen”
