With educational and spiritual roots planted deeply in the Diocese of Camden’s Catholic schools, it is little wonder Roger McCurdy wants to pass on his faith to another generation of believers.
The 24-year-old, who currently serves as a missionary with Saint Paul’s Outreach at Texas State University in San Marcos, was eager to explain how sharing his faith with the students enriches his own relationship with God.
“My dad raised me as a Catholic, and my Catholic school education set a good foundation in faith,” McCurdy noted. The 2015 graduate of Saint Mary School, Williamstown, and communicant of that town’s Our Lady of Peace Parish, continued, “I liked that we could pray in class, and I felt comfortable at a young age living out my faith. The first time I knew that faith was the most important thing in my life was junior high.”
While he continued his Catholic education in Paul VI High School, Haddonfield, McCurdy reinforced his relationship with God, citing a trip to the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis as “a milestone of faith.” Upon his high school graduation in 2019, Catholic education still beckoned; he chose Seton Hall University, South Orange, to pursue his studies, earning a bachelor’s degree in business administration, sports and IT Management in 2023.
While enrolled at Seton Hall, McCurdy attended Mass daily and soon found Saint Paul’s Outreach, a nonprofit that operates missional communities on campuses and universities throughout the country. SPO’s mission statement reveals they aim to form lifelong disciples in the Catholic faith and “train full-time missionaries and student leaders to build these communities – communities that reach out and invite college students and young adults into a transformative encounter with Christ, into deep relationship with Him and with His people … into a lifelong adventure of mission.”
McCurdy found a way to express his Catholic faith, joining the SPO staff at Texas State University, San Marcos, in June 2023.
“I knew I needed to stay rooted in faith and the sacraments or nothing I do matters. I knew I needed to lead people to Christ; if not, what does that make me?”
He described how the career was a natural outgrowth of his life of faith thus far.
“We pray together, say the Liturgy of the Hours together, have dinner together,” he said of staff and the university students. “We bring more people into the life of faith by the way we live. My main goal is to make missionary disciples for life, invite them to pray to the Lord, and make Jesus and God and our faith the number one priority.”
McCurdy has advice for others exploring their career paths, advice that echoes his Catholic roots first planted in the Diocese of Camden.
“Pray,” the Catholic evangelist stated firmly. “The main thing is that you can read Scripture every day, pray the Rosary and increase your relationship with God. The Holy Spirit is alive and moving through the Church, you can feel it poking in your life.”
“This work challenges me, it is best for me. I am happier than I have ever been, and am able to love people more deeply because I love God more deeply,” he said.
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