August 6, 2010
People of Faith
Seeing students get excited about faith is what it’s all about
BY STEVE HALBIG
The People of Faith feature is compiled by Steve Halbig, who asks a series of questions of people of the diocese — some who have reached the “age of wisdom” and some who are younger. All will share stories of faith.
Mike Roesch is the 27-year-old campus minister at the University of Evansville Newman Center. Following are some of his insights into the life of young adults.
What is the best part of your job? Seeing students really start to get excited about their faith for the first time. College is a time in life when it’s very easy to completely ignore your relationship with God, but it’s also a time when we are deeply influenced by our peers and make decisions that really affect us for the rest of our lives. It’s amazing to see students really want to dig deeper in their faith lives and find something more.
What is the hardest part of your job? Trying to keep a good balance in my life to make time for me.
Who has been a big influence in your life? Aside from family, many of my college and graduate school professors have really left a mark on me. My friends are also a huge influence, as I don’t think I could do what I do without all their support and example in living a life centered in Christ as young adults.
Who do you consider to be the best role models today? Many of our priests and religious are wonderful role models, and young people will always look to family and friends as well. I think most unique for today’s young people is the need to see others who aren’t that much older than them, and who have had the same struggles they have not so long ago, living lives of faith.
What do you like most about being Catholic? There are so many things! I think what I value most at the present is the Sacramental view of the world that we have received from the rich Tradition of the Church. It’s what gives real meaning to our entire being, as well as to creation as a whole.
Of those things that are possible to change in the Catholic Church, what would you change? Hans Urs von Balthasar wrote that truth, goodness, and beauty are inseparably related, and because of that, when we abandon beauty we forget how to pray and, eventually, how to love. I believe it is essential to restore beauty in the Church — in how we celebrate the Liturgy, in sacred music, and in sacred architecture. This isn’t to say that we need to turn back the clock to some golden age, but we do need to ask the question of how what we do conveys the true depth of the Mysteries of the Faith.
I would also restore some of the devotions that my generation never experienced growing up, such as Corpus Christi processions and May crownings, as well as celebrating new ones on a wider scale. One of the reasons youth often don’t stay active in the Church is that they lack the sense of a communal Catholic identity that is taken for granted by their parents or grandparents. Things like those devotions helped build up that identity in previous generations.
If you could make one change in your community, what would it be? I’ve only lived in Evansville for a year and a half, so I don’t think I can really answer that question yet. I would like for it to be less humid, though.
Any regrets in life? Looking back on my own college experience, I really wish I had been more involved across the board, and especially with campus religious groups.
Tell us a few more things about yourself: I’m originally from Mount Vernon, Ill. I studied Political Science and Theology at Notre Dame, then earned my Master of Theological Studies degree, concentrated in biotechnology and ethics, from the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family. Before coming to Evansville, I had work experience as a substitute high school teacher, as well as a couple stints working in politics. I am very happy to be away from both of those worlds!
What do you do in your spiritual life that you would recommend to others? I don’t get to it as often as I should, but I love the Liturgy of the Hours. I’d especially like to see more parishes celebrate it communally with music. I also find many aspects of the spirituality of the Eastern Rites of the Church very fulfilling, such as icons, the Jesus Prayer, the general sense of mysticism, and the way their devotion to the Blessed Virgin is woven into their liturgies.
What is your best wisdom on life? I’m a collector of quotations, so my best answer is to quote someone else. G.K. Chesterton: “The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man.”
Contact Steve at shalbig@evdio.org