“Feast of faith” at St. John’s Catholic Newman Center
Over 500 gather with Bishop Louis Tylka for Mass in U of I’s St. John’s Catholic Chapel to kick off “Catholic Illini Feast Week” on Oct. 6. “Feast Week” honors St. John the Evangelist, patron of the Newman Center Chapel, and St. John Henry Newman. (St. John’s Catholic Newman Center/Grace Beumler)
By Grace Beumler, St. John’s Catholic Newman Center
CHAMPAIGN – St. John’s Catholic Newman Center at the University of Illinois marked the beginning of their “Catholic Illini Feast Week” on Sunday, Oct. 6 with Mass celebrated by Bishop Louis Tylka.
“Jesus desires to be with us,” Bishop Louis Tylka said. “He comes intimately into the world so that each of us can have the experience of God’s love.”
The week-long Feast Week celebration honors both of the Newman Center’s patrons: St. John the Evangelist, patron of the Chapel, and St. John Henry Newman, the saint whose vision and legacy inspired Newman Centers on public university campuses around the world.
Over 500 members of the Catholic Illini community gathered for the 10:30 AM Mass celebrated by Bishop Tylka and concelebrated by director and head chaplain Father Lee Brokaw, and assistant chaplains Father Matthew Hoelscher and Father Alexander Millar.
During his homily, Bishop Tylka reminded students that to be a disciple of Christ, like St. John the Evangelist, they must first seek an encounter with Jesus and then unite their lives to his.
Bishop Tylka greets students after Mass at U of I’s St. John’s Catholic Chapel on Oct. 6. (St. John’s Catholic Newman Center/Grace Beumler)
“Jesus desires to be with us,” Bishop Tylka said. “He comes intimately into the world so that each of us can have the experience of God’s love.”
FEAST WEEK BUSY WITH BLESSINGS
Festivities continued after Mass with an outdoor brunch reception hosted at the Rectory Lawn across from St. John’s Chapel.
Further Feast Week celebrations included a Rosary Rally to pray for campus at the Alma Mater statue, a gathering of Catholic Illini students for a meal and a short talk entitled “Heart Speaks to Heart” inspired by St. John Henry Newman’s motto “Cor ad cor loquitur,” and special Masses for St. John Henry Newman’s feast day on Wednesday, October 9.
The week concludes with a 10:30 a.m. Mass on Sunday, Oct. 13, a eucharistic procession on campus, and a picnic at The Yard.
