by Olivia Martin-Davies
olivia.martin@theleaven.org
LENEXA — Last Easter saw an unprecedented wave of college-aged students enter the Catholic Church across the nation.
Locally, 64 students joined at the St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas in Lawrence and 30 at Benedictine College in Atchison. Further afield, 92 joined at St. Isidore’s Catholic Student Center at Kansas State University in Manhattan.
“We have so many vibrant Catholic centers on college campuses,” said Isabelle Connealy, a St. James Academy, Lenexa, alumna and a sophomore at K-State. “Then we send [students] home [for the summer], and there’s no ministry.
“That’s really hard because you go from a context where everything is so vibrant and alive to nothing.”
So, she decided to propose a solution. It’s called Via Laete, which is Latin for “go joyfully.”
Via Laete is a Kansas City-based summer group for Catholic college students. Connealy and Kate McKinzie, also a St. James alumna and a junior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, launched the group mid-May. They met once a week through the beginning of August and participated in a different activity each time.
“We played sand volleyball the first week, [then] had a World Cup watch party, a rosary and board game night, a pasta and paint night,” said Connealy.
Other events included eucharistic adoration and a tea party, hosted by male members of the group.
“The tea party [was] the best thing ever,” said Connealy. “The guys wanted to plan it, which was just so awesome.
“They hosted it at one of their houses, they baked everybody treats, they escorted the girls to the door. It was amazing.”
Connealy and McKinzie started an Instagram account to promote the group and a GroupMe to communicate event details. They amassed over 130 people in the GroupMe — including some students from Chicago, Iowa and Nebraska who were in the area for summer internships. Connealy said 15-20 people came to each week’s event.
“I’m honestly amazed at how many people have come,” said Connealy. “We’ve had new people at pretty much every event.”
Many of them came without knowing anyone else.
Lucy Dreiling, an incoming freshman at Benedictine, was one of them.
“I’m close with my grandma who lives in Shawnee. Her neighbor is super Catholic and her son is in Via Laete . . . and he added me to the GroupMe,” said Dreiling.
“My first event was the World Cup watch party, and I remember being so nervous on the way there,” she said. “Once I got there, it was so fun and I almost lost my voice because I was talking for so long.
“I just had so many fruitful conversations.”
Dreiling is a brand-new Catholic. She was baptized and confirmed at St. Joseph Church in Shawnee this April, just ahead of her high school graduation.
“Because I’m a convert and I don’t live with anyone who’s a practicing Catholic, it can feel kind of isolating for me sometimes, and it can feel hard to try to navigate keeping the faith,” she said.
Dreiling hasn’t found a home parish yet, but because of Via Laete she has found a home.
“It’s really beautiful to be part of a community and a little family that’s young people who are also Catholic and just trying to figure out the world like I am,” she said.
McKinzie agreed.
“I believe strongly in having a part of your community where others share your same state of life — people who feel like you are in this together with similar current experiences,” she said.
Dreiling said even though the event changed every week, she loved how Via Laete always set aside time for prayer. She hopes that in future years the group will become a place for college students to rediscover their Catholic faith.
“Especially for people who may have fallen away from the faith,” she said, “I think it’s a great way to dip your toes back into the water.
“They do a great job of having fun and keeping it all about the faith.”
For more information, follow Via Laete on Instagram.
