The Catholic University of America (CUA) reported this week that 14 of its community members joined the Catholic Church during the Easter Vigil Mass at Saint Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Washington, D.C.
In an article for CUA, Kyrien Keeton wrote about the conversions of students Nicholas Hehl and Malorie Brody, who enrolled at CUA when they were not religious.
Hehl told her, “I would see the cross in my great grandmother’s house, and think: ‘I don’t know who that is. My mom would say, ‘that’s Jesus on the cross.’”
Hehl was drawn to CUA’s musical theater program, but during his first semester, he felt called to convert during a powerful prayer experience at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. He attributed his conversion to the prayers of a fellow student.
“She prayed to God, asking that He would touch my heart, and He did,” he said.
Brody also entered CUA as a nonreligious student, transferring from Salisbury University after a lacrosse injury left her at “one of the lowest points of her life,” she told Keeton.
“And it was the best decision I’ve ever really made,” she said. “I say that all the time, to anybody who asks me.”
A class called the “Philosophy of God” and another class on Saints Francis and Clare of Assisi inspired her to convert, and she mentioned that priests at the college accompanied her on her path to entering the Church.
These two students entered the Church on the Easter Vigil, April 4, alongside 20 other converts and catechumens, 12 of whom were from CUA, at Saint Anthony of Padua Catholic Church.
Hehl took Saint Michael the Archangel as his confirmation saint and told Keeton that he hopes to begin altar serving at the basilica.
Brody took St. Clare as her confirmation saint and told Keeton that she is most excited about receiving Jesus in the Eucharist.