Where can a busy student go to escape the noise of campus life, to find rest for his or her soul, comfort in troubles, peace in the midst of a thousand anxieties?
Philadelphia-area Catholic high school and college students may soon be finding the perfect haven right in their own schools.
Plans are underway to launch a pilot program for establishing eucharistic adoration on college campuses and high schools throughout the Archdiocese — and eventually throughout the country.
The program, called the Eucharistic Evangelization Ministry (EEM) was begun in Ireland by Cahal Magee, a long-time friend of Cardinal Justin Rigali. At the invitation of the Cardinal Newman Society, Magee was able to come to the United States and present his idea to the Cardinal.
“Given the fact that I knew Cardinal Rigali very well, and knowing of his own personal devotion and commitment to the Eucharist, I knew this would be the best place to start,” Magee said.
“I introduced the idea to the Cardinal with a view to promoting eucharistic adoration in schools and colleges throughout the United States,” he said. “I head up the apostolate in Ireland, and Cardinal Rigali was the first person I thought of contacting with the idea of bringing this apostolate to the United States; I was aware that there were a lot of Catholic Universities and high schools in the area, and other public universities where Newman Centers have been established.”
The program was officially unveiled Feb. 8 by the Office of Catechetical Formation at the Drexel University Newman Center, and was attended by campus ministers and chaplains from schools throughout the area.
Father Martin T. Cioppi, Deputy Secretary of the Office for Catechetical Formation, told those who attended: “As Catholic schools of hope, give our young people the Bread for which they hunger. Help them to enter more deeply the mysteries of Christ, and teach them that the answers to many of their questions can be found before the Blessed Sacrament.”
Father Cioppi has first-hand experience with just how hungry young people are for the kind of personal relationship with Jesus Christ that can be formed during time spent before the Eucharist.
“I visited the University of Dallas recently, whose campus ministry program is staffed by an order of Cistercians,” Father Cioppi said. “We visited a small reservation chapel on campus that was so packed with students, you could hardly move. I was touched by the silence and the reverence of these students. It really strengthened my resolve to promote adoration of the Blessed Sacrament on Catholic campuses and within the Newman apostolate.”
The eucharistic evangelization program is not difficult to start. It begins with “a small amount of preparation and a large amount of enthusiasm,” the handbook says.
After acquiring the necessary permission from priests responsible for a campus chapel, the faculty, staff or students who agree to organize the program contact the EEM to arrange a date for a representative to visit the campus. When a date has been set, arrangements are made for a special Mass or prayer meeting open to all students on the campus.
During this evangelization meeting and Mass, the students are told about the immense love Jesus has for them, and how He can work wonders in their lives. Cards with the invitation, “Come Pray with Me,” are distributed with refreshments, and students have an opportunity to speak with the EEM representative.
A core group is formed to follow through on all that is needed for regular exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at the school.
Much like perpetual adoration programs in parishes, the campus programs require hourly coordinators and schedules, which conform to the school’s hours. Students commit to spending one hour a week with the Blessed Sacrament, and are organized so that the exposed Eucharist is never left alone.
The Cardinal attended the Feb. 8 meeting to share his reflections about the Eucharist.
“Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is an extension of that eucharistic Presence, body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ made present during the sacrifice of the Mass,” he said. “Adoration of the Eucharist changes our lives, giving us true perspective in our relationship with the Trinity and strengthening our resolve to live out our faith daily.”
As Father Cioppi said during his homily, the task of those who have discovered Jesus is to rise to a new challenge: to demonstrate the essential value of the Eucharist to those who are lost in a culture of distraction and falsehood.
“None of this is easy,” he said. “When we, ourselves, consume this Blessed Sacrament, we have to allow Him to consume us in the culture in which we live. Our young people hunger for the wheat of divine love, and we desire, by our own eucharistic devotion, to feed them the Bread come down from heaven.
For more information about this program, contact the Office for Catechetical Formation 215-587-4544.

Contact Susan Brinkmann at fiat723@aol.com or (215) 965-4615.