The first Sunday of college doesn’t come with much fanfare.
After orientation events, late-night conversations, and the excitement of finally unpacking the dorm room, Sunday morning arrives quietly. The alarm goes off. No one knocks on the bedroom door. No parent offers the reminder it’s time to leave. No family piles into the car.
For the first time, the decision to attend Mass belongs entirely to the student.
For many Catholic students, this can be a crossroads moment, one that marks the first significant step toward developing a personal, conscious, adult faith or the beginning of a journey down a different path.
For Serena Keller, 21, who attends Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia, that first Sunday affirmed her own commitment rather than her parents’ encouragement.
“The first Sunday I chose to go to Mass without my parents was at the beginning of my freshman year of college,” Keller recalled. “I think that choice really showed me that my faith is my own responsibility to cultivate. Throughout my college life, going to Mass and deepening my faith has impacted me in so many ways, helping me grow in discipline, keeping me accountable, and giving guidance and direction to every area
