One of the greatest challenges facing the Catholic Church (and all Christian churches in America for that matter) is keeping young believers active and engaged in the faith during their college years and beyond. It's an all too familiar and distressing to hear stories of those raised in faith who drift away during the critical years following high school. Some eventually do return to the church--often as a result of marriage and children--but many do not and find themselves separated from God and permanently of the secular world.
It's encouraging to learn that their are groups out there working to keep young people on the right path. Groups like Saint Paul's Outreach:
Saint Paul's Outreach was founded in 1985 by a group of Catholic young adults who felt a calling to help college students live out their Catholic faith. Over the past 25 years, thousands of students--enrolled at the University of St. Thomas, the University of Minnesota, the Ohio State University, Benedictine College, and Seton Hall University, along with many other universities--have come alive in their faith through the ministry of Saint Paul's Outreach. More than 125 alumni serve the Catholic Church as priests, religious, seminarians or novices, while others serve as teachers, business people, and lay leaders in the Church. Hundreds of others have gone on to experience fruitful marriages committed to raising their children with deep faith and strong character.
