An epidemic of faith hit the University of California system in this spring semester as the University of California at Berkeley hosted hundreds of UC students for the first University of California Catholic Conference. The event was held earlier in the spring semester and hosted by the Paulist-run Newman Hall-Holy Spirit Parish at the University of California at Berkeley.

The event featured fellowship, worship and intellect building. On hand were well-known speakers and worship-leaders Paul J. Kim and Jackie François, and Father Michael Dodds, OP, who spoke on how a university student can keep critical thinking alive while being true to our Catholic tradition.

Two Catholic Berkeley professors also sounded the theme of critical thinking and tenacious faith. Stephen Justice, an English professor, and Carl Van Bibben a nuclear engineering professor, led a tag team workshop was that challenged students to not turn their brain off when it comes to faith, and not turn their belief off when it comes to campus interactions. Other workshops included, “Apologetics 101: Why We Do What We Do When We Do”; “Water: A Sacred Trust”; and Mass Effect: Liturgy and the New Evangelization.”

University of California Catholic Conference student leaders pose for a photo.

“Professor Stephen Justice talked about how to live an intellectual life, and not just be a glorified technician that knows a lot about one subject,” said Anne Morse, a fourth year student at Berkeley and president of Berkeley Students for Life. “The way you think influences your life and the way you live influences the way you think.”

For UC Davis junior Shawn MeKong, the conference was “a place for Catholics who are on fire for Christ to come together and have new ideas and to encourage each other in the faith and to show the face of Jesus Christ to each other.”

“This has surpassed my expectations,” he said. “I met new friends.  I learned about the challenges of the other campus ministers, and I got to share mine.  I feel more encouraged to share my faith on campus.  And I can anticipate some downhill things, but I know that with adoration and the mass that God is with me in all the struggles of being a minister.”

The first University of California Catholic Conference drew a large crowd.

And the conference wasn’t just for students, either. Father Paul Rospond, CSP, associate director of the University Catholic Center at UCLA and Berkeley’s Father Bill Edens were “a supportive presence for this student-led student event,” according to Father Edens. “We and the six other Catholic campus ministers at the conference joined for our own intellectual and spiritual sustenance on Saturday afternoon while the students sampled ‘experiences’ of service that were planned in advance and that involved local ministries and social services.”

Christian Blanco, a grad student studying environmental economics at UCLA who graduated from Berkeley last year, said the nature walk and water workshop motivated him “to use my professional training to care for the environment.”

“It gives me a deeper motivation to develop my career,” he said. “This is an oasis in the desert in connecting with God.”

Father Bill Edens, CSP, is the campus minister at Newman Hall-Holy Spirit Parish at the University of California, Berkeley.