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In love with campus ministry

Dave Borowski | Catholic Herald

Fr. Peter Nassetta is chaplain and director of the Catholic Campus Ministry at George Mason University in Fairfax.

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“I love it here,” said Father Peter Nassetta, chaplain and
director of George Mason University Catholic Campus Ministry.
Since 2000, the 52-year-old Youth Apostle priest has been
attending to the spiritual needs of students at the Fairfax
university.

The St. Robert Bellarmine Chapel and the Catholic Campus
Ministry offices are located on Roberts Road. You can see the
“Welcome to George Mason University” sign from the chapel
entrance. Although the campus ministry is not an official
part of George Mason and not on university property, it has a
profound influence on the lives of Catholic students there.

Working with youths was something that Father Nassetta has
wanted to do since he was an undergraduate at George Mason.

“I fell in love with campus ministry,” said Father Nassetta.
“(The students) live here. You can be a part of their lives.
Being a part of their lives you can build a relationship (to
begin) to share the Gospel.”

He grew up in Annandale where his family attended St. Michael
Parish.

“You never missed Mass,” Father Nassetta said.

The Nassettas were faithful Catholics, but there was no push
for him to be a priest. His parents sent him to public
schools. He attended Chapel Square and Pine Ridge elementary
schools in Annandale and Luther Jackson Intermediate School
in Falls Church.

He went to Falls Church High School and after graduating in
1977, he enrolled at George Mason in the business management
program.

At college he was a regular student – going out with friends
to places like the Birchemere Music Hall in Alexandria to
drink and to listen to one of his favorite country rock
groups, the North Star Band.

He was active in student government and Republican politics,
but he also was involved in the campus pro-life movement,
something he continues to this day.

In 1980 he was invited by a friend to meet some members of
the Youth Apostles Institute. Youth Apostles was founded in
1979 by Eduardo Azcarate. Its mission is to inspire young
people to live heroic and saintly lives.

“I met a group of Catholics my age who were trying to live
out their faith. It moved me,” said Father Nassetta.

He was ready to leave behind a life of partying for the life
of a Youth Apostle.

He went to a Youth Apostle meeting, which were held every
Tuesday night. That was also the night he went out with his
friends, but Youth Apostles slowly won out.

When he graduated in 1981 he went to work for the National
Pro-life Political Action Committee and became more involved
in politics. But he still was active in Youth Apostles and
continued to attend weekly meetings.

In 1983, after a Youth Apostle retreat based on the spiritual
exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, he felt God was calling
him to the priesthood, but he was still reticent to accept
the call.

Father Nassetta quoted from the prophet Jeremiah, “But the
Lord answered me, Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ To whomever I
send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall
speak.”

“I knew I was supposed to be a priest,” he said.

Because of his work with Youth Apostles, he wanted to
continue service to young people. He tried, unsuccessfully,
to guarantee a post-seminary role with Youth Apostles. A
circuitous route had him as a seminarian sponsored by the
diocese of the Virgin Islands, but he eventually settled at
Mount St. Mary Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md. He had no
guarantee of a ministry with Youth Apostles, but he trusted
in the Lord.

He was ordained in 1989 and for five years was a parish
priest at Good Shepherd and Queen of Apostles churches in
Alexandria and St. Bernadette Church in Springfield. During
that time he remained active in Youth Apostles.

In 1994, Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde appointed him as
chaplain of Marymount University in Arlington. He was there
for six years in a position he loved.

In 2000 the bishop asked him to be chaplain and director of
the campus ministry at George Mason, taking over for Father
Robert C. Cilinski. He reluctantly accepted the position but
knew service at George Mason would be different than at a
Catholic university. At Marymount he was part of the
university staff, at George Mason he would be separate from
the school administration.

It’s been a ministry that he’s grown and that has become very
popular.

“It’s growing faster than the university,” he said.

The campus ministry tends to the spiritual need of its
community, of course, but it also helps students have fun.

A memorable event took place this year. During Mason
International Week, the ministry’s co-ed soccer team,
representing the Vatican, won the soccer championship. The
win brought an unexpected kudos.

Father Nassetta proudly displays a letter of congratulations
from the late Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio, that
in part reads, “On this wonderful occasion, it is my special
honor to convey to Father Nassetta and to each of you the
warm greetings heartfelt congratulations and spiritual
closeness of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.”

The ability to change young lives – and to win kudos from the
pope – keeps Father Nassetta working and growing the Catholic
ministry at George Mason.

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