Father Richard A. Miserendino had a problem.
As chaplain of Catholic Campus Ministry at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, he noticed that no students were coming to see him at 10 a.m.
So, he decided to go see them.
“Basically, I pop down at the campus coffee shop a few days each week and park myself at one of the tables outside,” said Father Miserendino. “I usually spend about two hours there, and while I sit, I have my simple sign taped to the back of my laptop telling students I’m open for conversation. I also put two chairs on the other side of the table to signal to people that they’re welcome to sit and join me.”
The sign on the laptop says, “I’m a Catholic priest. Feel free to ask me a question or say hello or chat if you’d like! Have a great day!”
Despite initial concerns that having a public presence might meet with resistance or hostility on a secular campus of 4,000 students, the coffee shop ministry has been a smashing success.
“Would some young firebrand come up and try to roast me? Would the campus police shoo me away? None of that happened,” said Father Miserendino. “No one has ever said an unkind word. The faculty and staff are generally supportive. We’ve even got a few people in (religious education classes) because of it.”
In a typical two-hour session, Father Miserendino estimates that eight to 12 students will sit down to chat.
“One young woman was Jewish but not practicing,” he said. “She was headed to Rome to study abroad and wanted to know all about this ‘Catholic thing’ that had shaped the world. I got to share with her the God who is true, good and beautiful. Another young man asked me, “ ‘What gives you satisfaction in life.?’ I got to tell him about Jesus. I had a one-and-a-half-hour conversation with a student who identified as transgender about God and gender. I don’t think I won him over, but we parted as friends and now he knows at least one priest who knows his name, that God doesn’t hate him, and that the church isn’t out to get him.”
Killian Petty admits he was surprised when saw Father sitting there with his laptop at the beginning of the semester. “I had just gotten out of my finance class and was in dire need of some caffeine, so I thought I’d head over to the café,” said Petty, who is Catholic but had never been confirmed. “So, I saw this priest with the sign on his laptop saying, ‘I’m a Catholic priest. Feel free to talk to me.’ And I thought, I’m going to take him up on that. He asked me all about myself and extended an invitation to come by and work something out.”
Petty is now awaiting confirmation and is an active member of the Catholic community at UMW. “Father Rich is so full of life and ready to start a conversation with anyone,” said Petty, who compares UMW to “any public university focused on individuality and post-modern ideas. We even have a pagan celebration called Devil Goat Day.”
Petty also experienced the impact of coffee shop evangelism when a female student approached him and Father Miserendino sitting outside the café. “She was not Catholic, but she just came up and said, ‘Father, would you pray for me? I’m really struggling right now,’ ” said Petty. “Father just sat there and listened to her as she confided about how much she was hurting. He helped her to feel seen, and heard, and we all sat there and prayed together.”
The positive response to Father Miserendino’s café ministry may not be all that surprising. The model is the evangelism of Jesus.
“We are the parish,” said Father Miserendino. “We carry it and Christ in our heart wherever we go. What are the ways we can be intentionally welcoming to the parish even before the people darken its door? Are we fishing where the fish are? Are we present in the center of town? Jesus made us fishers of men. I can’t think of a single fisherman who wouldn’t move his boat if he knew the fish were elsewhere.”
