Good Morning: A glance around campus shows religion is overlooked along with other responsibilities
By Ben Fisher, March 13, 2009
It was Ash Wednesday two weeks ago and beautiful outside. People were walking out of churches and cathedrals all over the world with palm ash brushed across their foreheads. They were welcoming the 40 days of repentance they will undergo during the Christian Lent.
Yet, it was 2:05 p.m. on a bench a Franklin College, a college with religious leanings, and I was still waiting to see a marked head.
Now, while it’s true that not all denominations of Christianity celebrate Ash Wednesday - in fact, some theologians have implied that it may be a leftover pagan tradition - many do.
Even given the college’s Baptist beginnings, there are now more Catholic students on Franklin’s campus than of any other denomination of Christianity.
Given this, it’s odd that I saw so few marked heads walking the sidewalks that day – the count is now two.
Perhaps they had not been able to make it to Mass, since the service offered by the school’s chapel was held at noon, in the middle of most students’ school day. But then I began to ask around.
Out of the six students I asked, knowing they were Catholics, two said they were planning on going to Mass. Of those, both agreed that they were not regular churchgoers during the school year and mainly attended Mass on the Church’s Holy Days of Obligation.
This brings into question the place that religion holds in the lives of college students who, for their entire lives, have practiced their religions regularly and faithfully. Maybe it’s because a college student’s schedule is so haphazard and hectic that they are unable to set aside time for Mass.
Or perhaps, in a world where the religious messages behind “The Passion of the Christ” were washed over by big screen hype and arguments over its superstar director’s character flaws and Bill Maher’s “Religulous” gains critical and public acclaim, religion has become more of a novelty item. Something best left to the attention of the “professionals” in Hollywood.
I think, though, that the apparent overlooking of religion of the average college student is because the student’s attitude toward college; they see it as just a vacation. You’re in school, but you’re able to do whatever you want. The real world can wait. Responsibility, consideration, and faith all seem to be just as easily procrastinated on as that assignment you have due on Monday.
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Catholics aren't the only group of people where not everyone goes to church. I feel this article, while trying to say something important, unfairly targets Catholics over other groups who were not interviewed.
Catholics aren't the only group of people where not everyone goes to church. I feel this article, while trying to say something important, unfairly targets Catholics over other groups who were not interviewed.
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