Senior JP O’Brien and Junior Zack Weiss introduce speaker Ms. Joseph Paul to the students who have attended the DFW Catholic Student Summit. Photo by Emily Ashman
As the fall reading day drew to a close, about 100 students from the University of Dallas gathered to attend the Catholic Student Summit in Victoria Park.
From 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Catholic young adults from UD, Southern Methodist University, and the University of North Texas gathered to play court games. Joseph Paul and lift their souls to God with some praise and worship, led by Junior Pastoral Major Zach Weiss.
Dylan Steward, a newcomer to the Pre-Architecture Track, says, “I think the biggest thing I got from the event is that I realized that other students our age have the same level of love in the area to have God. I have a feeling that sometimes we tend to focus on people who are in our own school, but we forget about all the other people who have the same interest and love for God. “
This particular event is a new concept first discussed by John Paul O’Brien, the senior pastoral major, and Weiss at a meeting of the staff of the Lord’s Vineyard.
The original idea was to invite students from the SMU Catholic Student Center to build strong relationships between the two communities based on the fire of the Catholic faith; it was soon expanded to include UNT, TCU, UTD, Baylor, and a few others.
When they turned to the respective Catholic student management of these institutions, this was positively received. Although the Diocese of Dallas did not officially sponsor this event, it offered its full support.
“I think a lot of students were starving for this, especially COVID … several communities struggled to get back on track,” said O’Brien. “So we said we do it: we do it together, we host it ourselves – we are the Catholic school! Why not?!”
As official organizers of the event, Weiss and O’Brien organized the logistical side of the affairs, such as renting out the meeting rooms and inviting the UD chaplain to speak. With the full support of the other universities, they faced few challenges.
The UD student attendance at the event outnumbered any other university. Several connections and opportunities to pray, live, and serve the Church were made among Catholic and non-Catholic students in the DFW area.
During a meeting of the Catholic student management in November, discussions are held about the possibility of monthly summits in the next semester. Other ideas to be discussed are the different host institutions and the variety of speakers.
“We see young adults in Dallas who are extremely passionate about their faith, seek active, conscious fellowship for their faith, and embrace this evangelical zeal for mission and charity,” said O’Brien. “Today we have the opportunity to make a lasting impact at UD or Dallas as a whole … I look forward to the future, I look forward to the Summit, and I look forward to the Church.”
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