He sees it in the students filling the pews on Sunday, in the lines for confession, in the Bible studies drawing hundreds of young people each week. He sees it in the faces of students who are, as he puts it, seriously seeking the Lord.

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“The numbers of students who are coming to Mass, going to confession, participating in Bible studies, and trying to live out their faith is overwhelming and beautiful. Coming into a place where the Spirit is actively at work was amazing, especially in the realization that I did nothing to make this movement happen — but am being called to participate in God’s work as a new priest in service to college students.”

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That sense of being invited into something God was already doing has shaped everything about his first year.

 

One moment has stayed with him above all others. It was the first weekend students returned to campus in August. Mass was filled to the brim, dozens of people standing in the back, the church alive with a hunger that was almost palpable.

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Standing before that crowd, Fr. Chris found himself thinking of a passage from Matthew’s Gospel — the image of Jesus seeing the crowds who had come to him troubled and abandoned, “like sheep without a shepherd.”

 

“I realized that the Catholic Noles staff, FOCUS missionaries, Bishop Wack, Fr. Tim, and I are their shepherds. It was a humbling moment — as are so many more in the confessional, at our retreats, or in simple conversations after Mass.”

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Throughout the year, Fr. Chris has met one-on-one with students at every point on the faith journey: seekers who have had little experience of the Church, non-Catholic Christians drawn by curiosity, returning Catholics trying to live their faith more deeply, and students already striving for greater holiness. Each conversation has surprised him.

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“In these countless meetings, I have been overwhelmed by the seriousness with which young people are seeking the Lord.”

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Nowhere has that seriousness been more evident — or more formative for Fr. Chris himself — than in the confessional. It is a ministry he came to as a new priest in a profound way. Before last summer, he noted with characteristic candor, all the confessions he had attended had been his own.

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“Every person who comes to receive God’s mercy has their own unique circumstances of life. The confessional is a graced and very delicate place.”

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And an unexpected one for his own growth. Hearing students’ confessions — their honesty, their desire for mercy, their determination to keep trying — has become a mirror for him.

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“The faith shared by the students coming to confession serves as a personal examination of conscience and a call for me to continue to grow in my own pursuit of holiness.”

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Fr. Chris understands why this season of life matters so much. College, he says, is a crossroads — a time when decisions, for good or ill, can shape the entire arc of a life. He remembers the weight of those questions from his own young adulthood, the uncertainty, the searching.

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“Drawing from that experience and remembering God’s fidelity in those moments and throughout my life has proven to be a source of counsel — I hope.”

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What he did not expect was how much the students themselves would teach him. Their zeal has stretched him. Their evangelical instinct — so often sparked and shaped by the work of the FOCUS missionaries — has challenged him to grow.

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“The students and missionaries inspire me to a greater witness and a deeper personal desire for holiness. I am amazed by the fidelity and zeal of our students.”

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Now stepping into the role of Acting Director of Campus Ministry, Fr. Chris carries one clear hope for Catholic Noles: that it will be, for every student who walks through its doors, a place of refuge.

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“I am hoping that college students can find a place of consolation in the midst of a turbulent world at Catholic Noles. A refuge of faith where they can be comforted in any difficulties they face and be challenged to grow ever deeper in faith and spiritual maturity.”

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And to the families, alumni, donors, and friends whose prayers and generosity make this ministry possible, Fr. Chris offered a simple, direct word of thanks.

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“Thank you so much for your prayers for our young people. They give me so much hope, and the Lord is actively working within this generation. We need your prayers and ongoing financial support to keep this mission alive and to properly meet the many demands of college ministry at Florida State University.”

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The Spirit is at work, and Fr. Chris Holcomb is grateful to be part of it.