Forming college students to live in community with Christ and one another is the mission and the reality of campus ministry offered by Mendota Heights-based St. Paul’s Outreach.

Peter DeMarais

As summer wanes and fall classes begin at universities around the country, Peter DeMarais, regional director of SPO, spoke about the ministry with “Practicing Catholic” radio show host Patrick Conley for a program debuting 9 p.m. Sept. 26 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM.

“Young people, when they head off to college, when they head off away from home, they’re assaulted with a whole variety of options, a whole variety of ways of living that really press on them, and tell them certain ways to live,” DeMarias said. “(Often) they’re not places of light and of hope and of joy. Oftentimes, they’re places of sadness and separation.”

The situation in campuses across the country calls for those who are close to Christ to be “great witnesses and great examples, to be burning torches in the darkness,” DeMarais said.

SPO encourages students to form households of prayer and mission that invite other young people to join the community, DeMarais said. Sharing meals and other aspects of daily living can help students restore “every aspect of their lives, to be centered around the Lord and around relationships with each other,” he said.

That kind of living can be challenging in today’s culture, DeMarais said. “There’s a certain art to living, to resting, to relating, to praying well,” he said. “When done well, (it) is a beautiful expression of our lives.”

SPO ministers invite college students to join them in living Christian lives through simple interactions, social events, sports and other opportunities, DeMarais said.

In the conversation with Conley, DeMarias talks about some of the similarities and differences in SPO’s ministry to students in the Twin Cities at the University of Minnesota and the University of St. Thomas. To hear more, tune into “Practicing Catholic,” which repeats at 1 p.m. Aug. 27 and 2 p.m. Aug. 28. Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes interviews Relevant Radio’s Father Francis Hoffman, widely known as “Father Rocky,” and Karin Freihammer, who describe the station’s Christ Brings Hope fundraising banquet, which will offer up to $300,000 in matching funds for local Catholic schools; and a reprised interview with Catholic Beer Club coordinators Tim Cahill and Nestor Arguello, who share how making friends with other young adults doesn’t have to be so difficult.

Listen to interviews after they have aired at PracticingCatholicShow.com or choose a streaming platform at anchor.fm/practicing-catholic-show.