Theology on Tap features personal story

By Marya Wickenhauser

SASKATOON — Catholic Students’ Week was marked on some 30 university campuses across Canada March 14 — 21.

A featured event in Saskatoon was Theology on Tap, held March 16 at Lydia’s Pub on Broadway. The theme was Activ8 Your Faith, with speaker Désirée Nelson talking about her own faith journey.

Raised Protestant, Nelson graduated from a Catholic high school and during university entered the RCIA program (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) to officially become a member of the Catholic church. It was “easy to say yes to something that I was called to,” Nelson said.

In October 2007, Nelson attended a Canadian Catholic Students Association (CCSA) conference in Winnipeg. As a new Catholic, Nelson said she found it reassuring to meet others who helped fan the flames of her faith. She also realized how important it was to trust in the importance of the future of the faith.

Attending the same conference two years later, she said she noticed a different atmosphere. Whereas previously the atmosphere was more reserved, now participants seemed more open about their faith and wanting to spread the message of the Gospel.

Nelson described her pilgrimage to Lourdes, France where she took part in adoration and mass and bathed in the holy waters. On her return to Canada, she moved into Discernment House, a home near the university campus in which eight young women live in community with Sisters of the Presentation of Mary. The experience has challenged Nelson to grow in her faith, she said.

Together with Sister Chantelle Bonk, PM, Nelson started a ministry team: FIREworks — Faith Ignited by Rivier Example — modelled after Blessed Anne Marie Rivier, founder of the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary.

The ministry works to nurture Nelson’s own faith and helps her nurture the faith of others, she said. “Everyone can activate faith by being the light of Christ and becoming an example of living faith.”

Theology on Tap is a ministry to young adults ages 19 - 35, organized by St. Thomas More chaplaincy office and the youth ministry offices of both the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon and the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saskatoon.