Growing in holiness: doing so is crucial, and yet many young people decide otherwise during their college years, ultimately falling away from the faith. And yet, one person can make a difference in this regard, through their efforts to help and evangelize those in their local community. Junior Rachael Butek has taken this mission upon herself at Christendom as the president of the college’s Legion of Mary, helping Christendom students — and the surrounding Front Royal community — thrive in the process.
The Legion of Mary is one of the college’s oldest student groups and is part of the worldwide lay apostolic association of the same name. Its members serve the Church and their neighbors on a voluntary basis, including at Christendom. Butek became president of the campus organization this year and has worked hard with campus chaplain Fr. Marcus Pollard to increase participation in the group on campus.
“The Legion of Mary is a unique group on campus: it offers students the opportunity to participate in the Church’s evangelization work while also forming them spiritually,” says Butek. “Members grow both personally and as part of a dedicated community.”
Its members meet weekly, joining together in prayer and discussing apostolic works that members are participating in. According to Butek, Legion of Mary members help on campus and in the surrounding Front Royal community by bringing the Pilgrim Virgin statue to residence halls and by evangelizing door to door, as well as hosting occasional events that get more of the student body involved in evangelization. These works are filling crucial gaps in the life of Christendom and its surrounding community, making both these Legion of Mary members and all they impact holier in the process.
Butek, an English language and literature major at Christendom, is also taking on new initiatives with the group to promote its efforts in the surrounding community. On All Saints Day this year, the Legion of Mary dressed up as saints and went around town singing traditional Catholic hymns, using the opportunity as a means of evangelizing to others.
The Legion of Mary is one of several groups at the college that assist in “Works of Mercy” — aka, helping the surrounding community. Students also participate in the pro-life group Shield of Roses, volunteer at the local pregnancy center and food pantry, visit nursing homes, and organize a Red Cross blood drive on campus annually. All of these groups flow out of the college’s mission to restore all things in Christ, and Butek’s efforts in the Legion of Mary are only making that mission that much more successful.
Today’s culture can still be saved, and the efforts of students like Butek and Christendom’s Legion of Mary are ones that can turn the tide, one apostolic work at a time.