By Anthony Caporale
Last spring, Campus Ministry started to implement a new program called “Alpha” here at Saint Vincent. The program aims to develop and enrich the community of faith on campus. It attempts to do so by guiding students in discussion.
“Alpha is a series of weekly sessions exploring the Christian Faith,” said Bridget DiVittis, assistant director of Campus Ministry and one of the many people who have worked to implement the program.
DiVittis added that the weekly sessions begin with an Alpha leader who will lead the discussion-based meetings. Every week different topics and questions will be discussed to generate a unique conversation each time.
According to DiVittis, the idea of the Alpha program came from other colleges and churches that had already implemented similar programs. Colleges, like the University of Kansas, have seen some success after implementing the program several years ago.
The process to implement a program is long, and Campus Ministry has been working on it since spring of 2020.
“We started by finding Alpha leaders by reaching out into the SVC community and finding students that were good leaders on the SVC campus,” DiVittis said. She explained that the leaders have a variety of different backgrounds. “More importantly,” DiVittis emphasized, “they all have different beliefs and faith backgrounds.”
Campus Ministry is making this new program with a diverse range of faith backgrounds on purpose.
“In the beginning of this program, we were looking to create unity in community and faith,” DiVittis said. “Alpha is about inclusion, diversity and discovery. It is an opportunity to talk about hows, whys, and whats, as well as address some of the burning questions about God, faith and how it all works together.”
The conversations aim to create a judgment-free zone, and the issues discussed by participants stay within the group.
DiVittis encourages anyone to join. The meetings take place on Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. in the Fred Rodgers Center Banquet Room (AB). Anyone interested in becoming one of the Alpha leaders or wanting to learn more the program may email Bridget DiVittis.