The ministry of chaplaincy keeps Fr. John Klein, LC, busy; as the chaplain for the Regnum Christi young men’s section in Atlanta, he helps to facilitate monthly retreats and open yearly Spiritual Exercises for young adults and college students, and organizes monthly street missions through Mercy Missions Atlanta, an initiative that invites high school students and young adults to minister to those they meet on the streets of Atlanta.
Fr. John also serves part-time at the Georgia Institute of Technology, or Georgia Tech, one of the top ranked universities in the United States, assisting the chaplain, Fr. Branson Hipp of the diocese of Atlanta. Fr. John is a spiritual director for the Catholic Center there, as well as an auxiliary chaplain. In this role, he helps with on-campus Masses a few times a week, attends campus retreats, and supports the Catholic student leaders especially the FOCUS Missionaries, full time young adult missionaries who strive to share the hope and joy of the Gospel on their campuses and with the world.
And for Fr. John, this invitation to mission to spread the Gospel, whether it be on campus, or on the streets of Atlanta, is key to his ministry as chaplain, and key to engaging students in their faith:
“Young people love a challenge, and a deeper purpose to their lives. The more we invite them into the great adventure of knowing and experiencing Christ in prayer, the more they will hunger for him. The more we help them uncover the richness, depth, and beauty of the faith by teaching it in a real and dynamic way, the more they will fall in love with it and desire to live it. And the more we challenge them to rise up and put their gifts and talents at the service of evangelizing, the more they will respond and come up with better and more creative apostolates than we could even imagine.”
Offering monthly street evangelization missions allows students to pray together, meet other college students, and learn to overcome their fear in sharing the faith. For Fr. John, the experiences that the students have during street evangelizations and homeless missions are always profound moments of grace.
One of the greatest needs that Fr. John witnesses of the students on campus whom he serves is a need for life-giving community, where they can be themselves, share life, and make unique memories. While most post-secondary schools offer a variety of communities, from sports teams to fraternities and sororities to special interest clubs, it is those communities that have faith as their foundation that Fr. John feels create the deepest and most fulfilling form of friendship and fellowship. “Everyone is looking for a place to belong and be fully alive,” says Fr. John. “Our campus communities should be vibrant, welcoming, and fun, and at the same time deep, challenging, Eucharistic, and real. The more a Catholic community embodies these characteristics, the more it will attract, nourish, and evangelize.”
Find out more about Mercy Missions here
