Did you know that students here at Cardinal Gibbons are welcome to come to Bible study every Wednesday morning? Encounter Bible study is a great way for students to meet other students just as in love with their faith as they are. 

 “Wednesdays are the hardest to get through,” says junior Bryce Fitzsimmons. “Being midway through the week, Encounter is a great way to clear your mind.”

Encounter begins with an opening prayer, followed by a gospel reading. This gospel is the same one that will be said at mass the following Sunday, making it a great way for students to prepare for Sunday mass. 

“One of the coolest parts of students going to Encounter is that they get to hear their classmates speak about their faith openly,” said Fr. Luke Rawicki. 

Faith can sometimes be an awkward subject for students to speak about with their peers, so Bible study is a great way for them to be open about it. Any thoughts that students want to share on the gospel will always be followed by encouraging snaps of approval from your peers.

Not only are students welcome at Encounter, but educators as well.

“When we as spiritual life educators are at Encounter, we learn so much from what the students share,” said Ms. Meredith McElroy. “Sometimes students interpret a verse a certain way that we may not.”

Being able to have both students and educators together speaking about their faith allows them to learn about each other and their experiences. 

Recently there has been a lot of growth in the amount of students participating in encounter, about double the number of participants from last year. 

These are some of the thoughts students and spiritual life educators had when they first saw how many people showed up to the first weekly encounter of this school year. 

“My mouth dropped.”

“I was really impressed by the new freshman class.” 

“It was mind blowing.”

“We hoped and prayed for the day we would outgrow the spiritual life center because so many people wanted to talk about their faith”, shares Ms. McElroy.

“My first reaction was that God is doing amazing things at Gibbons,” says Fr. Luke, “because it’s not normal to have over 70 students at 7:45 on the first week of school”

The most important part of encounter is the students who choose to wake up early and make time in their day for God. There wouldn’t be Encounter without all of the students who choose to come every week, so bring your friends and encourage others to come on a free Wednesday morning!