For students at the University of Maryland’s Catholic Student Center in College Park, Monday evenings aren’t just about preparing for the week and getting caught up with work. Instead, it’s an opportunity to come together and experience praise and worship adoration in a student-led initiative called “Pack the Chapel.”
Pack the Chapel, created in 2012, gives students a time to lift their hearts to Christ while embracing the talents of the student music ministry. Today, the student center hosts bi-weekly holy hours at 9 p.m. on Mondays, and Nov. 25 was the last of the semester.
The student worship team, consisting of a pianist, a pair of guitarists and a handful of singers, brought musical prayer to life. With a strum of a chord and the tap of a key, the group performed popular songs such as “Reckless Love” by Cory Asbury and “Rescue” by Lauren Daigle, to name a few.
During Eucharistic Adoration, students began to follow along and sing the tunes. Lyrics like “It chases me down, fights ‘till I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine. I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it still you gave Yourself away” rang across the chapel.
For senior Nick Moroney, it was his first time attending Pack the Chapel. After a busy day, he said the experience allowed him to fit prayer in.
“They did a really good job,” Moroney said. “I was sitting there, and I was like, oh my gosh! This is so clear that this is a gift from God. The way they can sing, you know?”
Over the semester, Pack the Chapel has brought in dozens of students. Father Conrad Murphy, the chaplain at the Catholic Student Center, said that as many as 40 students have attended the gathering.
“People have come to Pack the Chapel who haven’t come to anything else,” he explained. “That’s always good to give people the opportunity to meet the Lord where they wouldn’t otherwise.”
It wasn’t always like this, though. The ministry was put on hold during the pandemic and had a four-year hiatus until this semester. Father Murphy noted that Pack the Chapel wasn’t the best idea when people were trying to social distance.
Right now, the ministry’s goal is for more students to meet Jesus, fall in love with Him, and allow that love to grow.
Liz Ridenour, a junior and vocalist for the worship team, shared how her mission is to share the Catholic community with others on campus as a way to give back to the Catholic Student Center.
“It’s just important to have fellowship with people that you share values with and you share your faith with. The Catholic Student Center here is just a home for everybody, and it’s just beautiful,” she said.
Every Thursday, the team practices together. Along with deciding what songs to play, the members also discuss which person is the best for different part of the songs, weather if it’s a lead or harmony.
Aside from Pack the Chapel, the Catholic Student Center also offers silent Adoration every weekday except for Thursday for students to instill daily prayer in their life. Moroney said the addition of praise and worship Adoration gives students the best of both worlds in their prayer life.
“There’s a time and a place for both of those things. I think they work very beautifully with one another to kind of listen to the Lord in silence, but also to get to praise Him in a unique way in music,” he said.
(Elizabeth Polo is a journalism student at the University of Maryland and is a contributing writer for the Catholic Standard.)
