Heidy Altagracia started college with one thing on her mind. She wanted to find a Catholic community in college, and she wanted to find it fast.
She had grown up in the Bronx, Catholic in name only. A year earlier, she had felt hopeless. Since then, something had been pulling her back toward God, and she knew she could not follow that pull alone. Within days, she would be sitting in a dark, empty church, crying next to a student she had just met.
Catholic in name only
Heidy grew up in a culturally Catholic family in the Bronx, New York. She was baptized Catholic, but faith stayed in the background. “No mentions of the faith unless it was about getting together for an infant baptism,” she says.
So for years, God felt more like a family tradition than someone she knew.
A hard senior year
In her last year of high school, Heidy felt that something was missing. “For years, I had struggled with depression, and I felt hopeless,” she says.
Then a friend began talking with her about Jesus. He went to a non-denominational church, and Heidy learned a lot from him. Along the way, something new happened. “I felt connected to Mother Mary,” she says. That pull led her to trace her steps back to the faith the early Christians followed. In other words, it led her home to the Catholic Church.
Looking for a Catholic community in college
So when Heidy got to campus, she went straight to the Newman Catholic club.
She met Fr. Jomon and also met the club president and other members. They invited her to their first meeting, and she was glad to come. Afterward, the president showed her around and took her to the church.
That is how Heidy ended up in that dark pew. “We sat down in the empty church with the lights off, and I began to bawl my eyes out,” she says. “I felt convicted, I had lived without God and had blamed him for everything wrong in my life while simultaneously denying his existence.”
The president did not give her a speech. Instead, she stayed right there with her. “She soothed me and said she felt the same way when she came back to the church, that I wasn’t alone,” Heidy says.
What came next
That night was the beginning. Heidy kept coming back. “I met many young people my age who had a deep love and yearning for God, and this motivated me to continue,” she says.
Soon, she joined OCIA at her parish. OCIA is the path adults walk to enter the Catholic Church or complete their sacraments. Then, at the Easter Vigil, she was confirmed.
Heidy also started helping the club plan events. One took real courage. The campus theatre department was staging Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, and the club helped plan a talkback with the department after the show. “At first we didn’t want it to happen because of its offensive content,” Heidy says, “but after much discernment and prayer, we realized we could be a witness of our faith to those on campus.”
Heidy went from crying in a dark church to helping her friends speak about faith in public. “I’m very happy about having joined this community,” she says. You can follow them on Instagram at @ccnynewmancatholics.
Why Heidy's story matters for Faith Forward
Heidy went looking for a Catholic community in college. Not every student does.
Every year, Catholic high school seniors pack up and leave for campus. Most do not walk away from their faith on purpose. Instead, they arrive unknown and uninvited. In the busy first weeks, no one calls their name. So they drift away quietly.
That is why Newman Connection runs Faith Forward. Faith Forward connects high school seniors with a Catholic community on campus before they arrive. Campus ministers learn who is coming. Then, students get a personal invitation in their first weeks.
After that, the people on campus do what Heidy's club did. They open the door. They walk a new student to the church. They sit with her in the dark and tell her she is not alone.
Newman Connection does not take the place of campus ministry. We build the bridge so campus ministers and student leaders can meet each new student by name. Fr. Jomon, the club president, and the students at Heidy's school are the heroes of this story. Faith Forward exists so more students can find people like them.
Our promise to every student is simple. You will not walk alone, from senior year of high school to the day you die.
Every soul matters. No one walks alone.
What if someone had been waiting for Heidy?
Heidy found the Newman club because she went looking. But think back to her senior year in the Bronx. She felt hopeless. She was searching for God. And she did not know one Catholic on her future campus.
Faith Forward is built for that exact moment. Through Faith Forward, a senior like Heidy can be named and connected before she leaves home. The campus ministry at her new school can know she is coming. Then someone like Fr. Jomon or the club president can reach out over the summer.
For Heidy, that might have meant fewer lonely months of searching. It might have meant a name to look for on her first day. It might have meant walking into that first meeting as someone already expected.
Many students never go looking at all. They carry the same questions Heidy carried. However, no one invites them, so they never find the door. Faith Forward makes sure the invitation comes first.
Help the next student find Catholic community in college
Right now, a high school senior somewhere feels what Heidy felt. Something is missing. They are getting ready for college next fall, and they have no idea who will be there for them.
You can make sure someone is. You can do it before they ever leave home.
Your gift to Newman Connection helps Faith Forward:
- Reach Catholic high school seniors before graduation, while they are still at home.
- Connect each senior, by name, to the Catholic community at their new campus.
- Give campus ministers and student leaders a head start, so they can welcome new students in the first weeks.
- Help parents who want their kids to stay close to their faith but don't know where to start.
You may never meet the students you help. Still, you will be part of their story. Because of you, someone will be there to walk them to the church, the way Heidy's club president did for her.
