“We were located right beneath some speakers so we had difficulty hearing. I shouted the Mass parts out and our pilgrims shouted them back,” he said. “It was quite an experience of devotion when everyone knelt for the Eucharistic prayer amidst a throng of thousands. Even in the midst of loud noise, the peace of the Sacrificial Banquet reigned supreme.”

He is not surprised that young people today would have such devotion to Mass and to the Pope. Although at times he questions whether the students he sees at church on Sunday “are … here because they’re really in love with the Lord or because they have to be,” he had no such concerns about his companions in Canada. “It was so tangible how much people wanted Mass. I was so thankful to be a priest.”
“ They’re kneeling down and weeping in his [the Pope’s] presence, and I’m not telling them to do this,” he said. “They’re really on fire. It’s exciting to be a part of that.”

At a regular meeting of the Bellarmine Society, a Catholic apologetics group, Prospero will see about 25 students, although twice that many came to one record session. Student leaders pick the topics for discussion, ranging from Mary to abortion to birth control, and present the scriptural and catechetical foundation for the Church’s stance on the issue. The goal is to provide young believers with an educated response when asked why their faith calls them to believe something.

“ They’re there to learn because they want to know why the Church teaches what it teaches,” Prospero said. “It’s a learning experience.”
Another learning experience for students at Marquette is the chance to visit convents around the Midwest over spring break. Prospero unofficially calls it a “nun run,” and one student who accompanied him in a previous year has made a vocation. At least 15 young women will accompany him this spring, visiting cloistered contemplatives in Ann Arbor (Dominicans), Nashville (Dominicans), Elton, Ill. (Franciscan Sisters of the Martyr St. George) and Chicago (Des Plaines Carmel and Missionaries of Charity).