“I could take a step back and really see all of the work that God did.”

Mae Longo graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2023. After serving as a campus missionary for two years, she now works for the Archdiocese of New York.

Mae said that as a freshman she heard about a spring mission break trip to Alaska. “I thought, ‘Who in their right mind would go to Alaska for their Spring Break?!'”

Not only did Mae end up on that trip, but throughout her time in college, she went to Alaska two more times, eventually leading the trip with the Brothers.

“I would have said a few years ago that that was a turning point in my college experience, but really I’m looking at the trajectory of my life, and it was a real turning point in my life.”

Mae attributes her faith life today to the humility, prayer, and steadfastness of the Brothers. Your generosity provided Mae with the tools and the zeal to renew the Church as she moves out into the world.

“I see this generation neglecting their faith: So many people in Gen Z love relying on themselves and letting their perfectionism control their lives, becoming so distracted from what really matters. We are constantly told that the more we produce, the better we are. The Brothers model that it’s who we are as sons and daughters that matters.”

Rooting their identity in the Father’s love, young people like Mae are leaving our ministries each year prepared to live in this world but not of it. They take their faith and habits beyond the walls of the ministries they know, into a world that desperately needs to know the Lord.

“I recognize that I need to truly become more of a missionary now than I have ever been. I am grateful that I’m going forth.” Mae said she is “asking for more missionary zeal than ever and really being sent in a new way now.”

You can invite students like Mae into Christ-centered community.