This academic year, the Aquinas Institute has 40 students leading Bible Studies, with over 200 students participating each week! Our student-led Bible Studies create a welcoming environment for friends from every faith background to read and discuss Scripture together, coming to know Christ through the reading. This model had its humble beginnings eight years ago, when the Chaplain at the time recognized that, while hundreds of Catholic students had little to no interaction with the Aquinas Institute, they likely knew someone who did. If the chaplaincy was going to serve them, he decided, it had to go to them – and go through the students.
The Institute therefore launched an intentional initiative to equip students who were already committed to their Catholic faith to share it with their peers, through student-led Bible Studies that would introduce new students to essential prayer and sacramental habits, and the basics of living the Catholic faith. About 14 Princeton students, in total, attended a Bible Study each week that initial fall of 2018. This academic year, among our 40 student leaders are varsity athletes, ROTC cadets, dance company officers, and more – each helping to bring Our Lord to every corner of Princeton’s campus.
Summer Leader Training
How did these 40 students come to be leaders? In Spring 2025, any students eager to take a next step in their faith journey were invited to training sessions which covered four areas: the call to holiness, the interior life through prayer and the sacraments, authentic friendship, and evangelization. Many of the students who participated in this training soon expressed their desire to become Bible Study leaders.
From there, summer Bible Study leader training began. Over the course of the past summer, hopeful Bible Study leaders embarked on a training program that included spiritual reading on discipleship and evangelization, as well as one-on-one mentorship meetings with a staff member. The heart of this training focuses on developing a strong relationship with the Lord through a sacramental and prayer life, forming a solid base from which to support others. Training culminated with an in-person workshop for all new and returning Bible Study leaders during the first week of classes in September.
Throughout the summer, leaders were asked to pray about those they could invite to their Bible Studies: students from their departments, athletic teams, clubs, and residential colleges, friends and acquaintances alike, from every faith background. Many new leaders returned to campus joyfully surprised that their non-Catholic friends had agreed to join their Bible Studies.
Beyond leader outreach, the Aquinas Institute staff encourages all students, regardless of their acquaintance with leaders, to sign up to a group. And they do: this fall, 34 freshmen joined a Bible Study within the first two weeks of the academic year.
A Twofold Goal
The goal of the Institute’s Bible Studies is twofold: first, to reach students who may not otherwise find a touchpoint with the Catholic faith during college, and second, to equip students already serious about their faith to help others encounter Christ. The objective is not simply to teach students how to lead a Bible Study, but to approach their daily lives and activities with a missionary heart, living in such a way that others will be attracted to Christ by their witness.
The fruits of this approach are manifold. One striking example came just at the start of the semester, when two non-Christian students asked to be baptized this academic year. Much of their discernment, they explained, was sparked through friendship with students they had met in their study-abroad programs, dance companies, and residential college communities who were eager to talk about religion and their own spiritual lives, gentle and kind in answering questions, and willing to accompany their new friends as they explored Catholicism. Just who are these influential students? Upon asking for their names, the Institute staff recognized each one as a Bible Study leader: a leader who had shared Christ in his or her daily life, beyond the context of a weekly group meeting.
This is the Aquinas Institute’s ultimate vision: to bring the light of Christ not only to every corner of Princeton’s campus, but to every corner of the world, through missionary disciples who have graduated from Princeton.
“I greatly appreciate how the Aquinas Institute welcomes all students with open arms, no matter where they are in their faith journey. As a freshman, I wanted to find a space on campus where I felt comfortable, and the members of Aquinas provide me not only with the community I want, but with the faithful connection I need.”
—Scarlett C., Class of 2029
