by Elodie Shami

Rarely do we think of moving through space as moving through faith. When I came to the U.S. five years ago, I knew for sure that I was going to be moving across borders and across cultures. One thing that did not occur to me was that I was going to be moving across spiritual borders too.

I grew up in Kigali, Rwanda, the capital city, and I was raised Roman Catholic. I never imagined Catholicism as being something that significantly changed depending on where you were. Moving to a new country can be a bit of an adjustment to make, and we always go back to those things that we are familiar with in order to find solace. In my case, I looked forward to finding a church and a community where I could belong. I was 18 years old and living in the Chicago suburbs. When I finally found a church, I quickly realized that Catholicism, as practiced by the St. Peter community in Wheaton, IL, was not the same as it was in Rwanda. I was discouraged and a bit saddened by this new reality. Sunday mass in my new home seemed to be mostly comprised of older people, couples and young children. I did not quite find my place in that parish.

In Rwanda, at St. Andrew’s, church was not only a place of spiritual growth, but it was also a place of “hanging out” and socializing, especially for the youth. Most Catholic youths were involved in smaller groups where they shared their faith in deeper ways and lived it out through acts of social engagement. I was also part of one of those groups, the Focolare movement, and I was an active member. That is where I understood my faith, learned concrete ways of living out the gospel, and found a community to rely on and to live with. Apart from the demographics and the feel of the community, the experience of mass itself at St. Peter was vastly different from mass in Rwanda.

Today, I enjoy mass here in the U.S. and especially at St. Vincent’s with other DePaul students and the Vincentian community, but I also sometimes wish I were home, at St. Andrew’s. I deeply miss praying in my native tongue, I miss the rhythmic worship songs, I miss the sounds of drums and the tambourine, I miss seeing the old and the young, the rich and the poor dancing during the song of praise, and I miss the last song that was always dedicated to The Virgin.

My Catholic experience here in the U.S. has deeply enriched my spirituality. It was great to grow up in a community that instilled faith values in me from a young age, but I was also greatly blessed to leave my safe nest at the age of eighteen and experience my faith in another light. I truly feel that it was here, in the U.S., and in particular at DePaul University that I was really able to take my faith into my own two hands and consciously choose this as pillar of my life.

Elodie is a senior at DePaul majoring in Peace, Justice, and Conflict Studies and is a peer minister for Catholic Campus Ministry. Originally from Kigali, Rwanda, she has lived in the United States for over 5 years and speaks several languages, including French and Spanish.