Matching Collection Weekend
September 26–28, 2025
Our generous Lead Match Donors will match every dollar you donate up to $100,000!
Be a Part of Their Story
Generous Lead Match Donors will match every dollar you donate September 26-28, 2025 up to $100,000!
Matching Collection Weekend provides essential funding to assist St. Mary’s mission of forming apostles for the Church and the world! Your gift will help meet the growing needs of our campus ministry as we work to expand our ministry, which directly impact the daily lives of our Aggie Catholic students.
“I Was Lost, but Christ Met Me Here.”
— Levi’s Story
Levi introduces himself simply: a junior from San Antonio, studying architecture. But his journey to this moment has been anything but simple.
“I was just lost. I had no direction. I was living a worldly life, and I had nothing going for me. My family tried to help, but I was lost overall.”
That is how Levi describes his life before he began to really know Christ. Baptized and confirmed as a child, he had grown up Catholic but without a faith that felt like his own.
A Slow Encounter
Levi’s conversion was not dramatic. There was no lightning bolt and no instant turnaround. Instead, it was a slow formation that began his senior year of high school and continues even now.
He remembers watching Catholic families and classmates who seemed to live with a joy he did not have. Their peace stirred something in him. What did they know that he did not? The answer, he realized, was Christ present in His Church.
So he began to take small steps. First, learning to pray every now and then. Then, looking forward to Mass, not just on Sundays, but eventually every day. What had once been a chore became a joy.
Levi shares how Christ patiently drew him closer through adoration and the Mass.By the time Levi arrived at Texas A&M, the difference was clear. He was no longer being dragged out of bed for Mass. He was choosing it for himself. At St. Mary’s, he found the chapel, the community, and the friendships that made his faith his own.
“Being able to go on my own, study at St. Mary’s, and make new friends who live their faith, it has made my faith my own.”
Living Faith in the Corps
At the same time, Levi was shaped by the Corps of Cadets. Life in the Corps is demanding with early mornings, full schedules, and constant discipline. But it also gave him unexpected ways to live and witness his faith.
“There is something powerful about seeing another cadet at Mass,” Levi explains. “It gives you that one extra thing to build your friendship on. Friendships built on faith have a different element. They last.”
Levi reflects on the challenges and graces of living the Catholic faith in the Corps of Cadets.Those bonds strengthened Levi’s conviction. He realized he could not be two-faced, living one way on the Quad and another way at St. Mary’s. If faith was going to mean anything, it had to mean everything. His advice to younger cadets is simple: do not be lukewarm. Go all in.
A Personal Call Forward
Living out his Catholic faith has not only grounded Levi in college life, it has opened the door to the future. Over the past year, he has begun discerning religious life, even starting the application process with a community that has walked alongside him in prayer and direction.
“I think my biggest hope is just to set aside time with the Lord, to be consistent in adoration, daily Mass, and prayer. That is where I will know what He is calling me to.”
For Levi, it is not about rushing to an answer. It is about remaining faithful in the small things, trusting Christ like an older brother who guides each step. Whether that call leads to priesthood, religious life, or another vocation, Levi knows he does not walk alone.
Levi talks about his hopes for the future and discerning God’s call.
Give Now to Double Your Impact
Every student who walks through the doors of St. Mary’s brings their own questions, struggles, and hopes. Levi’s journey shows what happens when those questions meet the living presence of Christ and a community ready to walk with him.
Your generosity makes this possible. You are not only supporting programs or buildings, you are helping young men and women discover who they are in Christ and where He is leading them. Students like Levi are learning to live with courage and joy, and they will carry that faith into every place God sends them.
Thank you for making stories like Levi's possible.
Levi with his family.
God Bless & Gig 'em!
Levi with Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller and Bishop Gary Janak
Gig 'em Aggies!
Levi with members of the Servants of Christ Jesus.
Levi with his fellow Corps of Cadets.
Why Your Gift Matters
For more than a century, members of the Corps of Cadets have gathered in these pews, seeking the same truth and strength that Levi discovered here. Today, a new generation of cadets and students encounter Christ at St. Mary’s and are sent on mission as apostles for the Church and the world. When you give, you are helping write the next chapter in a story that began long before us and will continue long after.
Thank you for being part of their story.
The faithful gathered outside the original St. Mary's Catholic Church, 1927.
In 1954, cadets met in the Newman Lounge, St. Mary’s original student center and hub for Catholic life on campus.Cadets and parishioners gathered to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on the day of St. Mary’s Chapel dedication, 1958.
Mason and the 2025–2026 Catholics on the Quad leadership team. This ministry is St. Mary’s outreach to the Corps of Cadets, inviting them into friendship, community, and life in Christ.”From Lost to Found: Mason’s Journey
When Mason arrived at Texas A&M, he stepped into a life filled with tradition, challenge, and brotherhood as a member of the Corps of Cadets. The Corps asked a lot of him: discipline, accountability, and a willingness to serve. Yet beneath the crisp uniform and polished boots, Mason knew he was searching for something deeper.
Mason came to college believing faith was enough but still felt lost.
The Corps gave him structure, but his heart longed for a foundation that only Christ and His church could provide. That foundation began to take shape when he found his way to St. Mary’s.
A Tug on the Heart
Mason signed up for the Connect Retreat without knowing exactly what to expect. He thought it would be another weekend away, maybe with some talks and icebreakers. What he found was something that caught him by surprise.
“I thought it was just going to be a normal, stereotypical Christian camp. But when I went to adoration for the first time, I did not know much about the Church at all. I had a lot of questions, and I came in really skeptical, but there was something tugging on my heart telling me to keep on going back. Over time, I started to realize this was something real, something worth exploring more deeply.”
That tug was Jesus.
And through the community at St. Mary’s, Jesus gave Mason companions for his time in college. His John 15 group leader kept showing up for him, inviting him to dive deeper, and walking alongside him with patience. “Even when I was not Catholic, he made the effort to reach out, invite me, and be personable. Honestly, I would not be Catholic if it was not for this community.”
Walking Into the Church
The Connect retreat opened the door. OCIA at St. Mary’s carried him the rest of the way. Week after week, Mason wrestled with questions, dug into the teachings of the Church, and found clarity where before there had been uncertainty.
Mason carried questions and misconceptions about the Church.The day he was received into the Church, Mason’s longing was met in the Eucharist. “I had thought about being able to receive the Eucharist for so long. When the moment finally came, it was incredible, something I cannot even fully describe. I just remember looking up and seeing the priest, and realizing this was real, this was Christ Himself. That first Communion was one of the most special moments of my life.”
Living and Leading
Now a senior cadet, Mason brings together what both the Corps and St. Mary’s have given him: discipline, brotherhood, reverence, and a servant’s heart. Younger cadets look to him as an example, and he considers it a privilege to share the faith that has changed him.
At St. Mary’s, Mason discovered the gift of Catholic friendship, a source of prayer, accountability, and joy. Now as a senior, he sees it as a privilege to walk with freshmen and share the Faith.For Mason, the Corps of Cadets and St. Mary’s are not two separate worlds but two communities shaping him into the man he is becoming. The Corps forms him in leadership and tradition. St. Mary’s grounds him in Christ and the sacraments. Together, they prepare him to live with courage, integrity, and faith.
Mason before a march in with his Mom.
Mason being confirmed by Fr. Will Straten '00
Mason on the day of his Confirmation and First Holy Communion.
Mason with fellow cadets.
Mason with his family on Ring Day.
Mason with his niece.
“Christ Met Me in the Silence” — Zach’s Story
Zach came to Texas A&M searching for formation in the Corps of Cadets and a sense of belonging. He had always wanted to serve, first dreaming of the Marine Corps and later discerning a path as a Texas Game Warden. But underneath his drive for discipline and service was a deeper longing—a restlessness he couldn’t quite name.
“I had this want of love,” he remembers. “I tried to fill that void in friendships or in late nights that didn’t satisfy. In my heart, I knew who Christ was, but I wasn’t living it out.”
Before he was Catholic, Zach didn’t understand the Eucharist. But at Mass, when the host was elevated, he felt a peace and love like never before.Encountering Christ at St. Mary’s
“Going through OCIA here at St. Mary’s really changed everything,” Zach says. “The foundation was God is love. That truth has shaped how I live, how I pray, and how I treat others.”
The turning point came when Zach began attending Mass. At first, he was simply curious. But Christ met him in the silence, and through the witness of friends, roommates, and sponsors at St. Mary’s, that curiosity became conviction.
At the Easter Vigil of 2023, Zach received the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist. His godfather, who had been praying the rosary for him daily, placed that well-worn rosary in his hands just before the Vigil began.
When Zach received Holy Communion for the first time, he was overwhelmed not by fear but by love. A Life Reoriented
From that moment, Zach’s life shifted. The Corps of Cadets continued to form him as a leader of character, but now St. Mary’s was shaping him as a disciple of Christ.
In the Corps, Zach’s friends began asking about his faith. As he shared what Christ had done in his life, some of them came into the Church too.Zach also returned to OCIA—not just as a participant, but as a table leader, walking with others who were beginning their own journey. “It lights a fire in my own heart to keep seeking Christ every day,” he says.
Why Your Gift Matters
Nearly a century ago, members of the Corps of Cadets filled the pews of St. Mary’s, seeking the same truth and strength Zach found here. Today, those same pews are filled with a new generation of cadets and students who encounter Christ and are sent on mission to be apostles for the Church and the world.
When you give, you are helping write the next chapter in a story that began long before us and will continue long after. Your generosity makes this possible.