Catholic Campus Ministry couple grows together in faith and love
Danny O’Malley and Alex Carpenter met and grew in their faith together through Catholic Campus Ministry at Davidson College. (Photo provided)HUNTERSVILLE — Some interceptions occur off the field.
Danny O’Malley and Alex Carpenter learned that reality four years ago at Davidson College, where both were on athletic scholarships. O’Malley had a hip-related injury playing football, which eventually caused him to drop out of the sport. Not much later, Carpenter suffered a concussion.
They met in French class, but, O’Malley says, it was the golf cart that drew them together. He was recovering from his hip injury, so he had the use of a golf cart around the Davidson campus. After French class, both went to the campus training facility for their respective sports, so O’Malley gave her a lift.
“Eventually we began doing homework assignments together and hanging out with each other outside of class,” he explains. “The rest is history.”
Then Carpenter suffered the concussion. Like O’Malley, she was out of the game. She looks back at that event as the impetus for her journey to the Catholic Church.
“Sports is like your job. (Without it) I don’t know who I am.” So began a deeper search for meaning. “I began to take a real interest in more spiritual matters.”
She began her quest, and soon O’Malley was part of it. O’Malley, a Catholic, and Carpenter, a Baptist, had different religious beliefs and practices.
Carpenter had never questioned her beliefs. Now a torrent of questions about religious viewpoints became the staple of their conversation. He answered many of her questions and came to build a small library in search of answers he didn’t have. They attended each other’s churches, while she continued her search for the truth about Jesus and the Resurrection.
When at O’Malley’s home in Cleveland, they met to discuss their faith with his parish priest. At Davidson, they worked with Father Noah Carter at St. Mark Church in Huntersville to prepare her to enter the Catholic Church. On campus, they sought advice and guidance from Catholic campus minister Scott Salvato and they attended campus Mass.
Carpenter’s journey, with O’Malley at her side, led to full communion with the Catholic Church in February. She was confirmed by Father Carter, with O’Malley as her sponsor and surrounded by his family and their Catholic Campus Ministry friends.
She recounts, “The Lord had never left my side and guided me toward the truth I had been desiring for so long. Once I was confirmed and able to receive Holy Communion, I felt so comforted. I was finally home and closer to Christ than I had ever been before. Each time I go to Mass, I experience just how much Our Lord loves us...”
Sharing life’s disappointments and celebrating the joy of their shared Catholic faith, the two look to the future together. They will graduate this month, marry in July, and then begin postgraduate work at the University of Missouri-Kansas City this fall. He is pursuing a career in law and she in dentistry. Together, they are forging a future on a new playing field – bound by a deep commitment to God and to each other. The goal is in sight, the end zone within reach!
— Ann Kilkelly, Special to the Catholic News Herald
Through illness, CCM student finds peace, joy, God
Alaina Swick was supported through a serious illness by her Campus Ministry family, and she deepened her faith in God throughout her suffering as well as her sudden and unexpected healing. (Photo provided)BOONE — “Heal my heart, Lord; the rest will follow,” Alaina Swick prayed before the Blessed Sacrament at St. Lawrence Basilica in Asheville a few years back. It became her mantra as she searched for a true and deeper faith.
She joined the Catholic Campus Ministry community and entered the RCIA program for people entering the Catholic Church while she was a student at Appalachian State University in Boone.
In her sophomore year, she became ill and was diagnosed with Chronic Lyme Disease. Even though her condition worsened, she felt a magnetic force drawing her to God. Despite the pain, she came to rest in God’s love for her.
She was forced to drop out of school but insisted on finishing her preparation to become Catholic. She describes her special 2017 Easter Vigil: “The glimmering candlelight, the swelling in my heart as I was anointed..., the complete ecstasy I felt when I finally received Jesus in the Eucharist – this was the culmination of everything my life had been working towards.”
Looking at the life of Jesus, the apostles and many saints, however, Swick realized that closeness to God brings both joy and suffering. Her health continued its downward spiral. Many days she couldn’t get out of bed.
“Most days that summer were shrouded in darkness. I remember how desolate, yet peaceful, I felt,” she recalls.
Then one Sunday in July 2017, Swick and her boyfriend Nathan went to Mass as usual, though this time would not be usual. She hobbled in on her cane with her boyfriend’s help. Mass began. “I suddenly felt a presence rush through me and hit me square in the gut, with a profound message blaring: ‘I am going to heal you now.’”
Her immediate response was praise and her mantra: “Heal my heart, Lord; the rest will follow.”
Swick continued to recount her story: “My heart responded in gratitude. I thanked God for the pain and for all the wisdom that arose from it.
“I felt heat where I was once numb, sweet relief where pain had gripped me. When it came time to receive Communion, I left my cane in the aisle and approached the altar, unaided for the first time ever.
“From that day onward, the healing that God began in me came to fruition. A renewed mind, body, and, most importantly, spirit serve as a testimony to God’s power, His love for us and His perfect timing.”
Returning to school that fall, Swick ran to see her friends at Catholic Campus Ministry. Together they cried and praised God for this miracle.
“It was within this community that I was nurtured into the faith, celebrated every step along this journey, and where I have found a home,” she shares.
Her Catholic Campus Ministry community and Erin Kotlowski, campus minister, had been there for her while other friends had drifted away. They prepared special foods for her, prayed with and for her, and helped however they could. When Swick had to drop out of school, they looked after her boyfriend Nathan, surrounding him with the support he needed. They held fundraisers to help defray medical expenses.
“I am so grateful for CCM and the role it has played in my life. I never could’ve imagined all those years ago where I would be now: a Catholic, a leader at CCM, and a witness to God’s redemptive healing power.”
Swick gives all the credit to God. “It’s not that God gets to be part of my story, but I get to be part of God’s story.”
Back at school, her advice to anyone willing to listen is: “Approach God as someone who really loves you and believe that any action from God is out of love for you.”
Swick admits that she is really shy and sometimes finds it difficult to share, but she knows this is not her private story. As Nathan had said to her back on that wonderful Sunday in July, “This is not just for us!”
— Ann Kilkelly, Special to the Catholic News Herald