Los Avanzados at the University of Florida

This past Thursday Gerry Portela and Andres Manrara led the representation of the ACU with the Catholic Gators ministry at the University of Florida in Gainesville. They met for lunch with Fr. Dave Ruchinksi, Pastor at St. Augustine Parish in Gainesville, Joseph West, Campus Minister, Fernando Chang, Development Director, and the 2 FOCUS Missionaries who are assigned to the University of Florida, Sean and Nick. During the lunch we discussed the format of the Thursday meetings with the men's group of Catholic Gators and what our role would be.

The Thursday Men’s Group starts with Holy Mass followed by Holy Hour and then a discussion with the group in the Parish Hall.

Gerry and Andres participated in all of the above functions and delivered our presentation after sharing pizza and refreshments with the group.

Because of a scheduling conflict with the Right to Life March in Washington, DC attendance was around 10 young men. Typically, there are 30-40 men in attendance.

The presentation centered on Ignatian Spirituality. Andres with a brief explanation of the ACU, including the Mission Statement and the 3 Pillars. Gerry followed with a presentation on Ignatian Spirituality beginning with a brief history on the life of St. Ignatius followed by a conversation about Principle and Foundation. We shared with them the ACU website and the upcoming Spiritual Exercises for University students in Miami on May 27-29. We also informed them that we are working closely with our Atlanta Chapter to assist in this Apostolate.

The next meeting is scheduled for Feb. 17-18 and will be attended by Campus Ministry Directors from other universities including FSU, UCF, UNF and Valdosta State in Georgia. There are currently 3 men from the Miami Chapter committed to attend in February - Carlos Muñiz, Efrain Zabala, and Jerry Fernandez.

Gerry and Andres welcome the participation of all Agrupados and stress the importance of our continuous attendance and support of Catholic Gators.