Greta Haussmann: How Pope Francis’s visit is helping me become a better student leader

Here at CUA I have the opportunity to serve the community as a resident assistant. Every year, about two weeks before classes start all of the student leaders come back to campus for training. This year during training there was a lot of talk about Pope Francis’s upcoming visit. We even had an entire presentation on it! Needless to say, we are pretty excited for Pope Francis to visit our beloved campus.

Greta Haussmann

With all of this excitement in the air, I have been reminding myself to look past the frenzy and focus on preparing myself for the Holy Father’s visit. Most of my preparation has been focused on my demeanor, while some preparation has taken the form of service. Regarding my demeanor: I decided to take time to reflect upon the things that I love most about our Holy Father, and what came to mind were his simplicity, his graciousness, and his humility. I have chosen to take time in prayer and in my actions to work on cultivating simplicity, graciousness, and humility in my life. Regarding service, I have pledged to #WalkWithFrancis by committing time to service. During student leader training, I had the opportunity to participate in a day of service with Centennial Village staff in the Brookland community by helping facilitate a “Community Day” at a local park.

Serving in this capacity was a fruitful experience and it reminded me of the value of community and outreach; but I also know that Pope Francis calls Christians to something deeper than one-time service. Pope Francis says, “To be Christian is to do what Jesus did — serve. To be Christian isn’t about appearances or social conduct, it isn’t putting a bit of makeup on the soul so that it’s a little more beautiful.” It is important for us to remember that as Christians we are called to continuous service. However, it is equally important to remember that we are called to authenticity in our lives of service. Pope Francis is calling us to be genuine with our fellow Christians in our words and actions — he is calling us to serve as we are, not as we believe we ought to be.

As a student leader on the Catholic University campus I feel called to live a life of service, rather than making service an isolated event. Furthermore, I find Pope Francis’s words regarding what it means to be Christian quite relevant to serving as a student leader — being a leader is not about being perfect, once again, it is about being authentic. Pope Francis has taught me the importance of being a genuine witness as a student leader here at CUA. As we continue to prepare for the papal visit, I challenge you to live a life of authentic service and leadership.

— Greta Haussmann is a junior at The Catholic University of America majoring in theology and religious studies, and media studies.