SPM alum to be a fisher of students

 
By Christina Galeone
CFP Correspondent
In Mark 1:17, Jesus promised two fishermen something as extraordinary as the bounty of fish that he miraculously drew into the brothers’ nets. He told Simon Peter and Andrew, “Come after me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” That passage in the Gospel resonates with many people who have a desire to help build the Kingdom of God. St. Peter-Marian Central Catholic Junior-Senior High School alumnus Erin Gallo is one of them.
This fall, the recent Columbia University graduate, who grew up in Shrewsbury, will begin her work as a Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) missionary at Kansas State University. That Gospel passage is especially meaningful to her as she prepares to embark on a two-year mission for the nonprofit that has young missionaries on more than 150 college campuses in the United States and Europe.
“I’m leaving behind everything I know and going to evangelize to college students,” Miss Gallo said, adding that she hopes to “show them what true, authentic friendship looks like.” 
Like all FOCUS missionaries, Miss Gallo will strive to help students realize their true identity in Christ. She’ll do so by reaching out to and personally engaging students in conversations about their faith. She’ll lead Bible studies, work with students in small groups and invite them into a relationship with Christ and his Church through activities such as receiving the sacraments, attending Mass and participating in eucharistic adoration. However, while most FOCUS missionaries offer spiritual mentorship to all Catholic students at the universities they serve, Miss Gallo will work specifically with KSU athletes.
When Miss Gallo was a student athlete at Columbia University, it was the school’s FOCUS missionaries who helped her to fully embrace her faith, she said. She was mentored by them during her last two years at the school. 
“They really helped me to understand the beauty of the Catholic faith,” she recalled.
In doing so, they also helped her to have a life-changing epiphany.
“So much pressure is put on athletes at the college level,” Miss Gallo said, noting that after experiencing success as a high school softball player, she wasn’t prepared for that pressure. “It really takes a toll on you.”
She admitted that during her first two years of college, she began to measure her self-worth by how well she performed on the softball field and in the classroom.
“You begin to feel like your purpose is your sport or your school,” she explained. But, she said, FOCUS revealed her true worth as a child of God, and that revelation inspired her to help the students she’ll be mentoring.  She noted, “I want to help them understand that their sport is not who they are.”
While re-awakening the faith of college students and helping them to discover their true self-worth is a daunting task, preparing for the mission has also been challenging. Because of COVID-19, the training for FOCUS missionaries is being done remotely this year. Additionally, social distancing and the shutdown of local businesses have made it difficult for Miss Gallo to raise the funds needed to cover her missionary salary – which FOCUS requires its missionaries to do. Miss Gallo said, “Fundraising is really difficult during a pandemic.”
But despite the challenges, she’s excited about doing work that she views as similar to what Jesus did when he recruited his apostles (beginning with Simon Peter and Andrew). She said that she’ll be “spending time with the few to reach the many.” She added that she wants to consistently work at “letting people know they’re children of God, and they don’t need to look anywhere else for happiness, and training them to do the same.” 
Ultimately, Miss Gallo said that she believes that quality is more important than quantity.
“I’ll only be able to impact so many people,” she shared. “But even if I just impact one person, it will all be worth it.”
 
–  For more information about FOCUS, visit its website, www.focus.org. For information on how to prayerfully and financially support Erin Gallo’s mission, contact her at erin.gallo@focus.org.