Ruadhán Jones
Gerard Scullion Personal Profile
For some young people, and their parents, there can be a fear when the time comes for them to leave home and head to college. However, as Gerard Scullion learned during his time at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB), being a person of Faith and a student need not be an antagonistic relationship.
Mr Scullion, who is going into his final year studying Law, tells me that he was very fortunate to have a strong faith background
“I was very fortunate that in my family there was a focus placed on the Faith from a very early age,” he begins. “I was very aware of that, and as I grew up and as my siblings grew up, that’s been nurtured, prayer and faith have always been at the centre of my family life. It was never forced on us, it just grew naturally to respect the Faith, understand its importance and the need for it.
“As I’ve grown older and moved away from home, started university, I’ve become a lot more aware of that, having a strong faith, because you can’t do it alone. As I’ve gotten older, that faith has gotten stronger, I’ve looked into it deeper, I’ve become more confident speaking about it.”
When he first entered QUB, Mr Scullion said that he found it difficult to lead a life “in line with the Gospel values”.
Drifted
“I’ve never really drifted away from the Faith, but I didn’t really appreciate living a life that was in line with the Gospel values,” he continues. “I found that very difficult the first months of university. But as I got more involved with the chaplaincy and with the Knights [of Columbanus], it gave me the reassurance and the strength you know to live a life that is in accordance with the values of the Church.”
However, as he explains, he was again fortunate to be supported in his Faith by Catholic communities on the campus, particularly the Catholic chaplaincy and the Knights of Columbanus, a Catholic apostolate for men.
“I was very fortunate at Queens to have the Catholic chaplaincy,” Mr Scullion says. “It’s been a presence there at my university from day one really. It’s not a hideaway haven for Catholics to retreat to, it’s a place where we can go for spiritual direction, where we can forge friendships.
“But when I go beyond the walls of the chaplaincy in Queens and see my friends who are more secular, I don’t feel any less a Catholic. I don’t feel embarrassed. What it’s taught me is it’s perfectly ok to be a university student and a person of faith. The two can perfectly coexist.”
As to the Knights, Mr Scullion admits that he was initially wary of joining them, despite being encouraged by a friend.
“I’d been recommended by a friend who had been at Queens,” he says. “At the start I was very sceptical, it sounded a bit strange, but I became involved and I’m very thankful that I did. Because the Knights – ultimately it’s a group of young men who come together, who want to share their love of the Faith, who want to deepen it and, most importantly, who want to share it with others.
“CK19, the council I’m based with, we’re very fortunate that we’re the only university council that I know of on the island of Ireland. Being at the chaplaincy at Queens, that gives us a really good platform to promote the order, promote our Faith, and basically to show that there is a Catholic presence on campus.”
The Knights are involved in a wide range of activities, Mr Scullion explains: “We try to engage in apostolic, social and charitable initiatives. We recently completed a hike up Croagh Patrick, last year we did our Bangor to Bobbio, which was an online fundraising initiative where we walked the distance of the founders of Columbanus from Bangor to Bobbio online.
Distance
“Each brother walked his own distance and it accumulated and we raised quite a good bit of money for St Vincent de Paul. We put on social events here in the Chaplaincy just for our own members of the council, because one of the values is fraternity. Whether that be coming together to watch a football match, going to adoration or something in the city, or just going out for a meal and a few drinks.”
After finishing his law degree, Mr Scullion hopes to head to Dublin to complete a masters, before eventually training to be a solicitor. He hopes to be an ambassador for the Knights and their mission.
“You can move on then to councils in the pastoral area your parish is situated in,” he says. “Or if as I said I do go down to Dublin, there’d be no harm in setting up a new council. That’s what we’re trying to do at the minute. One of the members in CK19, he’s involved in the initiative trying to get more university councils set up.
“The whole thing is about, especially with young men joining the order, it’s about normalising the image. It has this very negative view of being a male exclusive boys club nearly and it’s so much more than that.”