Junior Alex Rodriguez watched his sister stand up with their family friend as her row began to file out of the church pew, led by a high schooler in a bright red polo shirt. Last year, Rodriguez was in the same place as his sister was now, about to be confirmed by the bishop in her Catholic faith. This year, he was there to help her through the process he had just graduated from.
Junior Alex Rodriguez works as a peer minister with Confirmation candidates for St. Jude’s Catholic Church by helping on their retreats, taking a small group during their monthly classes, and by attending weekly meetings to discuss ideas and strategies for ministering to peers. This year, his sister is one of the students he is ministering to.
“It was cool to see her go through the classes and retreat and finally get confirmed,” Rodriguez said. “It’s one thing to get confirmed and another thing to watch it.”
Rodriguez started working as a peer minister after he went through confirmation as a sophomore. He switched roles the following year, and started ministering to the candidates just as older students had done for him through the nine months of classes that he took in order to be confirmed in 2015. He had seen how they worked with candidates on his own retreat, and with the suggestion of Allyson Salazar, joined the team.
“I like doing it and working with the people there,” Rodriguez said. “The people make me happy, and I like to do it often.”
He enjoys helping on retreats, and plans to continue next year as well. On such retreats, he works with another peer minister to take a small group of candidates, with whom he leads discussions, games, and activities.
“I can interact with students in a small group better than I can in a large group, and the more I interact with them, the more they trust me and open up to me,” Rodriguez said. “I feel like I contribute the push to talk by being outgoing myself and asking them questions.”
Rodriguez most enjoys getting to know the people in his group on the retreats, and so prefers to work with another peer minister who is outgoing because of his own shyness, but ability to open up once he knows the people around him.
“I also really enjoy the blindfold faith walks,” Rodriguez said. “I like to mess with [the students] along the way and watch them laugh, and then also the crazy soccer games all the peer ministers play after we’re done for the day followed by just sitting and talking.”
