By Rory McNelley, Staff Writer 

Xavier’s first ever Ecumenical Gala co-hosted by Life After Sunday (LAS), Coalition for Christian Outreach (CCO), the Dorothy Day Center for Faith and Justice (CFJ) and All for JC was a night of community, food, dancing and an opportunity for faith forward students to share their experiences on campus.

The gala was put on by a few different on campus Christian groups to bring all those with a similar belief together for a night of fun. The CFJ encourages interfaith efforts, previously through ecumenical worship nights, but students wanted something more robust.

LAS originally presented the idea to collaborate with other faith groups on campus for the event. 

“We love ecumenical worship nights that occur once a semester and wanted to further those efforts by collaborating with other Chrisitan groups to join in an event we love like the Catholic Community Formal,” senior nursing major and president of LAS Nicki Mabry said. “We want to promote unity and collaboration on campus and decided to start [the gala] with other similar Christian ministries in hopes of branching out to more true interfaith collaboration.”

The goal of the collaborative faith efforts is to promote unity on campus and expand to other communities. These efforts are supported by a grant through the CFJ. 

“The goal is for students to learn more about different perspectives on campus through short student testimonies, having fun and enjoying a nice event,” Mabry said.

The night began with dinner followed by the short testimonies of students from varying groups. Students from each group shared how they have grown because of their community and their hopes for more interfaith events.

“I met CCO members during Week of Welcome and never left. For a while, I had no idea why I kept showing up. Something I believe very deeply is that Christ’s love is shown through the joy that his people share in community,” sophomore primary education major and board member of CCO Anna Woeste said. 

Following the student testimonies, a night of dancing began. The Dugan Brothers performed live music for the event.

“This is super fun! I love getting everyone together and just having fun and meeting new people,” first-year nursing major Emily Ruschman said. 

The gala took place in Xavier’s armory on Friday night. With tables set up throughout the perimeter of the room, the center was left open to carve out space for the dance floor. Splattered with blue and silver throughout the space, there were also decorative photo opportunities. Many students were seen wearing star shaped glasses of varying colors which were passed out at the entrance.

All students were welcome to join in on the fun. Students registered via EngageXU, but tickets were also sold at the door. The night also included four different raffle prizes. Each ticket to the dance included a ticket for the raffle. Many faith-based items were up for grabs in each of the four baskets. Winners were drawn toward the end of the evening.

“Food, friends and dancing: what more could you want?” senior marketing major Karl Wearsch said.