Emma Casey

Emma Casey

Class of ’25

“CC@S has been a source of support and spiritual nourishment through the highs and lows of Stanford. It is where I came to know Catholicism’s beauty, coherence, and ability to permeate all aspects of life.”

My Catholic faith has always been important to me, but my grasp and appreciation of it was limited when I started my freshman year. I went to church on Sunday without fail, but I mostly viewed it as a set of rules to follow and tasks to complete.

Over the last three years at Stanford, my faith gradually moved beyond the one-hour block on Sundays and started to permeate my daily life. Fr. Dominic and Fr. Xavier helped me notice God in the beauty of a walk around lake lag or the surprise of running into a friend on the way to class. The students at CC@S showed me how daily mass can provide pause and spiritual nourishment amid the rush of the quarter system. The Catechesis provided through speaker events and CLT helped me grow in self-understanding and challenge the conventional values of Silicon Valley. I learned that my worth comes from my creation in the image and likeness of God, not my GPA, ability to find professional success, or perception by others. The anxiety I once felt around finding my vocation — which I conflated with knowing my long-term career path —  was replaced by the peace of knowing my call is simply to know, love, and serve God in the moment at hand.

CC@S has been a source of support and spiritual nourishment through the highs and lows of Stanford. It is where I came to know Catholicism's beauty, coherence, and ability to permeate all aspects of life.