“In a normal year, I would often meet students for coffee in my office or grab a meal,” Emily Egan, a campus minister at Boston College, told America. “Conversations were much more authentic when we could actually interact with students in person.”
Now, however, Ms. Egan finds herself meeting with students at odd hours. The spaces that used to be reserved for Boston College’s campus ministry have been repurposed as classrooms because of overflow resulting from new Covid-19 safety guidelines, and now most of her sessions with students are taking place virtually.
“Campus ministry is set up to be [a person-to-person] experience,” she said, but she is now communicating with students ahead of time to schedule online chats or helping them locate a private space in their noisy homes or finding ways to get around spotty internet access. Zoom, she explained, has been difficult.
“None of us have ever experienced anything like…
