On Dec. 2, National Catholic musician, speaker, campus minister, family man and podcaster Ike Ndolo came to the UConn Storrs campus to speak to university students and young adults in our diocese about "Your Powerful and Authentic Voice" in the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas. It was the last of three lectures in the Metanoia Fall lecture series. I asked Emily Gribbin, a junior and English major at Uconn and an active member of our Catholic community, to share her thoughts and impression of the evening. Here is what she had to say:
In the everyday actions of our lives, there is often a propensity to follow cyclical patterns and regulatory events. However, in his talk “Your Powerful and Authentic Voice,” Ike Ndolo challenged all of us to be passionate about the calling that God places within all our hearts. For Ndolo, this passion and this pursuit to follow God’s will is jointly manifested through music and the perpetual fight for racial justice.
As a Black youth in Missouri, attending a largely white church, Ndolo did not see a lot of people who looked like him within the church and through depictions of the Saints. In this way, he did not feel as though he had a part to play. Yet, through community and in the recognition that we, as Christians, are baptized, “Priest, Prophet, and King,” Ndolo learned to recognize that God was calling him to speak about injustice for the cause of Christ. In this recognition, Ndolo also found his voice because of the life that he lived and through the hardships of witnessing racial injustice firsthand. Here, he realized that God had been calling him to use his voice and speak the words that needed to be heard. This was demonstrated through song, through action, through the 2018 album “Shine,” and through living as authentically as possible without facades or by doing the bare minimum.
Ndolo could not live in a state of just existing, but rather lived with the knowledge and understanding that God breathed His life and His essence into our bodies so that we could fulfill His calling in this world. Therefore, the passion to pursue a mission that was paved with challenges and difficulties stemmed from a desire to do more and to accept the kingship that God calls us to embrace. This path for Ndolo has not been easy, yet if given the opportunity, he would not choose an easier way. Why? For Ndolo, “Stamped in our bones is His life, His love, His passion, and we’re called to run after that even when it is hard and uncomfortable.”
For each of us, embracing our true calling and finding the most authentic version of ourselves looks different and is rooted through different causes and circumstances. However, whether it be through the small actions of our everyday lives or through the larger moments that shape our experiences, we are each uniquely called to pursue God’s will in world-changing ways. This is not to say that each ‘yes’ along the way will be easy, as Ndolo has lost friends, family, and opportunities since he has decided to accept God’s calling for his life and fight for racial justice. But, the process has been extremely personal and meaningful in his continued relationship with God. Lastly, Ndolo also talks about the burdens that we all carry in our individual ways and truly challenges each of us to not ignore it, but rather to use it, to feel it, and allow yourself to be carried towards finding the voice that may have been ignored for far too long.
--Father Jonathan Ficara, Director of Vocations