Amid the bustling experience of spiritually accompanying 48 young adults attending the Jubilee of Youth in Rome from July 28 to Aug. 3, Fr. Troy Nguyen video-conferenced with The Catholic Register while walking the streets of the Eternal City.

This celebration at the Vatican was the latest empowering experience for the young adults (aged 18-35) who participate in the St. Francis Xavier Chaplaincy (SFXC) led by Nguyen in Calgary. Members of the Lethbridge chapter, helmed by Fr. Santiago Torres, accompanied their Calgary brethren.    

The 37-year-old Nguyen began his priestly ministry six years ago on July 23, 2019, just six months after Calgary Bishop William McGrattan established the SFXC. McGrattan established this ministry with university students, young professionals and young couples in mind. Encounter, equip and engage were enshrined as its three goals.

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McGrattan envisioned the ministry would enable young people to encounter Jesus through spiritual formation and fellowship and become equipped as disciples through intellectual and apostolic enrichment to engage members of their diocesan community as dynamic disciples.

Based on the data presented in the recently released 2024 Impact Report for the Diocese of Calgary, the SFXC has emerged as a considerable community within its first half-decade of existence. According to the report, the SFXC has garnered over 850 registrants and well over 400 are attending Mass weekly.

Many young people attend the SFXC Mass each Sunday at St. Mary’s Cathedral starting at 4 p.m. Every second Sunday, a liturgical service is followed by a social in the parish hall.

One of the metrics indicating the young adult ministry is on the upswing is the $165,851 raised for the SFXC in 2024, compared to $82,530 in 2023 and $58,958 in 2022. Nguyen suggests 2025 has been even more positive for the SFXC based on what he has observed over the first seven months of the year.

“Starting in January, there was something that happened here, and I think in the world too,” said Nguyen. “I just saw an increase in the number of people coming to Mass on a consistent basis. Then there were more people wanting to convert (to Catholicism) by joining our RCIA.

“A lot of them are telling me that they’ve tried the secular life and it’s not satisfying. They are looking for purpose and meaning.”

The vicar for young adults relayed a particular story about a friend of his brother telling him he first sought out Buddhism and Protestantism, but extensive research and contemplation revealed to him that “Catholicism is the true Church.” Nguyen added that many other young people who grew up in Protestant households want to explore the Catholic pathway upon seeing friends convert.

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“They are wondering why, so they start looking at the evidence and talking to people too,” said Nguyen.

SFXC seeks to stoke these embers with prayerful experiences steeped in tradition, such as the centuries-old Advent Rorate Mass, where the parish is illumined only by candlelight to symbolize the darkness before Christ’s birth. And coming up later this year on Oct. 18, the SFXC’s St Hildegard Society choir is presenting the Holy Rosary in Concert. Spiritual and intellectual enrichment is also provided regularly through activities like the Pints with Aquinas philosophical discussion gatherings.

There are also faith-building and social development benefits found in board game evenings, sports nights and field trips.

“You get to meet people, and they get to see you in your non-professional form in some way,” said Nguyen. “People get to know each other as humans, and they start sharing in the joy together. It also creates opportunities for me to speak with them and just get to know them better on a personal level. It is a great joy for me.”

June provided SFXC members a prime opportunity to radiate joy to the larger Calgary community. Members walked around the Lilac Festival in the Beltine and Mission neighbourhoods to invite Calgarians to the chaplaincy’s Encounter Accompaniment series. 

The 2025-26 SFXC season is set to launch in September once the academic year at the University of Calgary, Mount Royal University and other postsecondary institutions commence.

Nguyen will begin his second full year guiding SFXC. He said with a chuckle that “it was a huge undertaking this past year to try to survive” a schedule chock-full of events. He is eager to begin year two “having knowledge about the rhythm of a year.” 

The priest’s goal is to help usher in changes to the diocesan RCIA program to include a community formation component. He also wants to expand the SFXC's outreach efforts to encourage people to give the chaplaincy a look and to stay true to the Church’s mission to evangelize.

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Nguyen admitted that “the blessing and the curse of the SFXC is that we are so big, so it can be very intimidating for people to try and connect, so we want to create those spaces for them.”

For more information about SFXC, visit sfxc.ca/.