Finding a purpose through faith
Religion, as we know, exists as an important part of society. What some may not know is that there is an institute in Rochester that fosters religious learning and growth. The Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, located on top of a hill off of Highland Avenue, is situated in a way that makes it seem like this school is watching over the community. Katie Jo Vasquez, a Roberts Wesleyan alumna attends Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinty School and first became interested in religion at the age of 15.
“I started getting involved in the local churches, I grew up in Syracuse,” said Vasquez. “They really were like a family to me, they just sort of took me in and made me feel so special, like I had a purpose.”
Vasquez admired that those who belonged to the church existed as equals, no matter how much money you had or what race you were.
“I was like ‘this is what being human is all about’,” said Vasquez. “They actually care about the people around them. It was really a life changing experience from a selfish pre-teen who is like ‘I am just trying to figure life out to I am grown up and I care about people and I can be mature enough to talk about religion, even though it’s a touchy subject.’”
Vasquez believes that becoming active in the church when she was young made her a better person. Although she became interested in religious activities at a young age, she wasn’t necessarily surrounded by spirituality at home.
“I didn’t grow up in any sort of religious environment at all,” said Vasquez. “We kind of went to church every once in a while. We never prayed at dinner or anything. It was always kind of looked at like religion is weird, it’s what weird people do when they don’t know what else to do with life. When they can’t handle themselves they just pray.”
Religion is not something a person pursues when they run out of options, according to Vasquez.
“Its not just a thing for weak people,” said Vasquez. “For me, religion, it’s a cultural staple. It’s something that people go to when they know exactly what to do, but they need a little bit more strength behind them.”
Because there are so many different religions that exist across the world, Vasquez decided to get her masters in religious history and have knowledge about all forms.
“Its been a part of culture forever and ever, and I think learning about it helps us, it’s kind of like if psychology is the study of the mind of one individual, religion is the study of the mind of an entire culture,” said Vasquez. “You can really learn about what the Chinese are like by learning about Buddhism, and what goes through the American mind when you look at Evangelical Protestantism.”
Vasquez used to think she wanted to be a pastor, then after failing out of ordination classes at churches [on purpose], she decided that maybe it wasn’t the right route for her.
“You don’t have to be a pastor to make a contribution to the religious life of a city,” said Vasquez. “There’s really a very important place for scholars and people who want to contribute to the religious knowledge of a city.”
Now her future plans include teaching undergraduates’s about the importance of religion and its origins.
“People have within themselves the amazing ability to be creative, to change the world,” said Vasquez. “Anybody you meet can change everything that is around us at any time, we all have that ability. It’s just drawing that out of people and helping them to see it in themselves. It’s my little contribution to human society.”
