Under the arm of the Cathedral of the Incarnation in downtown Nashville lies Frassati House.
It’s full of dark wood, Catholic-themed board games, and a microwave that sings John
Denver hits while it heats macaroni.
Built in 1894, this diocesan home-away-from-home is a surrogate for the domesticity of family students often search for in college.
There’s a constant stream of young adults coming to find study spaces, authentic
connection, and the Rev. Rhodes Bolster, the chaplain –– and spiritual –– father of University
Catholic Nashville.
Six feet and 3 inches tall in a long black cassock, Bolster exists at the crossroads of
devout faith and college life.
He takes a book off the shelf in his office and mentions briefly how he’s tried and failed three times to read it.
“Well, I’ll try again!”
One of the most popular religiously affiliated student organizations on Belmont University’s campus, University Catholic has 136 students currently registered as club members.
However, UCAT is bigger than Belmont, officially ministering to four other campuses in
Nashville and six others in Tennessee.
The organization hosted its largest-ever Awakening Retreat on Nov. 2 with over 60
retreatants. And UCAT is only growing larger.
With a spiritual leader like Bolster, who’s just 31 years old, it’s not hard to see why.
“People, I think broadly, just think, ‘Oh you’re a priest. You must have a miserable life,
yeah?’”
Bolster accredits that to a fundamental misunderstanding about celibacy and
relationships.
But for him, the most fulfilling part of vocational life is the day-to-day.
“My daily work has eternal significance,” said Bolster.
A normal day for him can have life-altering consequences for his parishioners, he said.
“On a Tuesday afternoon, I hear confessions that change people's lives… and then I go to bed and wake up and eat breakfast and start it all over again.”
Whether by administering the sacraments, throwing events or making sure grass grows in the Frassati House backyard, Bolster seeks to mold UCAT into a real family.
“Everyone’s talking about loneliness, especially among young people. Basically, everyone’s lonely,” said Bolster.
Being a chaplain is all about forming a community for his flock, and “continuing to provide spaces and means by which people can be people.”
Whether giving a newsletter from an obscure French cloister to a student who speaks a little French, answering strange theological hypotheticals or using slang in homilies, Bolster
makes an effort to care for his spiritual children in little, often surprising, ways.
“Like having a [bon]fire and saying ‘William, go get your guitar…’ little stuff like that.”
These small moments go farther in cultivating the spiritual lives of his students than he ever
anticipated.
“With campus ministry, it's a much more family and community experience,” said
Deacon Craig Thomas, Bolster’s second-in-command when administering the sacraments.
“He's a real family person. I think family and relationships, you can tell that he values those way above just the work itself.”
Bowling, cornhole and eating lunch on campus may not seem like vital tenants of the
priesthood, but Bolster said these “relational ministries” are one of the most important forms of his outreach.
“He’s like our BFG,” said EL-Natan Adah-Ogoh, a sophomore at Fisk University,
referencing the Big Friendly Giant from the popular Roald Dahl book. “He is the walking
example of what it actually means to give one’s life fully to Christ.”
Bolster, who will celebrate his sixth ordination anniversary in May 2025, is one of few to
discern his calling early, at the end of his time at Father Ryan High School in Nashville.
“I had thought I was basically maxed out…. I don’t get in trouble, and I know my stuff in
religion class. So here we are. We have arrived, right? But I wasn’t really happy,” said
Bolster.
His perspective changed after he found a “brotherhood of men” to engage within
spiritual community, where he started pursuing a dedicated prayer life.
“Once I had a relationship with God and all those other things—I describe it as I came from
black and white to color,” said Bolster. “I wanted to help other people see that too.”
After studying and discerning for a year at the Catholic University of America, he went to
seminary in Ohio and then Rome to continue his studies.
Ordained in 2019, he was soon sent to Mexico for nine weeks, adding Spanish to his repertoire of skills.
“I’m always so surprised that he’s a young priest that is so secure,” said Lucy Honner, the assistant director for campus ministry.
For a priest as young as Bolster, he still makes it a point to incorporate the more traditional aspects of Mass into his celebration.
From traditional chant to incense and bells, Bolster says he wants Mass to be the most beautiful thing of the week,” he said.
Bolster’s candlelit, smoke-filled celebration is a particular favorite among students.
“It was like something out of a storybook,” said Adah-Ogoh. “I cannot think of a single homily that he has given that has not significantly edified me.”
University chaplainship is not always easy.
One of the biggest challenges for Bolster comes with the territory.
“Every year, a fourth of my people leave and a fourth start,” said Bolster.
That makes answering the question of “what do my students need right now?” a moving target.
As a spiritual father, the transition is never easy.
Like any dad, Bolster engages in a host of strange hobbies, like hiking, juggling, and singing old Americana Gospel music.
“It’s so good, I’m gonna play it right now,” he said, pulling up a cover of “Jesus Our Savior” by Cades Cove on YouTube.
The simple harmonies fill his office, its worn couches and shelves reminiscent of a family home, overrun with books, random religious artifacts, and a Build-a-Bear with hand-sewn vestments named Father Bear-ster.
At 11 a.m. on a random Thursday, UCAT students are spread out on Frassati House couches, studying or napping.
One person plays a monastic chant out loud while he rests and the whole place smells like banana muffins after a student took advantage of the fully renovated kitchen.
Outside, on the covered porch, Bolster stretches out on a couch and takes in the fall air.
“Saving souls from the clutches of darkness,” he jokes. “Just living it up.”
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This article was written by Mary Ciarrocchi
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