Refugees and the Unborn Are Close to Raven’s Heart

The Gregorian Fellows leadership program at Benedictine College is designed to train and launch Catholic leaders rooted in their faith and ready to be effective in contemporary society. The work of the Fellows is featured here every Friday. By forming its students deeply in the mission, advancing its mission through alumni in every walk of life, and extending its mission regionally and nationally, Benedictine College hopes to Transform Culture in America.

Christopher Rziha  is a Gregorian Fellow who plans to graduate in 2021, and majors in Theology, Spanish and Philosophy.

He is also the fundraising coordinator and the vice-coordinator for the March for Life trip, and is therefore one of the team responsible for getting five buses from Kansas to Washington, D.C., last January to be voices for the voiceless.

Rziha has been a pro-life activist since high school, when he started the pro-life organization Servants of St. Gianna. He also organized a Concert for Aleppo in Atchison, Kansas, in high school, raising money for Syrian refugees.

“Simply put, I raise the money to help get us to D.C. and then work as second in command when it comes to actually organizing the trip,” he said.

He described how tough it is to run an all-volunteer effort, but how rewarding it is in the end to see Benedictine College’s mission of community, faith and scholarship come together.

“It really is a treat,” he said, to work with “so many other Ravens who are passionate about life and live it beautifully and abundantly in all they do.”

As an aside, he added: “The officer meetings are also way too much fun.”

The high point, however was seeing Benedictine College students’ passion for the right to life.

It was great, he said, “to see how excited people get about being at the March, and hearing someone who has been probably over 10 times tell you that it was the best experience they’ve had yet.”

Rziha learned the hard way that leading sometimes puts you in last place, not first place.

Overall, “I wasn’t able to enjoy the moment, but seeing everyone else have such an amazing time and hearing about it from them even weeks after the March continues to enhance my own experience long after I’ve returned to campus.”