Post by EWTN News

Outside the packed school chapel, Benedictine College students continued to gather, kneeling on the ground to pray for Alex Lynch. On the night of May 8, the news had spread across the campus that Lynch, a Benedictine student suffering from cancer, had died. A college senior, Lynch had just had his graduation ceremony. He didn’t walk the stage, however; instead, the college president went to him. On May 7, Benedictine College President Stephen Minnis traveled from the school in Atchison, Kansas, to Lynch’s family home in Indianola, Iowa, along with 30 Benedictine students for Lynch’s personal baccalaureate Mass and graduation ceremony. “Graduation is a powerful moment for these students,” Minnis told EWTN News. “They have worked so hard for it, including their whole primary and secondary education.” “I want to make that moment special for every student,” he said. “It’s a moment that is powerful for me too — I pray a Hail Mary for every student by name when they come and when they graduate, but I have prayed especially for Alex.” “It just took an extra step in his case, but I didn’t want to miss his big moment,” Minnis said. Father Ryan Richardson, Benedictine Collegeʼs chaplain, told EWTN News he spoke “directly to Alex” in his homily, detailing how Lynch lived out the fruits of the Holy Spirit while at school. “He radiated the Holy Spirit and the love of Christ,” Richardson said. “Alex often said that his desire was that others see Christ in him. He definitely accomplished that.” Finnegan Ritchie, a close friend of Lynch’s, was among the 30 students who attended the ceremony. “We were both worried that it was going to be unreasonably long,” Ritchie said in an interview with EWTN News. “Entertaining people is exhausting. But Alex was able to sit and stand at will; he had a lot of grit.” “After the ceremony, he had a little graduation party and greeted his family and friends,” Ritchie said. “It was wonderful to see how everyone came together to bring food, drinks, and tables for the occasion. People were catching up with each other and treating it like any other grad party.” Ritchie said goodbye to Lynch in the evening, “around 5:30 p.m.” “It was very difficult to leave him,” Ritchie said. On May 8, less than a day after his home graduation ceremony, Lynch died. It was late in the evening on a Friday night. Off-campus parties stopped. Students gathered in the chapel, again, this time to pray for a friend who had passed away. “Students left parties and gathered spontaneously in our adoration chapel,” Minnis said. “It was filled until late that night. It was an overwhelming response.” Read more: https://lnkd.in/ertixyis ✍️ By Kate Quiñones