Father Leach has responded by developing a series of informal Wednesday-night lectures. The point is to help Catholics, who make up only 2,000 of the 24,000 students at Chapel Hill, understand their faith in order to defend it. On a recent Wednesday night, Father Leach spoke about Mary. The students laugh knowingly. I get asked questions about Mary all the time.
Some Catholic students say the constant questions have actually strengthened their faith.
Christen Wetherbee, a junior at the University of Georgia, moved from Illinois to Georgia when she was 11. She was stunned to discover that some junior-high classmates thought Catholicism was just like Buddhism. Since then, she's been determined to learn more about her own religion. For the most part, Catholic students say, their classmates are curious, not hostile. Occasionally, though, they complain of feeling like second-class citizens.