Skip to main content

Fontbonne Faith Traditions

New Student Initiation: Catch The Fire!

Every new student who enters Fontbonne University is invited to catch the fire. The fire is what sets Fontbonne University apart from all others. The fire makes Fontbonne unique, gives Fontbonne purpose and meaning, and will inspire our students to be the very best version of themselves.

The fire is what we call our charism. A charism is a spiritual gifting, and our spiritual gifting is directly connected to the religious order that courageously founded this institution, The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet (CSJs).

The spiritual gifting is marked by Fontbonne’s mission and values. We hope new students come to embrace the mission and values, and in turn, help the CSJs continue the work of God they began in the 1600s – to love the dear neighbor without distinction.

What you can expect from Catch the Fire!

  • An exciting retelling of the CSJs story
  • A welcoming environment for students from all walks of life and faith backgrounds
  • An individual blessing from a CSJ
  • An invitation to receive Fontbonne’s fire

New students are formally welcomed into the Fontbonne community with Catch the Fire! The ceremony takes place on the first day of New Student Orientation in the Mabee Gymnasium. Family and friends are welcome to attend!

Sending Ceremony

Every student graduating from Fontbonne University is invited to participate in the Sending Ceremony, an interfaith prayer service honoring our graduates. Now, students will be sent forth with the fire that was given to them when they first arrived during Catch the Fire!, a fire that has grown and changed and will now be sent into the world. The spiritual gifting is marked by Fontbonne’s mission and values.

What you can expect from the Sending Ceremony

  • Hearing reflections and prayer on the values of Fontbonne University
  • A ritual sharing of students’ light
  • Blessings from the Fontbonne Community

Sending Ceremony takes place the day before Commencement. Family and friends are welcome to attend!

We are using cookies to give you the best experience. You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in privacy settings.
AcceptPrivacy Settings

GDPR

  • GDPR Privacy Policy
  • Google Analytics

GDPR Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

Overall Policy

Thank you for visiting our website. We’re pleased to share our policy regarding the use of information received here. Privacy is a matter of concern to us. We are committed to protecting your privacy and the security of the information that you may provide to us.

Personal Information

We do not track individual users. Your email address or other personal information is not collected unless you provide it on a form, survey or application. We will not sell or otherwise make available any personally identifiable information to any organization not directly affiliated with us. We will comply with legitimate government or legal requests as necessary to protect our organization or to comply with laws.

Traffic Analysis

We analyze traffic to this site. We collect statistical data on an aggregated basis through Google Analytics. For example, we collect information about the domain names of servers that bring visitors to our site. We count the number of visitors and keep track of where they go on our site. Such information allows us to find out what areas users visit most frequently and what services they access the most, which enables us to create a better overall user experience. To gather such data, we use cookie technology, which collects data in aggregate form, not by individual user.

Cookies

As referenced above, we use cookie technology for traffic analysis. Cookies are small pieces of information stored by your browser on your computer’s hard drive. The cookies placed by our server do not gather personal information about you, do not provide any way for us to contact you and do not gather information about your computer. The cookies simply allow us to enhance our site by letting us know what sections are visited most often. The use of cookies is common on the Internet, and our use of them is similar to that of other reputable online organizations.

Links To Other Sites

Our site contains links to other sites and Internet resources. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of these third-party websites and Internet resources.

Updates To Privacy Policy

We may update the privacy policy periodically, and we encourage visitors to review them on a regular basis.

Last revised: June 2015

Google Analytics

Fontbonne University to close in summer 2025 leaving a legacy of more than 100 years of Catholic higher education.Learn More